The Nigerian Government has put in place a number of investment incentives for the stimulation of private sector investment from within and outside the country. While some of these incentives cover all sectors, other are limited to some specific sectors. The nature and application of these incentives have been considerably simplified. The incentives include:

(i) COMPANIES INCOME TAX

The Companies Income Tax Act has been amended in order to encourage potential and existing investors and entrepreneurs. The current rate in all sectors, except for petroleum, is 30 percent.

(ii) PIONEER STATUS

The grant of Pioneer Status to an industry is aimed at enabling the industry concerned to make a reasonable level of profit within its formative years. The profit so made is expected to be reinvested in the business.

Pioneer status is a tax holiday granted to qualified or (eligible) industries anywhere in the Federation and seven-year tax holiday in respect of industries located in economically disadvantaged local government area of the Federation. At the moment, there is a list of 69 approved industries declared pioneer industries, which can benefit from tax holiday.

To qualify, a joint venture company or a wholly foreign-owned company must have incurred a capital expenditure of not less than five million Naira whilst that of qualified indigenous company should not be less than N150,000.00. In addition, an application in respect of Pioneer Status must be submitted within one year the applicant company starts commercial production otherwise the application will be time-barred.