The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has advised the federal government to adopt a balanced approach to expatriate employment, saying the expatriate employment levy (EEL) recently launched by the federal government is harmful to the country’s drive for foreign direct investments (FDIs).
Director-general of LCCI, Chinyere Alumona, in a statement titled, ‘LCCI Perspective on Nigeria’s Expatriate Employment Levy (EEL)’, expressed concern about the likely perception by foreign investors that the Nigerian government “is not accommodative to foreign workers”.
According to her, maintaining expatriates in Nigeria is expensive and members of the chamber only bring in expatriates for very critical roles that require highly technical skills that are not readily available locally.
“It is out of necessity that our members bring in expatriates and as such any imposition that makes this provision expensive will discourage them and jeopardise projects requiring such expatriates.
“While the chamber is fully in support of government policies that enhance the profile of the business environment, generate more revenue for the government, and create more opportunities for local employment, we are concerned about likely perception by foreign investors that the Nigerian government is not accommodative to foreign workers.
“This perception is harmful to our drive for FDI inflows. With the drive for FDI, the country needs conducive business environment to attract these kinds of investment into the country.
“Only $184 million FDIs came to Nigeria in the fourth quarter of 2023 out of $1.088 billion capital importation that was recorded within the period,” the DG stated.
Alumona urged the government to consider exempting industries that demand specific skill sets for local projects, notably in construction and other sectors experiencing shortages in goods to match the growing demand.
“In sectors where the country lacks capacity to boost supply of critical products, like food, cement, drugs, and other agricultural inputs, we urge the government to charge concessionary or totally exempt the manufacturers in these fields to encourage them to come in and boost supply of such scarce products,” she said.
She cautioned that the actions of the federal government could lead to reciprocal measures from other nations, potentially jeopardising remittances from Nigerians living abroad, who would be directly affected by such retaliatory policies.
The director general further stated that issues like the levies on foreign workers with tax implications would have been brought before the presidential committee on fiscal policy and tax reforms for inputs that aligned with their mandate of improving the business environment.