A publisher, Mr. Okey Ibeke has called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to evaluate the underlying trade relationship with neighbouring countries under the ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) saying that the philosophy of such trade is unfavourable to Nigeria economy.
Ibeke made the plea recently in Lagos, during a Town Hall Meeting organized by Business and Maritime West Africa even as he added that Nigeria was effectively being milked by neighbouring countries under the Common External Tariff (CET) regime.
According to him, countries under the ECOWAS region were violating the World Trade Organization‘s rules of origin under the guise of manufactured goods whereby such items were imported, relabeled, repackaged and transported to Nigeria through the frontiers.
Calling for a total incapacitation of the CET regime, he added that it was almost impossible to accurately capture the volume of cargoes shipped in through the undermining of Nigeria economy.
He stated that one of the protocols of establishing the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) was the Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) which according to him, was adopted to boost intra-regional trade, stipulated at a token 0.5% tax on goods manufactured among members country.
He described the ETLS 0.5% levy payment as ridiculous, urging the federal government to look inward in addressing the challenges by placing Nigerian economic first before others.
Drawing the attention of the Nigerian lawmakers, Ibeke stressed the need for members of both the upper and lower chambers of the National Assembly to understand the disadvantages inherent in the regime, adding that there was a bare faced sabotage and betrayal under the name of ETLS.
‘’This protocol in addition to the Common External Tariff (CET) which recommends the adoption of a common tariff structure with only a limited bar for differential has unfortunately becomes Nigeria undoing. Our neighbouring countries have adopted what I choose to call smart and aggressive economic warfare using a tariff regime that actually eliminates the payment of tariffs for goods that pass through their countries and which all parties quietly acknowledge are for Nigeria market’’, Ibeke stated.
Speaking on the recent restriction of vehicles importation from the land borders by the Nigerian Customs Service, as against the backdrop of the ETLS, the publisher explained that ‘’the effect on the Nigeria economy is profound enough to jeopardize the concession of Nigerian ports done 10 years ago with some of the terminal operators, especially those running RORO terminals forced to retrench many of their staff last year.’’
‘’For vehicles, especially cars ,Benin Republic , for instance, encourages Nigerian importers to route their cars through Cotonou and designate them as transit goods destined for any of the land locked neighbours as the final destination’’
‘’With such legal cover, no import duty is demanded nor paid on such vehicles apart from some statutory handling charges and fees. While transit goods are supposed to be escorted under customs bond to the border posts of the country of final destination in accordance with international law, no such things is done for cars by the Benin authorities who are safe in the knowledge that the cars will be moved to Nigeria’’, he lamented.
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