The Federal Government has been urged by the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) to take immediate action to stop the escalating rate of business closures, capital flight, and business divestment in the country.
The employers’ association stated in a statement that the recent trend of corporate relocation and divestment is regrettable and that during the past ten years, the private sector has been negatively impacted by numerous subpar policies.
Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, the director-general of NECA, bemoaned that many of the measures were anti-growth, poorly timed or poorly thought through, while others were out of step with the economic realities of the nation, in the statement.
He stated that: “In more complex cases, we witnessed an era of policy clashes and contradictions, regulatory and legislative strangulation of businesses, which left many companies without a clear path for planning and decision making. Operational costs have increased astronomically, heaping more woes on many companies.”
The NECA president noted that the effects of years of poor policy choices are not far-fetched, saying: As expected, divestment, capital flight and outright closures have become the ‘new normal’ within the business community. This is one of the chief reasons why the rate of unemployment continues to soar perpetually with a consequential rise in crime and other security issues. When businesses cease operations, divest or move to other profitable and hospitable environments, a large number of Nigerians become unemployed. Inadvertently, the country loses income from taxes, social investment is hindered and poverty holds sway.”
The employers’ organization acknowledged the current administration’s efforts to address private sector worries and the measures it took to give firms in particular economic sectors some reprieve, but stated that more needed to be done.
Beyond tax reform initiatives and the provision of palliatives to specific corporate entities, according to Oyerinde, the government should deepen its relationship with the organised private sector (OPS), make the appropriate interventions, and offer the proper incentives in order to both increase foreign direct investment (FDI) and deter more businesses from closing, divesting, or leaving the country.
Also, He said that in order to create and carry out action plans that can foster business sustainability and competitiveness, the government and the private sector must collaborate.
He said that industries like real estate, aviation, textile, pharmaceuticals, services, and the service industry should be given priority since they can create jobs.
He asserts that quick action must be done to complete the nomination of ministers and establish the boards of agencies that would oversee the Bola Tinubu administration’s economic initiatives.
