FG Loses N18bn Yearly to Indirect Shoe Export
From Josephine Lohor in Abuja
The Federal Government has disclosed that it was losing about N18 billion yearly because of the inability of shoe manufacturers in Aba, Abia State, to export their products directly to the United States.
Minister of Commerce, Ambassador Idris Waziri, who made the disclosure, said "we have discovered that we are losing about N18 billion every year in Aba. People come from neighbouring African countries like Cameroon with trailers, to buy shoes at cheap rates, go back to repackage, add value and export them to America.
The minister said, however, that with the issuance of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) visa to Nigeria by the American Government, "the ball is now in the court of the manufacturers and industrialists because it is the private sector that is going to reap out of this."
He said "if you quantify the amount of money the traders in Aba are supposed to sell at and what they are selling now, you would realise that we are losing a lot of money. So, we discover that if you organise them, they would be able to gain so much within the country."
Idris noted that depending on importation would not allow Nigeria's development, while giving further insight into the AGOA visa, said that Nigeria was "going to gain because there would be employment and once you have this, you are fighting poverty.
The economy would then become dynamic, more in foreign investment and acquire foreign technology from outside. This would all translate into an industrial revolution."
He, however, threw a challenge by saying that with the issuance of the AGOA visa, "it is now left for the manufacturers to claim their share. it is hundreds of millions of dollar market.
I believe that even with the industries we have in Nigeria now, even if they operate on full capacity, they would not be able to satisfy the requirements of the United States market."
The minister recalled that "some of our industries in the textile and apparel sector could not go into production. Some even complained that they did not have the market and cannot even access the international market. Now, going to America through AGOA is duty-free."
Idris who emphasised that "if by 2007 we do not move forward, then Nigeria would not develop again," stated that he feels "pained because I know that this country has been blessed to a fault. We are sitting on a gold mine. I feel that Nigeria is 20 years behind its normal level."
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