The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), yesterday argued that Nigerians were not benefiting from the current economic reforms of the Bola Tinubu administration because the private sector has been relegated.

Speaking on Arise Television, NACCIMA President, Dele Oye, called on the Nigerian government to step back from trying to directly manage economic solutions and instead empower the private sector to drive sustainable poverty reduction and economic growth.

According to Oye, the government’s economic policies have been very harsh on the private sector and the Nigerian population, explaining that NACCIMA has already proposed a 13-point action plan to the government.

The World Bank had recently painted a gloomy picture of some countries in Africa, projecting that for instance, more Nigerians are likely to be impoverished by 2027.

“The poverty index has been growing, which means the real people, the real Nigerians, are not getting any benefit. And with the current projection, it’s alarming, and there’s something in that report to say the government needs to move gently.

“Since they’ve been doing it alone by themselves, it did not work. They need to work with the private sector, and stay as regulators, providing the enabling environment for businesses to thrive. If they do that, they can sit back and collect their taxes from our profits,” Oye said.

The NACCIMA boss highlighted the need for targeted training and employment programmes, microfinance expansion, and improved agricultural productivity through the deployment of modern tools and practices.

“We should look at it sector by sector. Instead of sending money, N50,000, the way they’ve been doing it to people who have no identity, you can use our cooperatives. Train 5 million Nigerians within this space and make sure you put them on stipends,” he argued.

He decried the harsh business environment, stressing that businesses in Nigeria virtually provide their own infrastructure and accused the government of crowding out private investment in agriculture and overburdening businesses with taxation and high-interest loans.

“All of us pay a form of implicit tax. We virtually provide the infrastructure which we work with. And the government still comes in again to collect tax,” he said, noting that current interest rates are not conducive for industrial growth.

He added: “If the government can reduce its deficit financing, reduce its borrowing, they will even cap the borrowing for the public sector. The interbank rate will fall and the interest rate will fall. And the central bank supporting that, you will see that we have a different ecosystem where everyone can access loans.

“Government doesn’t even have the money to give. So, there are ways we have a strategy as a private sector where we can encourage the government to reduce their own borrowing and deficit financing and give us space, so they don’t crowd us out of the market.”

To him, the government is also competing with the private sector by going abroad to order for equipment and materials without input from the private sector, advising that there should be industry input before some decisions are taken.

Oye advised the government to partner with the private sector in the management of targeted interventions and also took a swipe at the $220m fine imposed on Meta by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).

“The issue of unnecessary fines, like the FCCPC fine of $220 million on Meta. How can you justify that? That can only scare our investors. And they’ve only told us in six months, we won’t have access to WhatsApp. So we need to have a coordinated approach,” he argued.

Calling for deeper collaboration between the public and private sectors, the NACCIMA president highlighted the role of government in providing policy and law, and even the incentives to encourage investments.

“So that’s why I say the government should work with us. They shouldn’t try to do it alone,” he advised.

Meanwhile, NACCIMA and the Organized Private Sector of Nigeria (OPSN) have said Nigeria’s massive public sector deficit is the biggest threat to the federal government’s goal of transforming the country into a $1 trillion economy by 2030.

In a statement, NACCIMA President, Oye, charged the federal government to adopt and implement a more rigorous public financial management strategy, emphasising the need to prioritise capital over recurrent spending, aggressively expanding the tax base rather than raising tax rates, improving expenditure efficiency, and plugging leakages across all levels of government.

He said: “While structural reforms are essential, we must confront a hard truth: persistent public sector deficits and continual borrowing, much of it to finance recurrent expenditure, continue to crowd out private investment and exert inflationary pressures.

“We urge the federal government to implement rigorous public financial management by: prioritising capital over recurrent spending; aggressively expanding the tax base rather than raising tax rates; improving expenditure efficiency and plugging leakages, and accelerating the sale or concessioning of underperforming public assets.”

Oye, also chairman of the OPSN noted: “These are critical steps not only for restoring macroeconomic stability, but for rebuilding investor and business confidence.”

He also commended the federal government, represented by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, and the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor (CBN), Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, for their candor in acknowledging the formidable macroeconomic and social challenges currently confronting the nation, as reiterated at the just concluded IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings.

The NACCIMA boss further applauded the government’s willingness to collaborate with development partners on job creation and youth empowerment, describing it as timely and commendable.

According to him: “We recognise the government’s laudable commitment to single-digit inflation, job creation, digital infrastructure development, and the ambition to transition to a $1 trillion economy by 2030.”

He however noted the recently released Africa Pulse report by the World Bank is a stark reminder of the urgent threat of deepening poverty in Nigeria, with the national poverty rate projected to surge to 56 per cent by 2027.

He added: “The dramatic growth in the number of Nigerians living below the poverty line, surging inflation, youth migration, and the expanded fiscal deficit, underscore the need for even faster, targeted, and pragmatic policy action.”

On key areas of concern and recommendations, Oye stated: “The Central Bank’s prevailing monetary stance, with commercial lending rates hovering at 30-40 per cent, risks stifling entrepreneurship, industrial production, and agricultural expansion.

“This credit environment, while targeting inflation, paradoxically holds the productive sector hostage and suppresses the job creation and innovation capacity of the private sector.

“NACCIMA, therefore, calls for targeted intervention funding and special credit windows for MSMEs and strategic sectors at concessionary rates to unlock growth, employment, and food security.” (THISDAY)