Despite tax reforms, state agencies, non-state actors still collect levies from businesses in Apapa — LCCI

•Says over N100bn lost by manufacturers to renewed congestion on the corridor

Nine months after the new tax law, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has said that manufacturers on the Apapa Corridor are still being stopped by several agencies and non-state actors between the port and their factories.

The new tax laws consolidated more than 100 sub-national taxes into nine revenue heads, abolished revenue roadblocks and banned cash collection, with penalties of up to ?5 million or three years’ imprisonment.

But, the Chamber lamented that despite the existence of the law, and the renewed congestion on the ever-busy route, manufacturers on the corridor had lost over N100billion, due to undue delays,

The Chamber’s President, Engineer Leye Kupoluyi, who disclosed this, while giving his third quarter review of the nation’s economy, in Lagos, argued that multiple taxation continues to constitute a major constraint to the growth of the  nation’s real sector, nine months after the introduction of the tax reforms by the federal government.

Engineer Kupoluyi, therefore,  called on the Joint Revenue Board and state governments to publish a consolidated schedule of lawful levies for each state, prosecute illegal collectors, visibly, under the new penalties, and establish a tax ombudsman.

He also threw the Chamber’s weight behind a single consolidated bill for port-related charges and a no-tout zone across Lagos industrial and port areas.

On the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)) to reduce the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 350 basis points, from 26.5 percent to 23 percent, the LCCI boss noted that a lower policy rate can, through the monetary-policy transmission mechanism, reduce the cost of funds in the financial system, improve credit conditions, and support private-sector investment and economic activity.

He, however, argued that reduction in the MPR should not be interpreted as an automatic reduction in the cost or availability of credit to businesses; adding that the transmission from the policy rate to lending rates and actual credit allocation remains critical.

Kupoluyi also noted that despite having  a lower MPR, the lending environment remains challenging; insisting that  unless the underlying business risks confronting enterprises are simultaneously addressed, the reduction in the MPR may have a limited impact on actual credit access for many SMEs.

Reacting to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s warnings that Artificial Intelligence (AI) may worsen job crisis in Nigeria and other developing economies, Kupoluyi called for robust governance of AI technology in Nigeria to prevent abuses and unethical deployments,  detrimental to jobs.