NECA raises alarm over continuous business shutdown

The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) said with the high rate at which businesses declare losses, especially in the real sector, the country may be in for another round of business shutdown.

Director-General/Chief Executive of NECA, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, who stated this, called for urgent action to address the crisis. He lamented that four businesses in the real sector recorded a combined loss of over N533 billion in the first half of 2024.

Oyerinde urged the government to quickly address the seeming economic contradiction that is strangulating the organised private sector (OPS) to stop the crisis as well as enable the economy to return to the path of rapid growth.

Sharing some of the contradictions, Oyerinde said while the country grapples with a high unemployment rate and low business capacity utilisation, some regulatory agencies are still creating bottlenecks for business growth.He said even though the Taiwo Oyedele-led Presidential Committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy Reforms has done well in engaging critical stakeholders and building consensus on the tax reforms, some agencies continued to introduce new levies.

The NECA DG said that the expectations that the Dangote Refinery would contribute to reducing the country’s propensity for fuel importation were almost dashed by regulatory bottlenecks in the oil and gas industry.

According to him, this is especially worrisome given the significant time and effort the President has invested in wooing foreign investments.While calling for urgent action by the government to save the real sector, Oyerinde noted that some of the interventions that should be prioritised include issuing strict directives to regulatory agencies.

The NECA boss called for the suspension of the sugar tax for the food and beverage (sugar sub-sector) to allow the sector to stabilize and contribute maximally to current efforts at achieving food security.

He called for sustaining the supply of crude oil to the Dangote Refinery as directed by President Tinubu to reduce the nation’s propensity to import fuel as well as curtailing the rising interest and inflation rates while also addressing ongoing foreign exchange volatility.

According to him, all these measures, no doubt, are crucial to unlocking the potential of organised businesses and fast-track much-needed economic growth.