Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The Federal Government has been called upon to consider privatising national refineries to make them fully functional and save money.
This appeal was made by President of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Dr Frank Jacobs, in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.
Dr Jacobs said privatising the refineries would also help boost the economic situation of the country, if fully functional.
According to the NAN President, “Government should consider privatising the four national refineries to make them fully functional to save money for other purposes.
“Proper deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector will encourage private investment in domestic refining and petrochemical industry.”
He said further that external and domestic borrowing were important and credible options open to government in this period of economic hardship.
However, he suggested that the borrowing be contracted on long term basis with low interest rate and should be targeted, preferably to galvanise the productive sector.
Dr Jacobs also said that there was need for government to adjust down taxes such as Corporate Income Tax, Value Added Tax, and Personal Income Tax to reduce dwindling investment.
“This is necessary considering that the country is in recession with growth of the productive sector being negative and the prevailing weak consumption as a result of inflation.
“It is not advisable to increase CIT, VAT and PAYE; already the productive sector is hit with dwindling investment; any further tax increase will crowd out more investment in the sector.
“I will suggest that the current Tax-GDP Ratio of 12 per cent, which is below the World Bank benchmark of 18 per cent, may be raised by widening the tax net.
“Effort should also be made to ensure that all taxable individuals and entities are covered.
“Taxes on luxurious goods and property may also be raised,” he submitted.
NAN
