Digital Business Registration and Entrepreneurship in Nigeria: Has E-Government Made Enterprise Formalization Easier?

Publication Details

Publication Date

10/09/2026

Volume / Issue

Vol 1, Issue 4 (2026)

Article No.

078

Journal

British Journal of Contemporary Research

DOI

https://doi.org/10.67693/BJCR-YLH26Z7K

Received

31 Aug 2026

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3

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0

Abstract

The use of digital public administration has grown in importance as a tool for enhancing government service delivery and lowering administrative hurdles faced by entrepreneurs. The digitalization of business registration in Nigeria is anticipated to ease the formalization of businesses, but infrastructure, access and service quality issues persist. The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of digital business registration on the formalization of entrepreneurs in Kwara North Senatorial District, Nigeria. The design of the study was quantitative cross sectional that involved four Local Government Areas (LGA) of the study area comprising Baruten, Edu, Kaiama, Moro and Patigi. A total of 362 (94.3%) valid questionnaires were analyzed from a total of 384 questionnaires sent. Descriptive statistics and correlation and regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The results indicated that in general, the experiences of the entrepreneurs in registering businesses online had a positive rating with a grand mean of 3.98, while the experiences of the entrepreneurs in reducing administrative burden had a grand mean of 4.04. But, 74.9% of respondents said poor internet connectivity was a big problem followed by registration portal downtime at 65.2%. The service quality of digital government services was found to have a significant positive correlation with the willingness of entrepreneurs to formalize their businesses (r = .642, p < .001) and regression analysis explained 41.2% of the variance in entrepreneurs' willingness to formalize (R² = .412). The study found that, in spite of the challenges of technology and administration, digital business registration has contributed to enterprise formalization in Kwara North. It suggests the creation of better digital infrastructure, more reliable platforms for registration, streamlined procedures, better technical support and expanded digital literacy programmes for entrepreneurs.

License

This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License . Free to read, share, and adapt with attribution.