Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has raised the alarm over increasing cases of divestments, capital flights, and business closures in Nigeria, pleading with the Federal Government to urgently address anti-growth, ill-timed, or not-well thought-out policies weighing down businesses.

The umbrella body for employers and the voice of business in the country advised the Federal Government to work collaboratively with the private sector with the view to developing and implementing action plans capable of promoting enterprise sustainability and competitiveness.

“The recent trend of business relocation and divestment is unfortunate. Over the last decade, the Private sector has been adversely affected by various policy thrusts of the Government. Many of these policies were anti-growth, ill-timed, or not well thought out, while others were not in alignment with the country’s economic realities. In more complex cases, we witnessed an era of policy clashes and contradictions, and 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 consequences of the years of wrong policy choices are not far-fetched. 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”.

“It is germane to state that Government must take urgent steps to arrest this predicament. While we acknowledge and commend the current administration’s effort to address the concerns of the Private Sector and the steps it took to provide some respite to businesses in specific sectors of the economy, more needs to be done. Beyond the tax reforms activity and the provision of palliatives to select corporate entities, Government should, by deepening engagement with the Organized Private Sector provide the right intervention and incentive not only to attract more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), but to also prevent more companies from shutting down, divesting or leaving the country.

“Government must work collaboratively with the private sector with the view to developing and implementing action plans that are capable of promoting enterprise sustainability and competitiveness. Sectors such as Cosmetics, Services, Pharmaceuticals, Aviation, Textile, Maritime, Construction, and, in fact, the Real sector should be prioritized as they have the capacity to generate jobs. Expeditious action should be taken to finalize the appointment of Ministers and constitution of Boards of Agencies to drive the economic programmes of the Administration,” it said. (Vanguard)

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