Business

Govt’s Excise Duty Puts 950,000 Manufacturing, Allied industries jobs at Risk of Layoffs

Published

3 years ago

May 18, 2023

288 Views

The increases in excise duty on sweetend beverages, beers, tobacco and single use plastics by the Federal Government will severely affect 950,000 direct and indirect employees in the manufacturing sector’s value chain.

Based on this, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has called on the Federal Government to reverse the 2023 Fiscal Policy Measures, and retain the 2022 -2024 excise duty roadmap as approved in the 2022 FPM.

This is to foster stability in the affected sectors and their value chain.

Otunba Francis Meshioye, President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), said that the government had better suspend the policy in the interest of the national economy.

At a press conference in Lagos, the previous day, the MAN President noted that companies in the affected industries support other businesses in their value chain, cutting across agriculture, logistics, bottling, labelling and packaging businesses, as well as factory and office staff, distribution, wholesale and retail businesses, catering for over 950,000 direct and indirect employees.

” For instance, over 37,000 sorghum farmers rely on the brewing sector for their livelihood. Unemployment rate which stands at 41 percent , puts about 489,000 existing jobs at risk and which will further widen the unemployment gap,” he said .

He explained that a crash in sale volumes and consequent cuts in production will severely impact
these businesses in the value chain, which will have a multiplier effect on the national economy.

” For instance, supplier transactions in the sector declined by over N260 billion by the end of 2022, when compared to 2021,” he said.

He said that retaining the 2023 FPM will have a negative signalling effect on current and prospective investors.

“A continuing decline in sale volumes will necessitate production cuts and a re-evaluation of investments in the sector. Specifically, if sales proceeds can no longer sustain
business overheads and operating expenses, businesses will be forced to scale
down their operations which would result in factory closures, job losses, a decline in exports and much more.

It is instructive to note that the Excise increase is a direct attack on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI),” he said.

Commenting on the introduction of the Single Use Plastics tax, he said that it is necessary for the authority to reverse the tax on Single Use Plastics and engage with relevant stakeholders
to facilitate ongoing initiatives, which have a better prospect of achieving the desired environmental objectives.

“A good example of this is the Food & Beverage Recycling Alliance, approved by the federal government,” he said.

Business

Nigeria, UAE scrap tariffs on over 13,000 goods

Dr Oduwole said that the tariffs removal was part of a new trade pact aimed at expanding market access for Nigerian goods, businesses, and professionals, under the Nigeria–UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement signed in January 2026.

Published

13 hours ago

January 14, 2026

OCHEFA

16 Views

•Dr Jumoke Oduwole

Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates have signed an agreement to eliminate tariffs on 13,000 manufactured products.

Dr Jumoke Oduwole, Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment disclosed this, saying that while the Federal Government has eliminated tariffs on 6,243 products imported from the UAE , they have removed tariffs on 7,315 products imported from Nigeria.

Under the agreement, Nigeria will immediately remove tariffs on 3,949 products, representing 63.3 per cent of the total, while phasing out tariffs on 2,294 products over five years. Nigeria excluded 123 products from tariff liberalisation.

On its part, the UAE will immediately eliminate tariffs on 2,805 products, representing 38.3 per cent of the total, remove tariffs on 1,468 products within three years, and on 3,042 products within five years.

The UAE excluded or prohibited 593 products.

Business

CBN: 60 newly recruits staff laments three years of waiting without engagement

The concerned staff appealed to the CBN Governor, President Bola Tinubu, and other stakeholders to look into their plights, as economic hardship has taken a toll on them after about three years of leaving their jobs.

Published

2 days ago

January 13, 2026

OCHEFA

24 Views

• CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso

A group of newly recruited staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have cried out over delayed posting and onboarding into various positions since August 28, 2023.

The Guardian reported that according to the employees, the Apex Bank issued the offer, which was followed by an acceptance copy and instructions to resign from their previous places of work, where applicable, as part of documentation.

“We all tendered resignation letters to our former employers at that time to enable us to proceed with the CBN process,” one of the affected employees, Emmanuel Linus Dabo, who spoke on behalf of others,, told newsmen on Monday.

According to him, the application process started in April 2023, where their resumé were submitted to the Headquarters of CBN, and after some time, they received emails from the Human Resources Department for interview and aptitude tests.

“We did a medical examination at the bank’s medical clinic, where a code was given to individual applicants before we could access the hospital.

After the interview and medical and aptitude tests, the successful applicants were contacted by the HR manager to come to CBN Headquarters in Abuja to pick up their offer letter. We filled the acceptance letter without delay,” he said.

He further stated that there was a series of e-mails from the Human Resources office requesting that they forward their credentials for the online documentation, including their acknowledged resignation letters from their previous employers…

Business

KPMG, NRS settle rifts over new tax laws

In its newsletter on January 9, KPMG said there are “errors, inconsistencies, gaps, omissions, and lacunae” in the new tax laws that require urgent reconsideration to ensure the achievement of their stated objectives.

Published

2 days ago

January 13, 2026

OCHEFA

26 Views

KPMG executives and Zaach Adedeji, chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), held a meeting on Monday following the disagreement over the new tax laws.

However, on January 10, the presidential fiscal policy and tax reforms committee pushed back against KPMG’s critique, noting that KPMG does not understand the laws.

The committee said a significant proportion of the issues described as “errors,” “gaps,” or “omissions” by KPMG are either the firm’s own errors and invalid conclusions, or matters not properly understood by the firm.

In a statement on Monday, the NRS said that Adedeji hosted a courtesy visit from the delegation of the tax advisory firm.

” During the visit, the KPMG team clarified that their earlier opinion on the new tax laws “had been misconstrued and expressed regret over the misunderstanding.

“They sought further clarity on the provisions of the laws and highlighted areas where recommendations could be made.”

The source said that the meeting ended with the delegation commended the NRS chairman for efficiently and promptly implementing the reforms.