Taieo Hassan 
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has accused the Federal Government of breaching the agreement reached with beverage manufacturers in the country over N10/liter excise duty on nonalcoholic, carbonated and sweetened beverages. The Director-General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, made this known to New Telegraph in Lagos, saying that the truth behind the excise duty increment was that government and beverage manufacturers had a three-year to five-year agreement before new duty could be introduced in the country.
Ajayi-Kadir explained that this year’s N10/litre excise duty collection on non-alcoholic, carbonated and sweetened beverages was carried out hurriedly by government without recourse to the agreed contract at a period the beverage manufacturers were just completing a three-year excise duty on alcoholic drinks, spirits and wine in 2021, which was imposed by the then former Minister of Finance, Ms. Kemi Adeosun.
MAN is calling on President Muhammadu Buhari’s led administration to rescind the decision on further collection of the rate by Nigeria Customs Service amid the adverse effects the tariff has on beverage manufacturing firms with overwhelming straits on cost of production. According to him, “the costs of all factors of production are very high, they are becoming unreachable to small scale. Diesel is about N800 now, and none of us can power our factories with Diesel generators any longer.” The MAN DG pointed out that there was need for Nigerians to owe the manufacturers in this country a debt of gratitude for staying focused amid the turbulent operating environment in the country, saying, if not for local manuhas facturers’ resilience, it would have been worss for everyone today in Nigeria.
He said: “This 50th AGM is special in the sense that we have survived the turbulent both ways in domestically and internationally. “In the last few years, we have witnessed external factors that are likely beyond our control impacting on our economy. “So we assume that all Nigerians owe the manufacturers in this country a debt of gratitude for staying focus if not for our resilient, it could have been worse.” Ajayi-Kadir added: “My first take away is on the excise duty. This is just the wrong time to have it done by the federal government. And now, what is most painful is the fact that this increase in excise and even introduction of excise on new products only started this year. “It is tantamount to taking the goal post in the middle of the game. We had a 3-year or 5-year plan for escalation of the excise duty. “All that was thrown into the bin and a new and higher one was introduced that was targeted to killing the industries. “So this needs to be receded immediately without further ado by the federal government because that is, the only way those sector could survived.” The MAN DG, however, stated that there was no doubt that the potential revenue gain was the basis for the introduction of this excise, adding, “it would appear that the goose that lays the golden eggs is being led to perdition. “Seeing that the affected sub-sector, has contributed most significantly to the economy and taxes, despite the debilitating impact of Naira devaluation, inadequacy of forex and the COVID-19 crisis.”
