FG stops import duty waiver

Finance Minister, Okonjo Iweala

THE Federal Government has stopped the import duty waiver scheme; a programme that is used to encourage some categories of importers which has also been subjected to abuse by some importers.
Some of the earlier beneficiaries of waivers and concession include Dangote Industries Limited, Vaswani, Stallion and other rice importers; the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Messrs Western Metal Product Co. Limited, International Hotels, Mandarin Hotels, Le Meridian, Grand Ikoyi Towers and Resort and Federal Palace Hotels.Others are members of the diplomatic corps; companies fronting for top government functionaries.
The decision to stop granting import waivers was reached after it was discovered that in 2011 alone, a colossal N37.2 billion was lost as a result of import waivers that were granted to importers of raw materials in that year alone. Nigeria Customs Service records have shown that the nation lost N276.9 billion between 2000 and 2008.
A new twist to the waiver saga is the discovery that beneficiaries of Federal Government Export Expansion Grant now use the proceeds of the grant which has cost the government over N300 billion to bring into the country finished products. In the last quarter of 2011 the Federal Government approved N45 billion as Export Expansion Grant (EEG) to be paid out to beneficiary companies. Among the tanneries in Kano, a single company pocketed over N35 billion in the past five years.
Source