In a bid to address the country’s current economic quagmire, Industry experts have called on organisations to diversify Product and services while eliminating all forms of wastages.
This was made known at a breakfast seminar organised by one of Nigeria’s Foremost Managing Consulting Firm – Pedabo Limited, themed: ‘surviving the Tides, the Bumps and the Jolts: Building solid business success in 2017’ in Lagos.
The Seminar, which was well attended by several notable personalities, MD/CEO’s, Captains of Industry and other Government Functionaries revealed that plans by businesses to survive amid the current economic recession in Nigeria must be built on a robust investment in research and development, and an improved organisational efficiency.
According to reports from the event, Economic experts have observed that in a recession, companies and businesses need to reduce cost in some selected areas of the organisation and focus more on how to improve organisational efficiency and invest comprehensively on marketing, research and development and new assets.
Finance Director, Vodacom Business Nigeria, Oluseyi Olanrewaju, in his presentation titled: Building Business Resilience in a Recession: A way forward in 2017 observed that weak demand for companies’ products and services; Low availability of cash flow management options; Operational cost challenges amongst other continues to threaten business in Nigeria today.
According to him, “Some of the ways great companies come out of recession stronger is through periodic assessment of business Performance against pre-determined parameters; Check and block revenue leakages and getting a balance between cost cutting to survive and investing to grow”.
While commenting, Managing Consultant, Pedabo Limited, Albert Folorunsho observed that recession is real and is here saying that companies must take proactive actions to survive.
In his presentation titled: “Surviving the Tides, the Bumps and the Jolts,” Folorunsho opined that tax obligations are critical in determining survival of businesses; Transaction Structuring is also critical; Contract Review; Operational Documentation among other measure are needed to stay competitive.
He however pointed out that drop in Global Oil Price; Drop in Crude Production Output; Political Environment; Loss of Investors’ Confidence; Corruption have in no small ways contributed to the present economic predicament Nigeria is facing.
Folorunsho called on the managers of the economy to lower taxes and increase fiscal incentives; reduce direct tax rates, increased Corporate and Individual Disposable Income, introduce fiscal incentives and stimulant while boosting Private Sector Investments-FDI.
On his part, Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Tunde Fowler said that now more than ever in our national development, there is a need for citizens to play a significant role in raising sustainable revenue for development.
Fowler in his presentation: Revenue Authority’s Mandate: Balancing Obligation With Taxpayer Empathy observed that it has become clear over the years that reliance on perishable resources like oil as a source of revenue is ill advised and more organic sources particularly taxation, are reliable.
“This leads us to a bit of a dilemma because government, through the FIRS and SBIRs needs to perform a delicate balancing act carrying out its obligations while being sensitive to the taxpayers own economic viability and well-being”. He said.
He further said that taxation places a higher burden of accountability on government, while providing taxpayers with a greater stake in governance. At its core, taxation is a social contract between Government and taxpayers.
“Where citizens play such a significant role in raising revenue, government will similarly have a strong motivation to account for revenues collected and their utilization. In actualising its mandate however, revenue authorities must ensure that every effort is made to see that the taxpayer is not overburdened,” he said.
