Ekechukwu Restates Case For Tax Waivers For SMEs

Chijioke Ekechukwu, the Director-General of Abuja Chamber Of Commerce and Industry, ACCI, has again urged government to strongly consider giving tax holidays to small and medium scale enterprises (SME) in the Federal Capital Territory.

While commending the Federal Government of Nigeria for providing N220 billion loans scheme for, Ekechukwu, who was appointed as the Director-General of ACCI earlier this month, maintained that gains of the loans may as well be wiped out given the inclement conditions under which business operates in the FCT like other parts of the country. He said that the loans would assist the small scale enterprise holders in their various businesses.

However, Ekechukwu said that a situation where an entrepreneur generated his own power, water, build his road and provides other facilities for his business would not augur well for profit making. He urged the government to intervene in the areas to fast track the nation’s economic development.

He further advised the government to remove all stringent measures preventing the entrepreneurs to access the loans so that the SMEs could quickly get them for their businesses. Ekechukwu canvassed that a stop gap measure of creating balance is for governments to remove hindrance like multiple taxation.

“There are so many taxes that a man who starts his business today will pay such as the corporate tax, P.A.Y.E, tenement rate etc. I think any country that wants to grow its medium scale enterprises should actually give tax reliefs to its investors.

“In fact Ghana did it recently by giving serious tax holidays to its various businesses and now investors have begun to troop into the country because of the tax relief. And I expect the Nigerian government to do same by giving tax rebate to its investors now that the nation is in economic recession to attract investments’’, Ekechukwu said.