The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), has sought the exclusion of Value Added Tax (VAT) on diesel. This, it believed, would address the alarming price of the product.
BizWatch Nigeria understands that as of Monday, July 11, 2022, diesel was selling between N600 and N800 per litre, from less than N200 early this year.
In a statement by its Director-General, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, MAN said the alarming price of diesel had become a major constraint with spiral effects.
“MAN is greatly concerned about the implications of the over 200% increase in the price of diesel on the Nigerian economy and the manufacturing sector in particular,” the statement reads.
Aside from the exclusion of VAT on diesel, the association also sought the enablement to import the commodity into Nigeria from neighbouring countries.
“In light of the gravity of the precarious situation that we have found ourselves as a nation and the looming dangers ahead, the expectations of manufacturers in Nigeria are as follows: that government should urgently allow manufacturers and independent petroleum products marketing companies to also import AGO (diesel) from the Republic of Niger and Chad by immediately opening up border posts in that axis to cushion the effect of the supply gap driven the high cost of AGO (Automotive Gas Oil),” it said.
The association also requested the government to “issue licences to manufacturing concerns and operators in the aviation industry to import diesel and aviation fuel directly to avert the avoidable monumental paralysis of manufacturing activities arising from total shut down of production operations and movement of persons for business activities”.
“More worrisome is the deafening silence from the public sector as regards the plight of manufacturers. Four obvious questions that readily come to mind that are seriously begging for answers are: What can we do as a nation to strengthen our economic absorbers from external shocks?
“Should manufacturing companies that are already battered with multiple taxes, poor access to foreign exchange, and now over 200 per cent increase in the price of diesel be advised to shut down operations?
“Should we fold our arms and allow the economy to slip into the valley of recession again? Is the nation well equipped to manage the resulting explosive inflation and unemployment rates?” it added.
