Follow Us on Google
The Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics (AERE) has called for stricter discipline in regulatory charges, urging federal and state governments to eliminate illegal levies, harmonise fees and reduce the cost of doing business for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria.
Chairman, AERE, Dele Kelvin-Oye, in a statement, argued that the proliferation of charges imposed by government agencies, particularly those without clearly established legal backing, places additional burdens on businesses, discourages formalisation and undermines efforts to stimulate investment and economic growth.
Kelvin-Oye stressed that tax harmonisation must be accompanied by regulatory-cost discipline to ensure that businesses are not subjected to multiple payments for similar services by different government agencies.
According to him, every federal and state regulator should be required to publish its complete schedule of fees and levies, the legal provisions authorising them, the designated collecting authorities and the annual cost of collection within 90 days.
“A trader should not encounter a parade of levies from agencies that cannot point to their enabling laws. Every federal and state regulator should publish, within 90 days, its full fee and levy schedule, legal basis, collecting authority and annual cost of collection.” The AERE boss proposed the establishment of a public Regulatory Cost Register to improve transparency, strengthen accountability and enable businesses to verify the legitimacy of charges imposed on them. “Any charge with no clear legal basis should stop. Any fee that costs more to collect than it yields should be reviewed.” He further recommended that new levies should be subject to periodic review and should expire automatically unless renewed on the basis of evidence demonstrating their public benefit.
He noted that the objective was not to weaken regulatory oversight, compromise safety standards or undermine legitimate taxation, but to eliminate duplicative charges and arbitrary collections that increase operating costs.
“The point is not to abolish safety, standards or fair taxation. It is to abolish the business model in which five uniforms collect five fees for the same empty road.”
Kelvin-Oye argued that excessive and overlapping regulatory charges could force small businesses to divert scarce resources from expansion, employment and productivity towards meeting multiple financial obligations.
To encourage more enterprises to operate within the formal economy, he suggested a system in which the cost of formalisation is lower than the cost of remaining informal.
Under the proposed framework, business registration should be simplified, access to tax identification made free, and businesses provided with a single digital notice detailing applicable levies.
“For micro and small businesses, formalisation must be cheaper than informality: simple registration, a free tax identity process, a single digital levy notice and a fast, independent channel for complaints. Inspection should be risk-based, coordinated and documented; no small firm should be casually shut down without written reasons and a fair right of review.”
Other News
He also advocated a fast and independent complaints mechanism through which business owners could challenge questionable charges and obtain redress without unnecessary delays.
On enforcement, Kelvin-Oye called for risk-based, coordinated and properly documented inspections, arguing that regulatory agencies should focus their attention on businesses and activities that present genuine risks.
He believes that small businesses should not be shut down arbitrarily without written reasons and a fair opportunity to challenge the decision.
“A transparent and predictable regulatory environment would reduce unnecessary compliance costs, improve business confidence and encourage more enterprises to register, pay legitimate taxes and contribute to national economic development.”
He advised that effective implementation would require governments at all levels to review existing charges, clarify the responsibilities of regulatory agencies and ensure that enforcement practices support, rather than obstruct, legitimate business activity.
“The point is not to abolish safety, standards or fair taxation. It is to abolish the business model in which five uniforms collect five fees for the same empty road.
“For micro and small businesses, formalisation must be cheaper than informality: simple
registration, a free tax identity process, a single digital levy notice and a fast, independent
channel for complaints. Inspection should be risk-based, coordinated and documented; no small
firm should be casually shut down without written reasons and a fair right of review.”
