{"id":11056,"date":"2024-03-10T14:02:21","date_gmt":"2024-03-10T14:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/?p=11056"},"modified":"2024-03-10T14:02:21","modified_gmt":"2024-03-10T14:02:21","slug":"nigeria-pauses-controversial-expatriate-employment-levy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/11056\/nigeria-pauses-controversial-expatriate-employment-levy\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria pauses controversial expatriate employment levy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Nigeria has paused a controversial annual levy that would require businesses employing expatriates to pay $15,000 (\u00a312,000) for a director and $10,000 (\u00a38,000) for other workers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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President Bola Tinubu imposed the tax over a week ago, but it was met with widespread condemnation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Ministry of Interior said on X the levy would be paused for “dialogue among stakeholders”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It comes after a meeting was held to discuss the levy on Friday in Abuja.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Ministry of Interior said the tax was intended to “discourage abuse” of the expatriate quota.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It said it hoped the levy would create “employment opportunities for Nigerians while closing wage gaps between expatriates and local workers”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Dele Kelvin Oye, national president of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA), welcomed the pause.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He praised the government for considering the implications the levy could bring on Nigeria’s business community.<\/p>\n

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“This is indicative of their commitment to creating an inviting atmosphere for both local and international investors,” he said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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When the Expatriate Employment Levy (EEL) was imposed many organisations hit back against it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (Neca) raised alarm over the policy, especially as Nigeria faces its worst economic crisis in a generation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In a statement shared on X, Neca called the policy “worrisome”. It expressed fears the levy could “potentially increase the level of unemployment with dire socio-economic consequences”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (Man) called the policy “punitive” and a “punishment” for investors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“The policy will surely undermine the administration’s determination to position Nigeria as an attractive global investment destination,” it said on X.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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There are more than 150,000 expatriates in Nigeria, according to local media citing data from the interior ministry.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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They mostly work in the oil and gas, construction, telecommunication and hospitality sectors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Nigeria is one of Africa’s biggest oil producers. Its oil and gas exports account for 90% of foreign exchange earnings, according to the International Monetary Fund.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It currently costs companies in Nigeria $2,000 a year to obtain a residency permit for each foreign employee.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr Tinubu acknowledged Nigerians were going through a difficult period.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Nigerians are facing increased food, transport and commodity prices. This is because of the fall of the naira – which has caused a spike in foreign exchange rates and driven up inflation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He said efforts were being made to improve the country’s finances and grow the economy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nigeria has paused a controversial annual levy that would require businesses employing expatriates to pay $15,000 (\u00a312,000) for a director and $10,000 (\u00a38,000) for other workers. President Bola Tinubu imposed the tax over a week ago, but it was met with widespread condemnation. The Ministry of Interior said on X the levy would be paused […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9359,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"BBC","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"0","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"0","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"0","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"0","show_popup_post":"0","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,27],"tags":[1433,2180,2181,175],"class_list":["post-11056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-west-africa","tag-bola-ahmed-tinubu","tag-expatriate-employment-levy-eel","tag-naccima","tag-nigeria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}