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By Ngozi Nwoke
The Nigeria-South Africa Chamber ofat its last breakfast meeting themed “The 2023 Elections, Political Economy and Nigeria’s Business Environment Outlook” had assured that the Nigerian economy will function better after the 2023 general elections
The February edition of the breakfast meeting which was held virtually was sponsored by the professional services firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
The meeting featured a panel session which offered robust discussions on some of the key issues around Nigeria’s business environment outlook for the year.
In his opening remark, the session’s moderator, Mr Oluwaseyi Adegoke Adeyemo, Publisher of Inside Watch Africa (IWA), emphasised that the Chamber’s engagements are focused on strengthening the bilateral trade relationship between Nigeria and South Africa as he reiterated their immense appreciation to PwC for the sponsorship of the February breakfast meeting.
Taiwo Oyedele, Fiscal Policy Partner & West Africa Tax Leader PwC, began his lead presentation with an overview of the economic events of 2022, both on an international and national scale, highlighting the huge economic disruptions and big market failures experienced.
Mr Oyedele noted that regardless of who emerged in the presidential elections, Nigeria’s challenges would not go away in 2023 but it can safely be predicted that things would gradually improve.
He said: “We need to get to a point where we can do something transformational to our revenue, not just the incremental progress that we are celebrating. We need to get to a point where our tax to GDP ratio is in the region of 15% – 18% or even higher. What is needed is for all to be mindful of likely challenges but still be open to opportunities while challenging the status quo with a solution mindset.”
Reacting to his assertion that Nigeria neither has a debt nor revenue problem, but a growth problem, Andrew Nevin said: “This narrative that we’re a low tax country is just simply incorrect, we are actually a high tax country, but the basic problem with this is, we don’t grow.”
On the need for technology adoption and digital transformation, Olusegun Zacchaeus, Partner and West Africa Lead Strategist, PwC, stated: “The adoption of technology becomes a very important factor to create efficiency within the economic system. We think technology will be critical as we navigate these changes within a quality environment. I believe it is impacting all angles. Companies need to accelerate their digital transformation to ensure they can offer the right services to the users and sort of build trust. For me, this is a very interesting message because, beyond the short-term economic inflation challenges, you need to pay attention to megatrends and ask ‘will my business still be here in a decade?”
Delia Asuzu, Associate Director and Regional Lead for Clients and Marketing Development, PwC West and East Africa in reiterated the importance of sustainability which is key to the firm’s global strategy, he noted, “PwC is known for delivering quality in assurance, tax and advisory services and ESG is one of the areas in which we are investing.
“So for clients, implementing a coherent strategy is perhaps one of the more visible ways of focusing on long-term value. Our investments are in areas where our clients face the most significant challenges and opportunities”, she added before giving a vote of thanks on behalf of PwC.”
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