By Jumai Ahmadu

FCT’s remarkable rise in Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) ranking reflects infrastructure renewal, land administration reforms, improved service delivery and a reinvigorated investment drive

When the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was ranked 31st in the 2023 Subnational Ease of Doing Business assessment, there was little indication that within a relatively short period, Nigeria’s federal capital would make a dramatic leap into the country’s top five business-friendly destinations.

Today, that story has changed.

In the latest Subnational Ease of Doing Business assessment by the PEBEC, the FCT emerged 4th nationally with a score of 61.0 per cent, trailing only Lagos, Kaduna and Oyo. From 31st to 4th, the improvement represents a remarkable turnaround in the territory’s business-environment performance.

While such rankings are the product of several institutions, reforms and measurable indicators, the FCT’s improved performance reflects the direction of the administration of the Minister of the FCT, Barrister Nyesom Wike, particularly its emphasis on infrastructure, land administration, institutional effectiveness, service delivery and private-sector investment.

Since assuming office, Wike has made infrastructure development one of the defining features of his administration. Across the capital, the construction, rehabilitation and expansion of roads have opened important corridors, improved connectivity and enhanced movement within the city and its satellite communities.

For businesses, roads are more than physical infrastructure. They influence the movement of people, goods and services, reduce logistical constraints and open previously underserved locations to commercial and real estate development.

But perhaps equally consequential to Abuja’s investment environment has been the administration’s attention to land reforms and the restoration of discipline in land administration.

Land remains one of the most important assets for investment in the FCT. Whether in housing, agriculture, hospitality, manufacturing, education, healthcare or commercial development, investors require confidence that land titles are secure and that the processes governing allocation, documentation and development are transparent and predictable.

The Wike administration has taken a firmer approach to addressing longstanding challenges within the system. This has included measures to strengthen the integrity of land documentation, tackle abuses associated with land allocations, enforce development conditions and improve accountability in the administration of land.

The administration has also moved to address the long-running issue of Area Council land documentation and regularisation, providing a pathway for affected property owners to formalise their interests within the statutory framework of the FCT.

Another significant intervention has been the push for holders of property titles to obtain the required Certificates of Occupancy and other appropriate documentation, alongside measures aimed at strengthening the security and credibility of land titles.

The introduction and enforcement of ground rent obligations, together with efforts to recover outstanding revenues associated with land and property, have also reinforced the principle that land administration must be accompanied by responsibility and compliance.

Similarly, the administration’s insistence that allocated land should be developed for its approved purpose rather than held indefinitely for speculation sends an important message. Land in a rapidly growing capital city is an economic resource, and its productive use can stimulate construction, housing, commerce and employment.

These measures are important to the ease of doing business because a credible land administration system reduces uncertainty. Investors are more willing to commit capital when property rights are clearer, documentation is reliable and the rules governing development are applied with greater predictability.

Beyond land and infrastructure, the FCT has also recorded progress in institutional areas important to businesses, including access to commercial justice, grievance-redress mechanisms and increasingly technology-driven public services. Functional Small Claims Courts, for example, provide businesses, particularly micro, small and medium enterprises, with a faster and less cumbersome route for resolving certain commercial disputes.

Taken together, these interventions point towards a broader shift: Abuja is increasingly being managed not only as Nigeria’s administrative capital but also as an economic destination that must compete for investment.

An important part of this emerging story is the role of Abuja Investments Company Limited (AICL), the investment arm of the FCT Administration.

Under the current administration, AICL has intensified efforts to promote Abuja as an attractive investment destination, engage domestic and international investors and create platforms that connect government opportunities with private-sector capital.

Through strategic investment engagements, partnerships and platforms such as the Abuja Business and Investment Summit/Expo, the company has helped draw greater attention to the commercial potential of the FCT. Its activities across real estate, agriculture, renewable energy, markets and other investment opportunities complement the administration’s wider economic development agenda.

This role is particularly important because roads, land reforms and improvements in government processes must ultimately translate into actual investments. Investors require identifiable opportunities, secure assets, credible institutional partners and effective platforms through which they can engage government.

AICL therefore provides an important bridge between the FCT Administration’s development agenda and the private sector, helping to package opportunities, facilitate investment conversations and strengthen Abuja’s profile as a destination for capital.

The FCT’s movement from 31st position in 2023 to 4th in the latest assessment consequently offers an important lesson about governance: sustainable results become more achievable when political leadership, infrastructure, land reforms, institutional efficiency and investment promotion work in the same direction.

There is, of course, more work to be done.

A fourth-place ranking should inspire the FCT Administration to push even further. Businesses require faster processes, greater predictability, deeper digitisation of services and continued improvements in land administration and regulatory procedures.

Indeed, the real value of an ease-of-doing-business ranking is not merely the position occupied on a national table, but whether entrepreneurs and investors can feel the improvements when they seek land, register interests, obtain approvals, resolve disputes and interact with government institutions.

Nevertheless, moving from 31st to 4th within one assessment cycle is significant. It suggests that Abuja is moving in the right direction and that the combination of infrastructure renewal, land reforms, institutional improvements and investment promotion is producing measurable outcomes.

For decades, Abuja has been viewed primarily as the seat of the Federal Government. Yet with its strategic location, expanding infrastructure, growing population, valuable land assets, vibrant real estate and hospitality sectors and concentration of national and international institutions, the Territory possesses enormous potential to become one of Africa’s competitive investment destinations.

Unlocking that potential requires leadership that provides infrastructure, protects the integrity of land administration, strengthens institutions and actively creates opportunities for private investment.

Under Minister Wike, these different elements are increasingly being brought together, while institutions such as Abuja Investments Company Limited are complementing the administration’s efforts by taking Abuja’s investment opportunities to the marketplace.

The latest PEBEC ranking therefore represents more than an improved position on a national table. It is an opportunity to consolidate reforms, deepen investor confidence and demonstrate what coordinated leadership and institutional performance can achieve.

The challenge now is to sustain the momentum and make the nation’s capital not only a great place to live and work, but one of the best places to invest and do business in Nigeria.

Dr. Jumai Ahmadu is Director, Reform Coordination and Service Improvement Department of the FCTA.