Fed Govt lost N4.6tr to import waivers in two years

About N4.6 trillion was lost by the Federal Government to the waivers that were granted to importers in 2017 and last year, it was learnt yesterday.

The loss was incurred  through the Finance Ministry due to non-implementation of the Import Duty Exemption Certificate (IDEC) project.

To stop the trend, the ministry approached the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) for assistance.

The ICRC yesterday issued the Full Business Case Certificate of Compliance for the Import Duty Exemption Certificate (IDEC) waiver to check further revenue loss.

In a statement by her Special Adviser on Media & Communications, Paul Ella Abechi, Finance Minister Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, commended the ICRC Director-General for expediting action on the project.

She urged officials of her ministry staff to “take full advantage of the IDEC portal and put it into full use to enable the Federal Government get full value for its revenues.”

The Full Business Case Compliance Certificate is for the Development, Deployment and Management of Automated Customs Gateway Portal for IDEC under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement with Forecore Technology Solution Limited, as the preferred partner to Develop, Deploy, Manage and Transfer for a 10-year concession period.

Mrs. Ahmed lamented that government has “been experiencing significant drain in revenues due to the inability to adequately control the IDEC processes. It is really a good time for me that this project that I was really particular about since I came is coming to operation.”

Calling for the full implementation of the project, she noted: “the Ministry of Finance will have to get the approval of the Federal Executive Council before the Public Private Partnership (PPP) of the project will take full course.

“The portal will help us control, track and monitor the IDEC that we issue, but also to monitor the performance of the companies that we give this IDEC to and we will also be able to interface the IDEC system with the Nigeria Customs Service.”

The ICRC Director-General, Chidi Izuwah, described the IDEC as a laudable project that could be of great and urgent importance to enable the country cut the huge revenue loses to the tune of over N2 trillion due to manual processes.

Izuwah said: “The statement in the minister’s 12th June, 2018 letter that the non-implementation of this project caused a revenue loss of N2.5 trillion in 2017 and N2.1 trillion in 2018, we considered this a national revenue emergency and we gave it the needed attention and turned it around very quickly.”

Izuwah further noted that the ministry of Finance under Section 12 of the ICRC Act, is required to diligently supervise this project and ensue that government realises full value, the interest of government protected and it reap the full benefits of the project.

He added that on the other hand, the ICRC, under Section 10 of its Act, has a mandate to collaborate with the ministry and regularly inspect the project and ensure compliance by the public and the private institutions.

He also appealed to the minister to help the Commission and the Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA) to finalise on its discussion concerning the Special Concession Account, which according to him, would be a huge opportunity to increase the revenue that is available to the government and block leakages.

The minister in her response, promised to meet with the Permanent Secretary, Special Duties and the Accountant-General of the Federation “to make sure that the account is not only put in place but put to full use.”