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Govt loses N 18Bn earning due to ''indiredct'' exports |
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2004-7-19
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The Federal Government revealed that it was losing about N18 billion every year due to the inability of shoe manufacturers in Aba, Abia State, to export directly their products to the United States.
Ambassador Idris Waziri, Minister of Commerce 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.”
He added that with AGOA bill passage it was for the manufacturers and industrialists to take advantage.
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."
He believed that even if industries operate on full capacity in Nigeria today, they would not be able to satisfy the requirements of the United States market.
The minister recalled, "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 emphasised, "If by 2007 we do not move forward, then Nigeria would not develop again," adding that he felt "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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