The Federal government said between 2011 – 2015 it has conceded about N1.024 trillion through the grant of only four different types of incentives, the minister of finance, Zainab Ahmed has said.
A breakdown showed that import duty waiver, concessions, grants gulp N504b, Value Added Tax waiver N228b, Pioneer status non-oil companies N74b and pioneer Status PPT on oil companies N220b.
Speaking at a one-day sensitization seminar on Digitalization of import Duty Exemption certificate (IDEC) in Kano, the Finance Minister said from August 2017 to August 2019, N342b worth of waivers were granted noting that the scope of such requests are expanding hence the need to have in place modern technology to drive it’s administration.
Ahmed who was represented by Shehu Kura, Kano state commissioner for Budget and planing said the automated IDEC portal which is in line with the ministry’s strategic revenue Growth initiative ( SRGI) “shall deliver improved revenue profile of the government by blocking leakages, stop the apparent financial losses associated with the current duty exemption processes and simplify the processes for all waiver requests to eliminate bottlenecks and subjectivity thereby guaranteeing ease of doing business.
In his remarks, the Comptroller – General of custom Col Hameed Ali (rtd) said “the primary aim of waivers/IDEC in every economy is to provide incentives that will stimulate industrialization and economic growth noting that ” to achieve this, it is important for stakeholders who are the beneficiaries of the initiatives to understand the process and fully comply with the rules”
