The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has said that the regulatory environment is crucial to the operations, viability and profitability of businesses in Nigeria.
The President of the Chamber, Mr. Paul Babatunde Ruwase who made this known in his opening remarks at the Regulatory Environment Roundtable organized by the LCCI in Lagos on Tuesday acknowledged that these institutions had been in the forefront of promoting standards and protecting the country from the incidences of substandard and fake products over the years adding that “these are sensitive and enormous responsibilities that are critical to the growth and survival of our economy”.
Ruwase, however, noted that there were some regulatory actions that were not consistent with the ease of doing business policy of the federal government even as he went ahead to list these actions to include; high regulatory compliance costs, lack of clarity in regulatory requirements, overlapping regulatory functions among others.
He added that it was imperative to minimize the burden of regulation on investors if the private sector must play the desired role of wealth and job creation as prescribed in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).
He said, “Already, businesses are generally burdened with the challenges of infrastructural deficiencies and macroeconomic shocks. Today, most investors are saddled with huge cost for the provision of electricity, access road, security and other industry-specific facilities in the midst of poor access to affordable credit, multiple taxation and high exchange rate.
“In recent years, we have received complaints from companies bordering on regulations, monitoring and compliance at the states and federal levels.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the real sector and SMEs are critical to national economic development, especially with regards to job creation and poverty reduction. Since government alone cannot generate the desired jobs needed to gainfully engage the teeming unemployed youths, the private sector and especially, the SMEs should be empowered and supported.
“Today, our members and industry operators have the opportunity to listen to regulatory agencies and also interact with them on regulatory issues that impact on businesses. I welcome everyone once again to this interactive session and urge you to take maximum advantage of the engagement with our regulatory institutions for the purpose of bringing an improvement to the regulatory environment for investors”.
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