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Members of the organised private sector have asked President Bola Tinubu to cut down the cost of current expenditure, particularly the ones being spent on former governors, their first ladies and other political office holders in the country.
They also said it was imperative for the Tinubu-led federal government to consider cutting down on the current tax burden put on industries and their members of staff, saying those would be one of the great measures to bring down the present inflationary trend in the country.
The Director-Generals of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Mr. Sola Obadimu and the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN), Segun Ajayi-Kadir, stated these in Abuja during the closing session of 2023 Nigeria Employers’ Summit.
The summit was organised by Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA).
In an interview with journalists on the sideline of the closing session of the summit, Obadimu said continuous increase of tax on industries and individuals cannot address the dwindling revenue for the government, saying only cutting of expenses of governance could.
“You see, the point is, the government is being gradually pushed to the wall. I don’t think that rather than taxing people and taxing industries, the government also has to look at the area of leakages. The cost of running a government is still so high.
“Ordinary a local government will be moving with six cars in his convoy, and this supposedly high cost of petrol. That is different from offices of the first ladies of governors, and offices of past governors.
“If you see the amount we are spending in maintaining former governors who are no longer in office – the cost of current expenditure is so high, and I think our current political players need to manage that area.
“They cannot continue to maintain the same lifestyle while expecting people and industries to continue to pay to maintain that lifestyle,” he said.
According to him, industries would continue to pass the burden to consumers if they continue to pay high taxes.
He added, “If you watch the government in recent times, the government is looking for money. Unfortunately, maybe because of the dwindling revenue arising from oil theft because we have solely depended on crude oil which we are not adding any value to.
“But in the desperation of the government, they keep on increasing taxes on members of the organised private sector, and that is where the problem is. You can’t keep on increasing taxes for ever, and that worsens inflation because you cannot sell below your production cost.
“If inputs’ costs go up, people would keep on increasing their prices and it is pushed to the consumers. For the first time, the fortunes of Nigerian Breweries Limited are taking a nosedive. What has caused this is inappropriate policies around cash and currency circulation that took place early in the year.”
On his part, the DG of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, listed challenges associated with exports as institutional, structural and regulations.
He criticised a situation where raw materials are being exported instead of handling the materials to manufacturing industries for better employment opportunities for teaming unemployed Nigerian youths.
According to him, “A lot has to be done to promote exports. In manufacturing for instance, you need to be competitive before you can venture into export, and there are those constraints that have limited manufacturing performance which has made it rather difficult to successfully export.
“All that it takes for you to export is not just for you to get your goods across the border but to ensure that when your goods get across to the foreign shelves is not left there and people actually buy them. The challenges that have been institutional, some of them are structural, some of them have to do with regulations.
“At the same time, it has to do with infrastructural challenges that have made manufacturing performance remain low. You know our contribution to the GDP has been hovering around 9% or 10%. In that kind of situation, it means we operate in a high cost environment.”
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