The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has released its 2025 Business Facilitation Act (BFA) performance report, offering a detailed assessment of how federal ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) complied with transparency and service-efficiency standards mandated under the BFA 2022.
The report, which reviewed performance from January to October 2025, tracked indicators such as adherence to service level agreements (SLAs), monthly reporting discipline, complaint-resolution timelines, automation of services, and overall transparency.
PEBEC said the results reflect “mixed institutional responsiveness”, with a handful of MDAs showing strong improvements while others continue to lag behind.
High-performing agencies, the council noted, demonstrated measurable progress in automation, process clarity, and SLA compliance — signs of what it described as “positive momentum in public-service accountability” under the BFA’s new eight-component scorecard. Lower-performing agencies, however, continued to struggle with delays, weak digital systems, and poor inter-agency coordination.
The council added that despite overall gains, “sustained reforms, increased automation, and improved institutional discipline” remain essential for strengthening Nigeria’s competitiveness and ensuring consistent service delivery.
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Top-performing MDAs
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) led the 2025 ranking with a score of 90.6 percent. Close behind were the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at 89.3 percent and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) at 86.6 percent.
Other agencies in the upper tier included the Nigerian Communications Commission (85.3 percent), Nigerian Ports Authority (84.2 percent), National Information Technology Development Agency (79.9 percent), Oil & Gas Free Zones Authority (79.4 percent), Nigeria Immigration Service (76.9 percent), and the Nigerian Electricity Management Service Agency (73.8 percent).
The Corporate Affairs Commission (72.3 percent) and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (71.6 percent) rounded out the group of strong performers.
Average performers
A large cluster of MDAs fell into the mid-range category. They include the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (69.9 percent), Nigerian Export Promotion Council (68 percent), Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (65.1 percent), Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (64.8 percent), and the Bureau for Public Procurement (60.6 percent).
Also listed were the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (60.1 percent), Nigerian Shippers Council (59.9 percent), Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (58.3 percent), National Pension Commission (57.8 percent), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (56.2 percent), Federal Inland Revenue Service (55.2 percent), Federal Road Safety Corps (53.5 percent), and NAFDAC (52.9 percent).
Low-performing MDAs
Several agencies scored below the 50-percent compliance benchmark, reflecting persistent gaps in service delivery and process efficiency.
They include the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (48.8 percent), EFCC-Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (48.5 percent), Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (48.2 percent), NEXIM Bank (46.9 percent), Nigeria Export Processing Zone Authority (46.5 percent), Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (45.1 percent), Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (44.6 percent), NIMASA (42.4 percent), and National Inland Waterways Authority (38.9 percent).
Others were the Patent and Design Registry (38.9 percent), National Insurance Commission (37.3 percent), Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (37.1 percent), and Galaxy Backbone Limited (37.0 percent).
Bottom of the table
The weakest-performing institutions in the BFA 2025 scorecard included the Industrial Training Fund (30.8 percent), Securities and Exchange Commission (28.9 percent), national collateral registry (25.5 percent), National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (24.6 percent), Bank of Industry (24.1 percent), Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Authority (22.9 percent), trademarks registry (22.3 percent), and the Ministry of Interior (19.5 percent).
Near the bottom were the Nigeria Postal Service (17.1 percent), Nigerian Copyright Commission (16.3 percent), Federal Produce Inspection Service (16.0 percent), National Bureau of Statistics (14.9 percent), Environmental Health Council of Nigeria (14.5 percent), Joint Tax Board (14.6 percent), National Identity Management Commission (12.7 percent), Service Compact (12.6 percent), and the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria, which posted the lowest score — 3.0 percent.
Regional performance: north-east trails, south-west leads
PEBEC also assessed ease-of-doing-business indicators across Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT. The council noted that with more than 39 million MSMEs operating nationwide, subnational performance is increasingly critical to national growth.
The north-east ranked as the lowest-performing region, attributing the outcome to entrenched structural challenges — though some states were said to be showing early signs of improvement.
The south-south recorded moderate but inconsistent performance, while the north-west showed stark contrasts between a few well-performing states and several lagging ones.
The south-west emerged as the national leader, followed by the north-central and south-east zones.
