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The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) will today in Abuja, unveil complied investment incentives that will aid private sector participation in Nigeria’s economic recovery and growth plan (ERGP).
The investment incentives are contained in the ‘Compendium of Investment Incentives in Nigeria’, compiled by the NIPC and FIRS which will provide accurate and complete information on policies and investment framework in Nigeria, with information on incentives in the Nigerian tax laws and other sector-wide fiscal concessions thus far approved by the Nigerian Government.
A jointly-signed statement by Yewande Sadiku, executive secretary/CEO of the NIPC, and Tunde Fowler, executive chairman of the FIRS, explained that in compiling the information in the compendium, great care was taken to ensure completeness and accuracy.”
According to them, efforts were made to gather and collate all existing incentives and fiscal concessions announced by the Federal Government that were either supported by legislation or have been gazetted.”
They also believe the Compendium will serve as a guide to investors in line with the ERGP.
“The published Compendium will be updated periodically as more incentives are documented and gazetted as a demonstration of Nigerian Government’s unflinching commitment to encourage investments in Nigeria.”
Economy analysts who spoke to Businessday in anticipation of the Compendium strongly advised that if the ERGP economic transformation plan formulated by the Nigerian Government can be achieved , emphasis must be given to public and private sector reforms to boost investments, production.
“In this regard, the role of the private sector is important both in terms of its contribution to GDP, and its ability to allocate and employ resources efficiently,” the analysts said.
According to them, private investment, as a proxy for a dynamic private sector, is not only the engine for job creation and income generation, but also has a role to play in the provision of infrastructure and social services, since there cannot be growth without investment of sufficient amount and quality.
“Investment is both the cause and result of economic growth,” They said. “The critical challenge is that the necessary internal conditions for mobilising enough domestic savings to sustain sufficient levels of investment in productive and human capacities, be in place.”
The responsibility for the above, according to them, includes creating the conditions, through monetary and fiscal policies, that make it possible to secure the needed financial resources for investment.
The NIPC Act is one of those investment incentives as it contains many provisions that seek to attract both foreign and local private investment capital to various sectors of the economy.
For instance, Section 24 of the Act provides that a foreign investor in an enterprise to which the act applies shall be guaranteed unconditional transferability of funds through an authorized dealer in a freely convertible currency of dividends, profits, or any similar income.
Tax-based incentives are covered under different legislation and in different forms including reliefs, credits, exemptions, allowances, breaks/holidays, and drawbacks.
Okechukwu Enelama, minister of industry, trade and investment, Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, and Aisha Abubakar, minister of state for industry, trade and investment, facilitated the preparation of the compendium.
The ERGP is an economic transformation plan formulated by the Nigerian Government to drive structural economic transformation with an emphasis on improving both public and private sector efficiency. This is aimed at increasing national productivity and achieving sustainable diversification of production, to significantly grow the economy and achieve maximum welfare for the citizens, beginning with food and energy security.
The Investment Policies and Protections Section of the Compendium provides information on the national investment law, investment protection provisions, and international investment treaties/agreement that Nigeria has signed.
Similarly, the Tax-based Incentives Section deals with provisions that exist in the various tax laws/regulations , the personal income tax act (PITA), capital gains tax act (CGTA), corporate income tax act (CITA), and value added tax act (VATA), while the Tarrif-based Incentives Section discloses tariff concessions in the approved Fiscal Policy Measures for 2016.
BASHIR HASSAN
