•CEO of CPPE, Dr Muda Yusuf.
The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has called for the enactment of an investor and employer protection law to protect investors and employers from arbitrary regulatory and labour actions.
CPPE make the calls given the recent face-off between the NUPENG and Dangote Refinery, and the PENGASSAN- Dangote Refinery industrial crisis.
CPPE in a policy brief with the theme, ‘Protecting Investors and Employers: A National Policy Imperative’, said that while significant legal safeguards exist for workers and employees, there is no comprehensive framework that protects the interests of investors and employers.
It noted that this imbalance undermines investor confidence and leaves those who create jobs vulnerable to disruptions, particularly from industrial actions by labour unions.
The document signed by the Chief Executive Officer of CPPE, Dr Muda Yusuf, said the real sector is especially exposed, given its large workforce, high fixed costs and significant sunk investments.
“There are worries as well about the seemingly unlimited powers of regulatory institutions,” it noted.
He emphasised that a robust policy response that creates a fair, predictable and secure investment climate, protects those who create jobs and ensures that industrial relations are governed by law, due process, and mutual respect, is imperative.
” Investors in Nigeria operate in an environment marked by uncertainty and institutional weakness, chief among which it listed as weak legal protection, unrestrained union actions, regulatory unpredictability, bureaucratic bottlenecks and weak dispute resolution,” he said.