A Joint Committee of staff of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on Pioneer Status Incentive (PSI) was inaugurated on Friday, 5 March 2021 at the NIPC Head Office, Abuja.

The Committee was set up to review the current guidelines for administration of the PSI, validate the cost of the incentive to Nigeria and recommend changes to the qualification and administration.

Commenting, NIPC’s Executive Secretary/CEO, Ms Yewande Sadiku stated that the Commission understands the responsibility it shoulders in relation to administering the PSI and exercises great diligence in processing applications.

On his part, the Executive Chairman, FIRS, Mr. Muhammad Nami encouraged members of the Committee to invest their energy into the exercise as it is a means to assist the government to achieve an enabling business environment, bearing in mind the responsibility of government to fund budgetary needs.

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https://brandspurng.com/2021/03/25/nipc-firs-inaugurate-joint-committee-on-pioneer-status-incentive/

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https://brandspurng.com/2021/03/25/nipc-firs-inaugurate-joint-committee-on-pioneer-status-incentive/

Shoodboi:
For those who do not know what pioneer status means:

The government (Federal and State) often gives incentives (special privileges and advantages) to businesses that are the first in a niche.

For instance, if you're starting say a rocket manufacturing business today, the government will give you tax breaks, cheap foreign exchange and several other things to support your business for up to 10 years.

The idea is to support the business and allow them grow, provide jobs and improve and industrialize the economy.

However, the policy has been abused here and only works for topdogs like Dangote who keeps claiming pioneer status on things like cement and imported materials.

And on many occasions, he keeps renewing his fraudulent pioneer status after expiry by adding a new line or renovating an existing line in his cement factory.

Meanwhile, his competitors will be treated like other regular businesses, required to pay taxes and will not have access to forex and so on because they "came after him".

Other rich and corrupt Nigerians also claim pioneer status in ridiculous things like electricity and even importation, just like Dangote.

After all said and done, the average hardworking Nigerian who deserves the pioneer status (like many of our startups and tech companies) never get it because the pioneer status nonsense was set up to only favor corrupt people close to the top politicians.

We all saw how the Lagos state government fiercely resisted bike-hailing transportation startups like Oride, Gokada and Max bikes, and put them under NURTW before finally passing a law that illegalized their activities.

Shoodboi:
For those who do not know what pioneer status means:

The government (Federal and State) often gives incentives (special privileges and advantages) to businesses that are the first in a niche.

For instance, if you're starting say a rocket manufacturing business today, the government will give you tax breaks, cheap foreign exchange and several other things to support your business for up to 10 years.

The idea is to support the business and allow them grow, provide jobs and improve and industrialize the economy.

However, the policy has been abused here and only works for topdogs like Dangote who keeps claiming pioneer status on things like cement and imported materials.

And on many occasions, he keeps renewing his fraudulent pioneer status after expiry by adding a new line or renovating an existing line in his cement factory.

Meanwhile, his competitors will be treated like other regular businesses, required to pay taxes and will not have access to forex and so on because they "came after him".

Other rich and corrupt Nigerians also claim pioneer status in ridiculous things like electricity and even importation, just like Dangote.

After all said and done, the average hardworking Nigerian who deserves the pioneer status (like many of our startups and tech companies) never get it because the pioneer status nonsense was set up to only favor corrupt people close to the top politicians.

We all saw how the Lagos state government fiercely resisted bike-hailing transportation startups like Oride, Gokada and Max bikes, and put them under NURTW before finally passing a law that illegalized their activities.