Bimbo Ashiru, Ogun State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry on Tuesday requested all tiers of government in the country to reduce all taxes levied on the investors and entrepreneurs, especially operators of micro, small and Medium-scale enterprises as a way of improving ease of doing business in the country.
Ashiru, who was a lead presenter at the 8th National Conference of School of Management Studies held at the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State, also noted that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as a matter of necessity, must lessen the critical bottlenecks and bureaucracy that impede access to all the credit schemes currently available to stimulate the economy.
The Ogun State governorship aspirant on the platform of All Progressives Congress declared that it was not enough to fight militancy in the Niger Delta; Boko Haram insurgency in the North and diversify the economy from oil-based without a focus on tax reduction and improved access to credit facilities.
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He said, “Tax rates on individuals, small and medium scale enterprise, and corporations should be reduced by at least 20 per cent. This in effect will increase disposable income, purchasing power and the ease of doing business in Nigeria. The foreign investor will be encouraged with the reduction in the tax rate.
“This will increase the inflows of dollar to Nigeria and ultimately increase new investment and also solve the problem of high exchange rate resulting from Forex scarcity. Tax net should be extended to cover tax invaders and other taxable individuals and entities.
“The raising of the cash reserve requirement (CRR) and monetary policy rate (MPR) which pursue monetary tightening is not an accommodative monetary policy for an economy in recession.
“Therefore, the CBN should increase access to credit facilities by reducing the real interest rate to encourage new investment by both foreign and domestic investors. With the increase of money supply and reducing interest rates in the short run, Central Bank can improve the deteriorated economic performance.”
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While speaking on what government at all levels should do to ensure that rate of unemployment is drastically reduced and wealth is created to improve the economy, and curb increasing crime rate reportedly committed by the restless, reckless and jobless youths everywhere in Nigeria.
Ashiru declared, “To reduce unemployment, the government should invest in the informal sector of the economy since it can no longer absorb the increasing number of job seekers in the country by providing the necessary infrastructures and enforcing laws to protect and support the sector.
“Government should also invest in Technical and Vocational skill such as; soap making, beads making, cake baking, event planning, event decoration, photography, IT, telecommunication, agro-allied, sports among others.
“Government should empower the youth to go into agriculture by providing a platform for free training on various aspect of agriculture, modern agricultural equipment and off-takers for their produce.”
RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta
