- MAN urges banks to reduce interest rates on industrial loans
The National President of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture, Dele Kelvin Oye, has met with the Minister of Defence, Badaru Abubakar, urging for increased security to boost investor’s confidence in the country and improve the nation’s business and investment climate.
Oye said this when he led a delegation of industry stakeholders to visit the Defence Minister, who is a NACCIMA past national president, at the Ministry’s Headquarters in Abuja.
The NACCIMA boss during the visit hinted at efforts by the association to improve the business environment and drive economic growth and development in the country since his assumption of office in June 2023, urging for better collaboration with the security agencies via information sharing to protect the business community.
He commended the Minister on his vast experience as a successful entrepreneur, farmer, past President of NACCIMA, and former governor of Jigawa State, noting that the Minister’s expertise and knowledge could be utilized to coordinate and enhance the security architecture in Nigeria, which would create an environment for businesses to thrive and attract more foreign direct investment.
Oye, who stressed the need to enhance the performance of various security agencies while minimizing disruptions to businesses, emphasized the importance of aligning Nigeria’s commerce and investment practices with international best practices and the country’s security service operations in order to optimize competitiveness and increase foreign direct investment.
On his part, the Minister while commending the NACCIMA President for his effective leadership and work on trade facilitation expressed the Ministry’s commitment to work with NACCIMA and other stakeholders to address the concerns of the nation’s business community security needs, especially on land and maritime operations in Nigeria.
He restated his readiness to work with NACCIMA to create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive and attract more foreign direct investment through improvement in Nigeria’s security architecture.
The Minister further highlighted various efforts made by the government to promote investment in critical sectors, encouraging local investors to optimize their operations and expand their businesses as the Government will continue to provide the necessary enabling secured environment.
On the delegation were Jani Ibrahim, NACCIMA 1st Deputy President; Abiodun Adetula and Suleiman Adebayo Audu, who are council members of NACCIMA.
In another development, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has called on the federal and state governments to harmonise the multiple taxes being levied on members, as they (taxes) constitute a threat to the growth of businesses.
The association equally urged the Central Bank of Nigeria to give directives to commercial banks to reduce interest rates on industrial loans, address the foreign exchange crisis, and reduce interest on other loans released as COVID-19 palliatives to one percent.
The national president of MAN, Francis Meshioye, and chairman of MAN, Kwara/Kogi states branch, Rahman Bioku, stated these at the 9th annual general meeting of the association in Ilorin, on Tuesday.
Meshioye, identified challenges confronting Nigerian manufacturers to include “the harassment of manufacturers to pay multiple taxes and the collapse of infrastructure, especially roads leading to member factories.
“We are hopeful that the Kwara State government will effectively address these challenges with a view to improving the operating condition of businesses in Kwara State,” he said.
Meshioye, who was represented at the event by the vice president of MAN, South West zone, Kamoru Yusuf, cited recent developments brought about by the Federal Government reform measures, pronouncements and policies.
“They include the removal of fuel subsidy, floating of the naira exchange rate and increase in monetary policy rate. In particular, the reversal of the clearly disingenuous escalation of excise rates on some products has made the theme of this meeting, which is “Nigerian tax albatross: Solutions and reforms” apt and timely. It will certainly add to the body of knowledge that will shape the tax ecosystem of Nigeria. ”
The MAN president further stated that “the poor performance of the national economy in the last few years, which the federating states are part of, has remained a source of major concern to all.
“Therefore, it has made it imperative for state governments that appreciate the contribution of the real sector in job and wealth creation, to institute a more effective and efficient consultative mechanism with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria. This is to ensure the sustenance of the existing manufacturing companies and those that are on the verge of collapse under the weight of overwhelming macroeconomic, infrastructural and regulatory challenges.”
Earlier, Bioku explained that the theme of the event was chosen “to conduct a long overdue assessment of the disharmony, the disarray, the controversies, the confusion, and the increasing conflicts which have unfortunately characterized the public tax regime in Nigeria.”
“These conflicts have set a number of manufacturing companies up against the government because we have had to confront several maladies in the tax space such as multiple and double taxation, illegal taxation, over-taxation, and all sorts of irregularities therein.
“Our sad reality today is that many industrial establishments have gone under, while the few ones still struggling to operate require monumental support from the government at this difficult time.
“As we endure the bitter pains of subsidy removal, these are our urgent recommendations to the government: All illegal and controversial taxes and levies should be dropped. All multiple taxes should be harmonised at federal, state and local levels.”
The deputy governor of Kwara State, Kayode Alabi, who represented Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq at the event, commended MAN for complimenting the state government’s effort to tackle unemployment in the state.