Minister, Customs, others meet over crisis at Calabar trade zone
From Anietie Akpan, Calabar
AMEETING to resolve the crisis over the shutting down of some firms in the Calabar Free Trade Zone (CFTZ) was on Monday held.
The parley was held between the Minister of State for Finance, Mrs. Nenadi Usman, officials of the Nigerian Customs Service and Nigeria Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA) in Calabar.
Though no consensus was reached at the stakeholders' meeting, Usman said the issue would be presented before the federal executive meeting today in Abuja.
There has been a crisis in the CFTZ following the shutting of two firms three months' ago by Customs on the grounds that they were producing goods banned by the Federal Government.
In a closed-door meeting on Monday, the Customs maintained that the companies would remain shut until there was a presidential directive on the issue.
Investors at the zone and NEPZA officials had pleaded that at least the products in the warehouse should be disposed of by the firms pending the presidential decision on the matter but this was rebuffed.
The Customs Area Controller, Mr. Jerry Alagbaso, at the meeting appealed to the minister and the presidential team to resolve the crisis.
He added that Decree 63 of 1992 establishing the zone and the 1990 Customs Act (CEMA) should be looked into to end the crisis between the Customs and NEPZA investors.
He said the Federal Government should "define what good should come to the zone and what are the government's fiscal policy which Customs wants to enforce.
Another Customs Area Comptroller, Mr. Jacob Uba, who was equally at the meeting explained that the "current management of Customs Services is prepared to co-operate with other stakeholders. We do not intend to frustrate any company but we ought to enforce government fiscal policy (and) cannot ensure growth without discipline.
However, the Managing Director of NEPZA, Mrs. Ifeyinwa Umenyi, said for an efficient zone, the Federal Ministries of Commerce and Finance, and the Customs must co-operate and collaborate as stakeholders, formulators and implementers of free zone policies".
She said: "As at today, we have 25 companies producing and exporting both to foreign countries and the domestic economy. These 25 firms represent a net worth of investment of over 300 million U.S. dollars".
She added that total export to foreign countries in 2003 alone was about 100 million U.S. dollars while sales in the domestic economy was about N1.5 billion naira.
"The domestic sales attracted duty revenue of N300 million into the Federation Account through the Nigerian Customs and the total employment of these companies stood at 3000", she added.
Umenyi added: "The scenario we have painted above in 2003 cannot be repeated in 2004 because of certain restrictive policies placed in the zones by government, though inadvertently".
