There are two enduring symbols of the snarl-ups that have made Nigeria much more difficult to trade with than it should be: one, the legend oppressive traffic in the commercial capital of Lagos; two, the line of ships waiting offshore to enter the city’s crowded ports.

In the 2006 version of the World Bank’s annual “Doing Business” survey, which measures the complexity of running a company in its member countries, Nigeria ranked 137th in the world in the ease of trading across borders, significantly lower than its overall ranking of 108th.