The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has expressed the need for Federal Government, especially the incoming one, to demonstrate political will by implementing policies that would drive the economy back on growth trajectory.
In a statement on Wednesday in Lagos, NECA’s Director-General, Mr Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, also called on all hands to be on deck to rescue the economy from near collapse as the current government winds up its activities.
Oyerinde said that deliberate efforts must be made to reverse some of the current policies and implement new ones.
‘’All leakages associated with government revenue must be blocked including oil theft, skewed concessions, fuel subsidy, among others; a wholesome review of the tax administration to make it more equitable and investor-friendly should be initiated.
‘’While governments in other climes are either reducing tax rates in order to enhance economic activities, promote sustainable consumption and attract investors, Nigeria cannot continue to over-tax its businesses and citizens.
‘’With over 50 different taxes, levies and fees and company Income tax hovering around 35 per cent, raising taxes in order to increase revenue will be counterproductive.
‘’As the nation nears the mark of N77 trillion in debt with negligible impact on infrastructural development, the incoming government must develop strategies to diversify the revenue base through the revival of the country’s lagging non-oil sectors, ‘’ he said.
The NECA boss said that returning the economy to the path of sustainable growth would demand that certain fundamentals must be got right.
According to him, without these fundamentals, the economy will continue in circles.
‘’Among these fundamentals are a stable and highly predictable revenue streams; growth-focused monetary and fiscal policies.
‘’Others are a secure and business-friendly environment, and a legal, regulatory and legislative system that promotes equity, justice and enables enterprise competitiveness.
‘’These fundamentals are currently either lacking or are highly compromised, ‘’ he said.
He appreciated the concern of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on the need to increase tertiary education funding.
He, however, described ASUU’s call for the increase of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) from the current 2.5 per cent to 10 per cent as unfortunate and undesirable.
‘’We should not kill a sector to feed another as businesses are overburdened with taxes already; making the country’s taxes one of the highest in the world.
‘’At this point in time, we need to analyse the effectiveness of the TETFUND over the period before providing a knee-jack solution.
‘’We are of the view that there is need to design a long-term funding mechanism for tertiary education and contributors to the fund must be assigned to supervise its spending, ‘’ Oyerinde said.
