Govt may review suspension of export scheme
From Adamu Abuh, Kano
INDICATIONS emerged on Monday that the Federal Government would reverse its decision to suspend the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) scheme.
The Minister of State for Finance, Mrs. Esther Nenadi Usman, said this in Kano after inspecting several manufacturing outfits, which specialise in the processing and exportation of hides and skins.
The minister, who acknowledged that the scheme had been useful to manufacturers, promised that government would review the suspension.
Usman, who was accompanied by the Special Adviser to the President on Manufacturing and Private Sector Development, Alhaji Abdulkadir Ahmed, however, blamed the suspension on the abuse of the scheme.
She noted: "We would make sure that the private sector succeeds but we must note that the government took the decision because the scheme was abused. We would look into it again with a view to streamlining it".
Reiterating the government's resolve to implement the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), she remarked that government would not relent on its efforts to ensure a private sector-driven economy.
In a speech, the Chairman of Nigeria Tanners' Council, Alhaji Lawan Sule Garo, recalled that EEG scheme was a boost to the manufacturing sector.
He added: "Due to your laudable policy of Export Expansion Grant (EEG), our sub-sector now employs over 20,000 direct workers and over one million indirectly.
"These include farmers, butchers, raw skin middlemen and big skin dealers. With the scheme, we are now able to compete favourably in the international leather market and double our export within the period from 2002 and 2003.
Our industries are not only operating at capacity but have expanded as you might have seen today. We assure you that if you continue with this good policy, more investments will be in place.
Describing the sudden suspension of the EEG scheme as disruptive to the manufacturing sector, especially the leather sub-sector of the economy, he enjoined the minister to reverse the policy.
He added: "A suspension, even for a short period of three months, would cause acute hardship to genuine manufacturers. The manufacturers include our members who made huge investments and borrowed heavily at high interest rate based on the Federal Government's commitment in sustaining the 40 per cent EEG till year 2007. It is a myth to assume that export expansion grant equals profit".
