The United Kingdom has restated her commitment towards expanding business engagements with some Nigerian states in a bid to improve their economic development opportunities.

The British Deputy High Commissioner to Lagos, Laure Beaufils, gave the assurance after the presentation of a PricewaterhouseCoopers, PWC report on state-level business environment at the Edo State Government House in Benin City, the state capital.

She extolled the Godwin Obaseki-led administration for the ongoing reforms on land rights, tax harmonisation and proper data collection process for businesses to thrive in the state.

Laure Beaufils said: “There’s a lot currently underway, there is a wide variety like issues of land rights, tax harmonisation, like getting better data, information systems for increased governance and transparency. A lot of reforms is ongoing and a lot of positive changes that is encouraging.”

On his part, Governor Godwin Obaseki said his administration is doing all it can to create an enabling environment for business to thrive in the state.

“You know we are not ranked high in terms of obtaining building approvals, these are all the indicators people are looking for when they seek to do business in a particular environment.

“But the good news is that in the last six months or so, we have taken measures to correct all of these, launching our geographical information system, is to make very easy for people to obtain C of OS for people to transfer land titles,” the governor said.

The annual PwC reports evaluate the key sectors of opportunity for United Kingdom businesses in Nigeria.