Nnamani urges Nigeria to reduce import duties for investors
Sen. Ken Nnamani, former board Chairman, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), has urged the Federal Government to reduce import duties for investors willing to invest in Nigeria.
Nnamani made the call in Abuja during a meeting between ICRC and Cornivus Foundation, an international consortium of financiers based in Switzerland.
He said the meeting was in furtherance of the group’s desire to develop a holistic interconnected backbone in Nigeria.
According to Nnamani, the investors could also be enticed with tax holidays.
“If the affected investors can make a serious case for low import duties, I am sure the Federal Government would be considerate enough to lower import duty and grant them tax holidays as part of incentives to lure them in,” he said.
He added that investors could also be enticed by making the mode of entry easy for them through the Ease of Doing Business strategy.
“If they apply for license or permit, you simplify it by having a one-stop shop for private sector, almost everything that is required to do business if they can get it at one place, it is better than running up and down.
“There is more money in the private sector than the public sector and Public Private Partnerships (PPP) seeks to deploy private sector money for public service delivery.
“This is done in a manner that fulfills the public service obligations of the government while also satisfying expectations of the private sector,” he said.
According to Nnamani, the ultimate objective of ICRC is to ease pressure on public budget by leveraging private sector funding for the development of critical physical, social infrastructure and for general public delivery.
Mr Chidi Izuwah, the Director-General, ICRC, said he was glad the initiative was coming to Nigeria as it would transform the nation.
“Imagine on the route one corridor, a highway running from Akwa Ibom to Katsina across the span of Nigeria and literally dividing Nigeria into two, which means every Nigerian is only two seconds away from that.
“Then you put in the 5G network, railway and energy, that is the Nigeria we dream of and one everybody wants, one which is infrastructure sufficient.
“So we must do everything to support initiatives like this and the private sector to deliver on this,” he said.