A statement issued by NCRIB said its President, Mr. Ayodapo Shoderu, made the call at the national seminar for the federal regulatory and intervention agencies organised by the Institute of Directors in Abuja recently.
The statement said NCRIB was of the view that the several regulations most professionals and companies were being subjected to might inhibit their growth on the long run.
“The fact must be made that businesses and industries in Nigeria are subjected to many unnecessary complex and inflexible rules, foisted on them by government and regulatory institutions, some of which are difficult to reconcile with public interest goals.”
It said cumbersome local regulations concerning financial, health and safety standards, technical procedures, labour development and administrative setup could hamper corporate operations, while overlapping jurisdictions within the three tiers of government have continued to clog the growth of businesses.
The statement urged Nigeria to borrow a leaf from the British government which in 1985, through the department of trade and industry, carried out an inter-department scrutiny of regulatory burdens, particularly small businesses.
“It was found that compliance with government requirements had imposed significant additional cost on businesses and this led to the white paper which spelt out the implications of over regulation,” it stated, advising that the nation’s business laws should be constantly reviewed in order to attune them to the reality of contemporary development and challenges.
It added: “Many of the laws carrying infractions or financial punishments for infringements are ridiculously meager, predisposing some unethical players to circumvent the laws, bearing in mind that the penalty for such is inconsequential, compared to cost of compliance.”
