Asks Authorities To Wait Till 90 Days To Commence Implementation
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, will support and promote initiatives of government that enhance “ease of doing business”.
However, the association would like government to always carry key stakeholders along in all their policies and programmes for massive compliance.
President of MAN, Mr. Mansur Ahmed made the submission in respect of the newly introduces e- invoicing policy of government.
Speaking with journalists in Lagos, Mr. Ahmed stated that the association was aware of the e-invoicing policy and understood that changes like that would continue to happen, particularly with the introduction of new technology in governance, either for improving efficiency or transparency.
Mr. Ahmed further stated that , “Our believe is that the e -invoicing policy will help improve the speed of doing business. In this regard, the processing of e- invoicing, import and export and in the long run is expected that it is good.
” Everything now is going in that direction, digitization has become amazing trend and I don’t think we should expect anything less.
” However, what we have said to government is that when you are introducing changes like this or introducing new initiatives it is very important that we engage key stakeholders in discussion and consultations to try and ensure that there are no arm intended consequences that will undermine the goals they are trying to create.
“You don’t want a situation where you introduced something which is intended to make things easier, then it makes things more costly.
“Secondly, it is important that u hear from the stakeholders how this policy will affect their businesses so that if there are any negative impact, it can be discussed how there can be mitigated. It is also important that whatever initiative introduced by government, there should be sufficient time for adjustment to take place because things can’t happen overnight.
“Some of this can bring bridge of contract, lead to significant losses, so it is important that we give time for adjustment.
“Before this initiative takes off, we have taken the matter up with the authorities and we ask that they initiative should wait until ninety days to give our members and other stakeholders time to adjust and the opportunity to prepare”, Ahmed added.
