The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has unveiled new guidelines on the revived Export Expansion Grant (EEG).
The NEPC presented the guidelines at a stakeholders’ forum in Lagos on Thursday August 31,2017.
The EEG is a post-shipment incentive introduced by the government to improve the competitiveness of Nigerian products and expand the country’s volume and value of non-oil products.
Among the highlights of the new guideline of the revived EEG is the replacement of the Negotiable Duty Certificate with Export Credit Certificate.
In his keynote address at the forum, the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Mr. Segun Awolowo, informed stakeholders that the ECC would be used for payment of Value Added Tax, Company Income Tax, purchase of government bonds, settlement of government loans among others.
He also said that the government will use Promissory Notes to settle the backlog of EEG claims from 2007 to 2016.
In his presentation, the Assistant Director, Incentive Division, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr. Lawal Dalhat, indicated that the government had decided to apply Weighted Eligibility Criteria in assessing applications for the EEG. He said the backlog of claim settlements from 2007 to 2013 was left at the old incentive rate of 30 per cent while the method of assessment to determine the rate of incentive that would be paid to an exporter between 2013 and 2017 onwards was ‘company cum product specific.’
Fully manufactured goods would attract 15 per cent incentive, semi-manufactured products – 10 per cent, processed or intermediate goods-7.5 per cent while merchants and primary agricultural commodities would attract five per cent incentive.
The new EEG structure is now automated, a criteria for applying for the incentive is the presentation of an export expansion plan which details exporters’ plans, expected gains and how they hoped to realize their gains.
Speaking on the sidelines of the forum, a leading economic researcher with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Ambrose Oruche, commended the government for reviving the scheme, noting that it would encourage more exporters to come into the sector.
He however said the reduction in settlement of accumulated claims of 2013 to 2017 from 30 to 15 per cent would amount to losses for exporters as most of them had signed contracts based on the 30 per cent they expected to get from the government.
“I would appeal to the Federal Government to start implementation of the 15 per cent settlement from 2017 instead of from 2013,” he said.
The Director General/CEO, the Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association, Mr. Hamman Kwajaffa, also lamented the relegation of textile yarn to the semi-manufactured goods category where it attracted only 10 per cent claims settlement.
He noted that the yarn was manufactured within the weaving and spinning of textile and went through stages of manufacturing and should be categorised as fully manufactured goods.
