Financial Energy Review
The Federal Government has been advised to accelerate the Presidential Power Initiative to upscale power supply in the country.
In addition, State governments and private investors should be supported to leverage the decentralization power supply and off grid power solutions.
Giving the advise, while in a paper titled “FUEL SUBSIDY REMOVAL: ENSURING INCLUSIVE, IMPACTFUL AND SUSTAINABLE PALLIATIVE MEASURES” by the Center For The Promotion Of Private Enterprise, CPPE, which analysed the impact of petrol subsidy withdrawal, its Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Muda Yusuf, pointed that quick wins in the power improvement strategy should be implemented immediately to reduce the demand for petroleum products [petrol and diesel] for purposes of electricity generation by households and businesses.
In particular, Yusuf, urged Government to urgently consider putting an end to the pricing of gas in dollars for domestic use, especially for manufacturers.
According to him, “Necessary urgent steps must be taken by government to put an end to this dollarization framework to ensure a moderation in energy cost for the manufacturing sector, adding that Government should take urgent steps to reduce the cost of Liquified Petroleum Gas, LPG to households.
He expressed happiness with the recent reduction in the LPG price but said the price reduction trajectory should be sustained to ease pressure on households and prevent deforestation.
Yusuf also called for the introduction of incentives to stimulate private investment in pipelines as this would sufficiently reduce distribution costs of petroleum products.
He again called for the abolition of all forms of taxes and import duty on renewable energy equipment to boost the adoption of renewable energy by households and SMEs. Such waivers would make renewable energy adoption affordable, adding, “This reduction should cover relevant equipment like solar panels, inverters, batteries etc. This would make citizens less reliant on the electricity grid.”
He also called for drastic reduction in import duty on intermediate products for food processing industry in the country.
In his consideration, The Government should engage major food processing companies to determine specific policy options for the realization of this objective as that would moderate food inflation.
He said, “All agricultural inputs – machineries, agrochemicals, fertilizer, etc. should attract zero import duty and zero VAT. This would boost investment in agriculture, especially commercial agriculture. Higher agricultural output would boost food production and ultimately moderate food inflation.”
Yusuf, also stressed the need to provide generous tax and other fiscal incentives for private investors in healthcare to conserve foreign exchange through a reversal of the growing medical tourism in the country.
He went further to suggest that, “Generous tax and other fiscal incentives should be given to private investors in education. This would enable the private sector complement the efforts of government in providing quality education , especially at the primary and secondary levels.
“Generous tax and tariff concessions to incentivize rapid growth in investment in refineries. The outlook for growth in refineries investment is very bright given the elimination of fuel subsidy. This is also in line with the commitment to promoting competition in the petroleum downstream sector.”
In addition he said gross monthly salaries of N200,000 and below should be exempted from payment of Personal Income Tax [PAYE] as this will give the low-income earners some room to improve their spending capacity and reduce poverty.
