Dike Onwuamaeze
Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Mr. Taiwo Adeniyi, has implored President Muhammadu Buhari to refuse to grant presidential assent to National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Bill that has been passed by the National Assembly (NASS).
The NASS recently passed the NYSC Trust Fund (Establishment) Bill that imposed a levy of 1.0 per cent of the net profit of companies and organised private sector operating a business in Nigeria; 0.2 per cent of total revenue accruing to the federation account; any take-off grant and special intervention fund as may be provided by the federal, state, and local government for the maintenance of the NYSC’s scheme.
But Adeniyi, in his “President’s Address at the 65th Annual General Meeting of NECA, lamented the dangerous trend of continuous introduction of new levies, taxes and charges on businesses by all levels of governments in the country.
He said: “The introduction of a new NYSC Levy on businesses, while industries groan under the weight of many challenges will have negative consequences on organised businesses. We urge the President, in his usual magnanimous way, to refuse assent to the NYSC Bill passed into law by the National Assembly.
“We also call on the tax authorities and, indeed, the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning that rather than the introduction of new taxes to fund the national budget and other developmental projects, efforts should be stepped up to expand the tax net and block the numerous leakages in government institutions.”
He also that since “the last one-year, the organised businesses have been faced with increase in electricity tariff without corresponding improvement in service delivery; sky-rocketing diesel and other energy costs among many others.”
The president of NECA also tasked federal government to mitigate the rising cost of doing business in the country, especially the cost of diesel as data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown that the average retail price of Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel) paid by consumers in Nigeria increased by 181 percent from N238.82 in May 2021 to N671.08 recorded in May 2022.
He noted that businesses in Nigeria depend largely on diesel-powered generators for electricity to carry out their production and other activities due to the poor power supply in the country.
“The rising cost of diesel has increased the costs of businesses and puts them at risk as their costs have increased significantly. The impact of the increase in the price of diesel on cost of operation is due to the country’s poor power situation and the reliance on the importation of diesel.
“In the short run, the government can support businesses by providing financial support to SMEs to survive the current high operating cost induced by high diesel prices. In the medium and long term, the government needs to focus on the power and refinery production capacity,” he said.
Adeniyi also asked the government to revisit the suggestions of the organised private sector in the past 10 years on how to address the besetting challenges that have been retarding the country’s economy.
He said: “While we admit that some of the challenges facing organised businesses are beyond the control of the government and enterprises, in many cases, these challenges were aggravated by the insensitivity of regulatory agencies of governments at various levels.
“As we continue our march towards nationhood and economic renaissance, we, will like to reiterate unequivocally the following recommendations made to the government over the past years. Implementing these recommendations will assist the government in enunciating programmes and policies that will galvanise accelerated development and help to tackle the monster of rising unemployment and youth restiveness, insecurity and banditry; low industry capacity utilization among many others.”
