2023 Elections: Stakeholders Chart Path To Economic Progress For Nigeria

Stakeholders in the Nigeria’s business environment have suggested way forward for the nation’s economy in 2023 even as the general elections are being concluded.

They spoke at the Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting themed “The 2023 Elections, Political Economy and Nigeria’s Business Environment Outlook”. The breakfast meeting which was held virtually was sponsored by the professional services firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

In his lead presentation titled ‘2023 elections, political economy and Nigeria’s Business Environment Outlook’ Fiscal Policy Partner & West Africa Tax Leader PwC, Taiwo Oyedele, listed the “BIG 5” factors, that will shape the economy in 2023 viz Geopolitics, Economy, Social conflicts, De-globalisation and Technology and the challenges and opportunities they present.

He also said 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.

During a panel session which featured Partner and chief economist PwC Nigeria, Dr Andrew Nevin PhD, as well as Partner & West Africa Lead, Strategy, Olusegun Zacchaeus, Taiwo Oyedele responded 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.”

Responding to a question around 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.”

Speaking to this data, Olusegun Zacchaeus said: “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?’”

Associate director and regional lead for Clients and Marketing Development PwC West and East Africa, Delia Asuzu,  in a remark on the firm’s capabilities reiterated the importance of sustainability which is key to PwC’s global strategy, noting that: “PwC is known for delivering quality in assurance, tax and advisory services and ESG is one of the areas in which we are investing.”

Moderator of the event, publisher of Inside Watch Africa (IWA), Mr Oluwaseyi Adegoke Adeyemo, emphasised that the Chamber’s engagements are focused on strengthening the bilateral trade relationship between Nigeria and South Africa.