The organised labour has urged the government to be wary of plans to introduce excise duty on non-alcoholic carbonated drinks, saying it could trigger serious consequences for Nigeria’s struggling economy.
Specifically, labour argued that such tax would be a recipe for retrenchments in the food and beverage sector where companies are presently struggling to keep their workforce amid rising Nigeria’s unemployment rate and drawbacks occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic.
Jimoh Oyibo, president, Food, Beverage and Tobacco Senior Staff Association (FOTOB), who raised the concern with journalists in Lagos, pointed out any excise duty on non-alcoholic drinks would mean additional burden on the manufacturers.
There have been back and forth debates on the introduction of excise duty on non-alcoholic carbonated drinks, with the Nigerian Custom Service (NCS) and federal ministry of finance pushing positions.
Proponents of the excise duty, including Hameed Ali, comptroller-general of Customs, say this applies in other climes, including South Africa, second largest economy in Africa, next to Nigeria. Some have also justified the push for excise duty on non-alcoholic drinks on the fact that there is also a 30 percent excise levy on alcoholic drinks.
But Oyibo argued these are not justifiable reasons to introduce the excise tax on the carbonated drinks.
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“This is not enough justification to subject non-alcoholic companies that are struggling to survive to another financial burden”.
The labour leader advised the government to rather engage stakeholders in order to arrive at a conclusion that best serves the interest of manufacturers, employees, government and the fragile economy.
Oyibo also pointed to the challenge of abuse of expatriate quota in the Nigerian food, beverage and tobacco industry. According to him, against the rule that allows expatriates only in technical areas where there are no qualified Nigerians, expatriates in the sector have taken over jobs that Nigerians have competencies for.
“We are seriously disturbed by the increase in the number of expatriates that have flooded the companies in our industry. This anomaly has led to continuous taking over of jobs that are exclusive rights of indigenous workers. Although we have tackled the menace in the past, I am again using this medium to state that we will continue the struggle to save our jobs”, he said.
The labour leader also decried the insecurity level in Nigeria, a development he said has negatively affected backward integration programme of companies in the food and beverage sector seeking to source their raw materials locally.
“People are being killed in their farms. How will backward integration policy be achieved without farmers going to farm”, he said.
Oyibo, therefore, called on the Federal Government to raise its game and tackle the increasing insecurity in the land and its effects on the economy and wellbeing of the citizens.
