The 2007 Nigeria Enterprise Survey was part of the UK Department for International Development/World Bank Group Investment Climate Program (ICP) that was launched by the Minister of Finance in August 2007. This program was a response to the request from the Nigeria Federal Minister of Finance to the World Bank Group and UK Department for International Development (DFID) to assist in the development of a diagnostic base on which enterprise and investment climate constraints could be measured and benchmarked internally across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria and internationally against key comparator countries, particularly the "BRIC" countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China). The survey was conducted between September 2007 and February 2008. Data from 2387 establishments was analyzed. The survey was administered across 11 states (Abia, Anambra, Abuja, Bauchi, Cross Rivers, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Ogun and Sokoto) and included manufacturing and services firms of different sizes. The objective of the Enterprise Surveys is to obtain feedback from companies in client countries on the state of the private sector as well as to help in building a panel of enterprise data that will make it possible to track changes in the business environment over time, thus allowing, for example, impact assessments of reforms. Through face-to-face interviews with firms in the manufacturing and services sectors, the survey assesses the constraints to private sector growth and creates statistically significant business environment indicators that are comparable across countries. The standard Enterprise Survey topics include firm characteristics, gender participation, access to finance, annual sales, costs of inputs/labor, workforce composition, bribery, licensing, infrastructure, trade, crime, competition, capacity utilization, land and permits, taxation, informality, business-government relations, innovation and technology, and performance measures. Over 90% of the questions objectively ascertain characteristics of a country’s business environment. The remaining questions assess the survey respondents’ opinions on what are the obstacles to firm growth and performance.
