The Organised Private Sector Nigeria (OPSN) is set to engage with key political parties/candidates, to interrogate their economic blueprints and how positively or otherwise they will impact businesses, ahead of the 2023 general election.
The OPSN is the umbrella body of business membership organisations that represents the interest of the private sector in Nigeria. It includes Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), National Association for Small & Medium Enterprise (NASME), National Chambers of Commerce, Industries, Mines & Agriculture (NACCIMA) and National Association of Small-Scale Industrialist (NASSI).
The OPSN is organising the dialogue in collaboration with the Association of Nigerian Women Business Network (ANWBN), the Institute of Directors Centre for Corporate Governance (IoDCCG), and the Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)/ National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a USA based democracy and enterprise promotion organisation,
The roundtable dialogue, which will hold Tuesday, January 17, 2023 at Movenpick (formerly Southern Sun) Hotel, Alfred Rewane Way, Ikoyi, Lagos, will enable the OPSN present its policy document that outlines priorities for political parties to adopt as Nigeria gears up for a new governance dispensation.
Read also: 2023: Groups decry alleged political marginalisation of Ogoja in Cross River
According to a statement from the OPSN, “in the past two decades, asymmetry in governance has fraught the Nigerian economy with a litany of challenges. Hence economic activities, industrial and non-industrial operations have grossly been depressed, which accounts for the lingering poor performances of macro and socio-economic indicators in the country – GDP exchange rate, interest and inflation rates, industrial and manufacturing production, per capita GDP, unemployment and youth unemployment, poverty and many more have all degenerated.”
The OPSN, in the statement, quoted the World Development Report 2013, which said the private sector creates nine out of every ten jobs globally.
“It is, therefore, a critical force in national economic development and as such should be allowed to partner with the government in the design, formulation, implementation, and monitoring of economic policies in the country for greater wealth creation and economic growth of any nation.
“The OPSN believes that the expected political dispensation in 2023 presents a veritable opportunity to address and redress the challenges through reshaped economic policies and implementation, so as to swiftly rekindle and improve productivity in the economy
“Consequently, OPSN will be presenting a field-based policy priority document as proposition to political parties at the roundtable dialogue slated for Tuesday, January 17, 2023.”
It said the document captures the perspectives of the organised businesses on issues that would promote contributions of the private sector in Nigeria.
“The document also provides salient recommendations on the best approach to resolving the challenges, which includes a framework that will involve the organised private sector in the design, formulation, implementation, and monitoring of policies that would affect business sustainability and economic development of the nation by the next administration,” the OPSN said.
