Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has advised the Nigerian Government to address fundamental causes of rising inflation rates by making a positive business climate a reality.
The President of the Chamber, Dr. Al-Mujtaba Abubakar in a statement while responding to the report on the national inflation rate by the National Bureau of Statistics, observed that despite the best efforts of the government, the inflation rate is on the increase.
“While we appreciate the efforts of the administration to tame the increasing inflation rate, we note that the situation is far from improving. This has complicated the business climate and deepened challenges facing small-scale businesses.”
“The increase can be attributed mainly to the fuel scarcity being experienced in the country, where many resolve to buy at black market rate.” Dr. Abubakar said.
He explained that this occurrence tends to have a negative effect on businesses as fuel and diesel is the major source of energy for running businesses.
“Furthermore, the Russian-Ukraine war is still biting hard on the global market which made wheat, bread, gas and others to be relatively expensive.” He stated.
“The government should implement business-friendly policies unlike the cash swap policy that negatively affected businesses, especially the MSMEs”.
He also urged the government to intensify the rehabilitation of refineries in the country and concession them to private entities.
“The Executive and legislative arm of government should speed up the passage of the bill to unbundle the transmission aspect of electricity in Nigeria as it will make the power sector deliver on their mandate to serve Nigerians efficiently.” The ACCI boss added.
Tax harmonization
He pointed out that tax harmonization will improve the ease of doing business, make the market competitive and reduce business mortality.
“Government should begin to make use of satellite for surveillance by equipping the space agency to improve in addition to the equipping and retooling of our armed security force.”
Olusola Akintonde
