Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Decree
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The Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Decree or NEPD 1972 as amended in 1977 was meant to effect changes in the ownership structure of businesses in Nigeria and to provide opportunity for indigenous capital to have assertive control of the economy. The law also restricted economic activities of foreign firms to certain areas and obliged the firms to add Nigerians as partners.[1] Up to 1,130 companies were affected, some companies transferred equity through private placement while others listed on the stock exchange. A total of 81 companies listed shares on the stock exchange worth a total value of 210 million naira while majority offered the shares through private placement.[2]
The decree was repealed in 1995 with the promulgation of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Act.[3]
Prior to the end of colonial rule in 1960, Nigerian businessmen had been agitating for protection of indigenous capital from foreign competition, while a clamour to reduce expatriate quota resulted in Nigerianisation in many institutions. Following decolonization, aspirations of economic independence and self-determination became pronounced and began to earn broad base support.[4] An indigenisation policy championed by bureaucrats and Nigerian businessmen[5] was pursued within the Federal Government's National Development Plan for 1970–74.[6] In February 1972, the Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Decree was promulgated to be effective in April 1974. The new legislation was planned to give Nigerians more access to surplus income of businesses, shift foreign investment to highly technical areas and promote indigenous businesses.[7]
The military administration was more amenable to make the changes than their previous democratic counterpart partly because of their increasing distrust of foreign capital, an aftermath of their experience in relying on foreign governments and multinational corporations during the Nigerian Civil War and the lack of prompt response of oil companies to make payments exclusively to the Federal Government.[4]