Ifeanyi Okoye is the president of the Nigerian Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA). He speaks with select journalists on the way forward for Nigeria’s fuel supply and pricing debacle. He also examines FG’s economic reforms and their impact on labour, employers, manufacturers and Nigerans generally. BusinessDay’s Joshua Bassey brings excerpts.
The organised labour said recently that by increasing fuel price again, the FG betrayed them. What’s your take on this?
Nobody expected the fuel price increase and I don’t also blame the labour for claiming that they were tricked into it because we expected that with the new minimum wage of N70,000 presented to labour, things would get better at first. Unfortunately, this has come up and I don’t think this is good for the Nigerian workers, including the employers.
The government has been tricking us into believing that the Port Harcourt refinery would soon start working and we have all taken that as already done. But till today we have not seen the refinery producing. And our only hope which is the Dangote refinery, is busy doing forth and back with the government, which is also a problem.
So, I think for Nigerian employers and, of course, the labour themselves, it is not something palatable, it is not something acceptable. But we hope that something will be done by the government, at least, we are looking forward to that.
Nigerians were thinking that fuel pump price would go down with the coming of Dangote. But his recent message to Nigerians was that the government would be the one to fix price. It’s like the government is now dictating the price – monopoly, with the NNPC by its side, what is your take on this?
“I don’t think that government has declared that they would be dictating the price, because we know that according to the government, to deregulate the price of fuel is making it free for all and they don’t have the right again to start talking about dictating the price to Nigerians.
If there is a need or any reason to interfere with the price of fuel, that means that fuel has not been deregulated. And with the way it is going, I don’t think that fuel price is fully deregulated.
But we believe that there are steps to get this fuel price stabilised and monitor the dealers to ensure that they don’t rip off Nigerians. I would want to believe that is what the government is looking at, but for the government to say that they have not deregulated fuel price, it is not acceptable because you have announced openly to the people and they have accepted it, but with the way things are going, it is looking like a joke.’’
So, should subsidy on fuel be removed totally?
This issue of subsidy has been creating a lot of corruption in the petroleum business in Nigeria. The best advice I can give is the complete removal of subsidy and allowing private individuals to play in the field, just as Dangote has done.
The government has a lot of other areas they need to subsidise. I was very excited when I got information about the government subsidising electricity in government hospitals and schools. But the issue of subsidising fuel has been breeding a lot of corruption as we all know. So, the best thing would be to completely remove subsidy from fuel and possibly subsidise other aspects of the economy.
As the president of NECA, what should employers expect from you?
NECA is the voice of employers in Nigeria and what I’m expected to do is to push the issues that NECA is known for and make it better for Nigerian employers. That’s exactly why I’m here, and that’s what I’m going to do.
In the last four years, many foreign firms have exited Nigeria, including those in the pharmaceutical sector where you belong, leaving many Nigerians jobless. How should this issue be tackled?
I think these are some of the issues the government needs to address. There are a lot of issues bothering manufacturers in Nigeria; one of which is the lack of adequate infrastructure. When you’re manufacturing in Nigeria, you’re paying a lot, providing your own infrastructure, you buy your generators and provide security for your organisation and yourself. You also have unpredictable foreign exchange and instability in government policies to contend with.
All these are the major reasons why the companies are leaving and to get them back or accommodate them, the government needs to seriously sort out these things one by one.
No investor wants to go to where he won’t make his money back, so the government should look into the essential infrastructure, and provided them within the country and make them acceptable for any business owner to work with.
The government has been making efforts to create better environment and policies. Will you say the on-going reforms by the FG are making positive impact for the private sector?
“I don’t think the government is doing enough. Yes, they are making effort, but whatever is not in the best form. They have come out to say they have done this and they have done that, yet the issues remain the same and it is affecting the employers and manufacturers.
When you are making changes and the people you claim you are making the changes for are not feeling the impact, then something is wrong. It is clear that the people receiving the impact are not yet comfortable.
There was a recent statement by one of the ministers that President Tinubu did not promise Nigeria ‘Silver Bullet’; figuratively saying that the president didn’t promise to give solutions. How do you react to this?
I do not want to agree with you that President Tinubu did not promise Nigerians solutions.
There’s a proposed stabilisation by the government for the manufacturing industry worth N650 billion. How relieving is this for you?
In a recent Annual General Meeting of one the manufacturers, it was mentioned that no key manufacturer has received any fund from the government, and I think I agree with that.
But we are still hoping that something will be done and it was also recommended that the people to benefit must be the people that are recognised by the manufacturers, possibly members of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), or at least, through NECA, because all members of MAN are also members of NECA by association. So, if that is done, it will be easier to know that something has been given out and not that tomorrow you’ll come out with names of so-called beneficiaries when it is clear that no known manufacturer has benefited from it.
What would you recommend to address the issue of FOREX crisis?
When they had to stop the issue of having different exchange rates for different people, that if well-managed should be one of the best means of stabilising the economy so that the naira would take its rightful position.
Forcing the naira to occupy a wrong position can never last and the best way to do it, I believe is the way the president has started it; allow the naira take its position by not giving out different exchange rates so that whoever is coming in can see it at the same rate.
If that is kept religiously, I believe the naira will take its rightful position and stabilise, so that whoever is going into any business will be aware of what they are going into, not that you will buy a dollar at 1,600 naira and someone else gets it at 1,200 naira. That doesn’t show stability.
What would you consider as the fair value of the naira to dollar?
I cannot do that right now because until it is allowed to take its rightful position to create that value on its own. I can’t seat here and tell exactly the value of the naira to dollar should be. If the naira is allowed to create its own value, we will see it stabilise.
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