Organised Private Sector, OPS, has described the Nigerian business environment as the most regulated globally.
Speaking through the Director General of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, Dr Timothy Olawale, they contended that Nigeria’s regulatory agencies see private sector as a honey pot of gold mine where they can make money for government even outside the scope of the law.
In a chat with iBrandTV, Olawale said “Nigeria arguably is the most regulated business environment globally. As a matter of fact, it is over regulated. Every regulatory agency in Nigeria is jostling with one another to play a part and have a slice of the cake. Most of them see the private sector as a honey pot of gold mine where they can make money for government even outside the scope of the law.
READ ALSO: No to planned hike on electricity tariff
‘‘Businesses are struggling in Nigerian environment. Many businesses are closing shops and many of them are in the throes of the deficit infrastructure that we are battling with. If you know the millions of dollars that are expended every year on power generation to keep businesses going, you will marvel.”
Commenting on other challenges facing businesses he said: “Apart from the power deficit, now we are faced with increase in the tariff of electricity that is not even regular in the first instance. We have just entered a new era of the increase in the Value Added Tax, VAT. We have instances like Lagos State where you pay for the water you are generating yourself because there is failure by government to provide utilities you can pay. Now out of self help, to do what ordinarily government should have done, you are being penalized for it. You are asked to pay for every litre of water that you have used your money to generate. The list is endless. Is it road construction, or light? We have companies involved in corporate social responsibility just to make their work environment clement by doing road construction, street lighting and so on. What they get from these, is over-taxation, harassment and intimidation.’’
