The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has reiterated that regulatory bodies have continued to be a clog in the wheel of progress of the Organised Private Sector (OPS).
The association during a visit to the
Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, last week lamented that the regulatory bodies were working at cross purpose.
The association also warned that except the vision behind the Ease of Doing Business was allowed to work; they may be forced to go to court, to seek for redress, because of the issue of non-accessibility of some of the chief executives of some regulatory bodies, who seemingly love putting spanners in the work.
The NECA Director-General, Timothy Olawale, said the meeting focused on NECA’s concerns on issues of competitiveness of business and sustainability in Nigeria.
“There are several of them, but key among them are the issue of regulatory bodies that are working at cross purpose.
“The Ease of doing Business that is being championed by the Office of the Vice President and Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC); what we are saying is that we may not have access to Office of the Vice President every now and then to escalate issues for his attention.
“While also we do not want to be running to the court to seek relief because of the issue of non-accessibility of some of the chief executives of some regulatory bodies, we want a situation where there is a clearing desk on the Office of the Vice President, where we can escalate these issues and they can be resolved amicably, in the interest of national development and national economy.
“As a matter of fact, much businesses have been made, but what we are saying is that it is not all regulatory bodies of government that are on the same page with government on the desirables,’’ he said.
He added that there were instances where some of the regulatory bodies shut down businesses without recourse to dialogue and instances where there were infractions or interventions from the agencies of government outside their enabling Act.
Olawale maintained that the rule of law must be respected, “Even when you have cases in court and there is restraining order; we have instances where some of the regulatory bodies go against such restraining orders and still go ahead to disrupt businesses.
“The Vice President has said it is something that is doable; the setting up of a clearing desk where these issues can be escalated because he is very desirous of working closely with the private sector and all these issues are issues that can be taken on board.”
On minimum wage, he urged the government and labour unions to adopt the principle of give and take as it was very important.
He said there was need to arrive at a win-win situation.
The Director General warned that if the negotiation dragged on too long it may lead to workers going on strike, the action which he warned that the nation’s present economy cannot afford.
He said, “The economy cannot afford another round of strike. Right now the economy is fragile, even oils is having problem and anything that will destabilize the economy now will take us back to recession.”