Rising from their second plenary held at the Catholic Diocese of Auchi, Edo State, Catholic Bishops under the umbrella of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) have accused the Federal Government of deliberately pushing more Nigerians deep into poverty through its policies and programmes.
The situation in Nigeria is too dire to be allowed to continue and, therefore, a drastic review of several economic policies of the government, particularly as regards tax, energy, fuel and other measures that have been strangulating and impoverishing Nigerians in the last one and half of the Tinubu administration, is imperative, the Bishops warned.
The clergymen’s views were encapsulated in a communique they issued at the end of their second plenary held at the Catholic Diocese of Auchi, Edo State, which was jointly signed by Most Rev. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji and Most Rev. Donatus A. Ogun Osa, CBCN President and Secretary, respectively.
“In our nation, there are complaints at all levels, even from government officials who blame their predecessors for the current hardship in the country, and also claiming that the current administration is, in fact, taking painful but courageous steps to turn things around,” the communique read, in part.
“The government officials keep calling for patience and sacrifice, but their call does not fall well on the rest of the citizens who continue to suffer hunger and dehumanizing poverty, while those in power live an affluent lifestyle, with no visible effort at reducing the cost of governance.
“There is an unfortunate general feeling in the nation that we are stuck in a tight web of corruption from which we cannot extricate ourselves. There are economic policies that seem to be in favour of those in the corridors of power and their cronies in the business sector.”
To this end, the Bishops thus appealed to governments at all levels to take urgent measures to harmonise taxes in order to stem the tide of businesses collapsing in Nigeria with its consequent higher unemployment rate, pointing out that a less burdensome tax system would also encourage investors who are already faced with the challenges of high production costs, low sales, insignificant profit margins and the depletion of business capital.
“Undoubtedly, taxes and levies are sources for the government to generate revenue to meet its statutory duties. To finance its organs and to provide goods and services for the public, the government has the authority to impose taxes on salaries, business profits, business transactions, goods and services to the public,” the Bishops further noted.
“Payment of tax is a civic duty, evasion of which is a grave offence. Yet, multiple taxation is a severe burden on business enterprises and individuals, especially within the Nigerian context, where many factories, industries and companies are being strangled by epileptic power supply, high costs of petroleum products, spiralling inflation, rising labour costs, the continuous weakening of the Naira, and scarcity of foreign exchange.
“Due to the present adverse operating environment, many businesses, both foreign and indigenous, have shut down. Many others are merely struggling to survive due to the harsh operating environment in the country. The situation has been further compounded by continuous hiking of bank interest rates and multiple taxation.
“Federal, state and local government agencies often come up with different nomenclature to collect the same taxes from business enterprises and even voluntary agency institutions with threats, intimidation and blackmail. All these contribute to the poor ranking of Nigeria in the ease of doing business index, and cause disincentive in the business community.”
The Bishops appealed to the governments to put in place policies, programmes and initiatives that would address the multi-faceted factors that adversely affect food security, with a good action plan for implementation such as provision of safety and security for farmers and their crops across the country.
“We enjoin governments to support farmers with subsidies, soft loans, modern technology and improved seedlings, but not Genetically Modified Seedlings. It would also involve supporting Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) struggling to add value to raw local food products through processing, preservation and packaging technology,” the Catholic Bishops added.
“We encourage families and individuals to embark on farming and call on the government to ensure the security of farmers and their crops, offer incentives to private-sector agribusinesses, and take urgent and decisive steps to achieve food self-sufficiency in our nation,” the Bishops further suggested.”
