The Lagos Chamber of commerce and Industry has urged the Federal Government to accelerate efforts towards improving Nigeria’s export infrastructure as is crucial to boosting the country’s foreign trade capacity.
The president of the chamber, Michael Olawale-Cole, stated this during the LCCI quarterly state of the economy press conference in Lagos.
Noting that Nigeria’s foreign trade in goods declined by 9.68 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter of 2022 to N11.60tn from N12.84tn, Olawale-Cole said it was high time the government took concrete steps towards boosting non-oil exports.
He said, “To significantly grow the trade surplus, we need more investment in export infrastructure, enhanced and automated port operations, tackling high production costs, and boosting the supply side of the forex market to improve liquidity and ease access to forex.
“We need to also diversify our exports by boosting local crude refining capacity, production of petrochemical products, and accelerating reforms in the oil & gas sector to attract more foreign investments in the coming months.”
Speaking on Nigeria’s Finance Bill, the LCCI president urged the Federal Government to create an investment-friendly oil and gas industry in order to attract the needed investments into the sector.
He noted that recent statistics revealed that Nigeria has struggled to attract investments into the Oil & Gas industry and that investments in the Nigerian oil and gas sector have declined significantly in the last 7 years.
According to him, with the divestments by some international oil companies from the oil and gas sector, Nigeria needs to reposition the industry through a steeply implemented Petroleum Industry Act to pave way for new investments and also encourage indigenous companies to reflate the sector with the required investments.
He said, “The chamber will continue to work towards mobilising the private sector to support the implementation of the 2023 federal budget. On achieving revenue targets for the budget, the MDAs and government-owned enterprises can intensify their revenue mobilisation efforts in an enabling environment where the private sector thrives.
To achieve the laudable objectives of the 2023 budget, we urge the government to sustain current efforts toward the realisation of crude oil production and export targets by creating an investment-friendly oil and gas industry. Public-Private Partnerships are the best models to fast-track the pace of our infrastructural development.”
In his recommendation, Olawale-Cole suggested that the Tertiary Education Tax should be retained at 2.5 per cent and the CIT for all oil and gas companies should remain at 30 per cent.
He also called for the amendment of the Petroleum Profit Tax Act.
He further recommended that Finance Bills be presented for extensive stakeholders’ consultations before they are passed by the National Assembly.
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