The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NIPC) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has revealed a series of investment incentives aimed at catalyzing private sector participation in restoring economic growth, investing in people, and building a competitive economy, the three strategic thrusts of Nigeria’s economic recovery and growth plan (ERGP).
The investment incentives are contained in the ‘Compendium of Investment Incentives in Nigeria’, compiled by the NIPC and FIRS. The Compendium provides accurate and complete information on policies and investment framework in Nigeria, with information on incentives in the Nigerian tax laws and other sector-wide fiscal concessions thus far approved by the Nigerian Government.
“In compiling the information in the compendium, great care was taken to ensure completeness and accuracy,” said Yewande Sadiku, executive secretary/CEO of the NIPC, and Tunde Williams Fowler, executive chairman of the FIRS, in a jointly-signed statement on the matter. “Efforts were made to gather and collate all existing incentives and fiscal concessions announced by the Federal Government that were either supported by legislation or have been gazetted.”
READ ALSO:NIPC, 26 states develop information data bank for investment promotion
The Compendium, which will be unveiled on Friday, November 3, 2017, at the NIPC headquarters in Abuja, is broadly divided into three sections: Investment Policies and Protections, Tax-based incentives, and tariff-based incentives. According to the statement, it is intended to be a repository of available incentives that will serve as a guide to investors in line with the ERGP.
The ERGP is an economic transformation plan formulated by the Nigerian Government to drive structural economic transformation with an emphasis on improving both public and private sector efficiency. This is aimed at increasing national productivity and achieving sustainable diversification of production, to significantly grow the economy and achieve maximum welfare for the citizens, beginning with food and energy security.
The Investment Policies and Protections Section of the Compendium provides information on the national investment law, investment protection provisions, and international investment treaties/agreement that Nigeria has signed.
Similarly, the Tax-based Incentives Section deals with provisions that exist in the various tax laws/regulations, the personal income tax act (PITA), capital gains tax act (CGTA), corporate income tax act (CITA), and value-added tax act (VATA), while the Tariff-based Incentives Section discloses tariff concessions in the approved Fiscal Policy Measures for 2016.
Sadiku told BusinessDay that the soon-to-be-published Compendium will be updated periodically as more incentives are documented and gazetted as a demonstration of the Nigerian Government’s unflinching commitment to encourage investments in Nigeria.
Economy analysts who spoke to BusinessDay said that Nigeria’s economic growth and development depends on its ability to attract private sector investments and make productive and efficient use of its resources.
READ ALSO: NIPC: Nigeria needs bold, coherent policy changes to attract FDI
“In this regard, the role of the private sector is important both in terms of its contribution to GDP, and its ability to allocate and employ resources efficiently,” the analysts said.
According to them, private investment, as a proxy for a dynamic private sector, has not only been seen as the engine for job creation and income generation but also has a role to play in the provision of infrastructure and social services, since there cannot be growth without the investment of sufficient amount and quality.
“Investment is both the cause and result off economic growth,” They said. “The critical challenge is that the necessary internal conditions for mobilising enough domestic savings to sustain sufficient levels of investment in productive and human capacities be in place.”
The responsibility for the above, according to them, includes creating the conditions, through monetary and fiscal policies, that make it possible to secure the needed financial resources for investment.
The NIPC Act is one of those investment incentives as it contains many provisions that seek to attract both foreign and local private investment capital to various sectors of the economy.
For instance, Section 24 of the Act provides that a foreign investor in an enterprise to which the act applies shall be guaranteed unconditional transferability of funds through an authorized dealer in a freely convertible currency of dividends, profits, or any similar income.
Tax-based incentives are covered under different legislation and in different forms including reliefs, credits, exemptions, allowances, breaks/holidays, and drawbacks.
Okechukwu Enelama, minister of industry, trade and investment, Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, and Aisha Abubakar, minister of state for industry, trade and investment, facilitated the preparation of the compendium.
BASHIR IBRAHIM HASSAN
