TAX-FREE EXPORT FOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

The Nigeria Federal Executive Council has approved an initiative tagged: "Commerce 44" that will focus on tax-free export of 11 solid minerals, 11 agricultural produce and 11 groups of locally manufactured items to 11 international markets/countries.
It is aimed at diversifying the economy from petroleum. The meeting, presided over by Obasanjo, gave the approval based on a memo presented by the Minister of Commerce, Aliyu Modibbo, who said the products and markets were identified after extensive research.
The agricultural produce are cocoa, cotton, cassava, gum arabic, sesame seeds, cashew, shea nuts, ginger, vegetables, fruits and other food items. The solid minerals are kaolin, coal, bauxite, barite, tin, zinc, tantalite, columbite, iron ore, clay products (pottery), gems and precious stones while the manufactured products are textiles, films and music, vegetable oils, rubber products, footwear, shrimps, pharmaceutical products, leather, beverages and soft drinks as well as bottled water.
The identified markets are in Japan, North America, India, China, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), European Union, Turkey, Iran, Thailand, the Caribbean, as well as Latin America. Modibbo disclosed that to make the initiative succeed, the Federal Government plans to abolish several export duties and taxes, reduce the delays in processing of exports at the ports and the refund of Export Expansion Grant to exporters which currently takes up to 14 weeks.
The duties to be abolished include N25,000 National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) levy per container, one per cent export duty, N1,000 sales tax, cocoa development duty, and several other charges levied at the state level.
The initiative will be implemented at the three levels of government with a National Council at the federal level that will meet once a year. There will also be state and local government committees.