Innoson Seeks Import Duty Waiver For South East Industries
The general manager, Innoson Technical Company Ltd, Enugu, Mr. C.O. Ubah, has appealed to the federal government to grant manufacturing companies in the South East waivers on import and custom duties on relevant raw materials and machinery.
Ubah made the appeal, when a delegation from the federal ministry of industry, trade and investment, which was in Enugu on assessment visit to the Enugu International Trade Fair Centre came calling on Innoson Plastic Industry in Enugu.
He said that the high cost of clearing and handling of imported raw materials remained one of the biggest challenges manufacturing industries encountered in Nigeria, saying that the appeal became imperative since importers that cut corners to import finished goods sold cheaper than the local manufacturers.
According to him, plastic industries in the South East were suffering due to the inability of the Eleme Petrochemical Company to meet the demand for its product, which, he said, was the raw material for plastic industries. He also called on the federal government to give license to more petrochemical companies and allow more modular refineries into the industry so as to break the monopoly of Eleme Petrochemical Industry in the supply of plastic raw materials.
“It takes about two weeks to receive 20 per cent of an order from Eleme Petrochemical Industry. This is not good for manufacturing companies because it affects the market value chain and the entire business cycle. The federal government should break the monopoly of Eleme Petrochemical Industry to create multiple and steady sources of raw materials and to save the plastic industries in Nigeria,” he said.
Ubah lamented that the Innoson Tyre Factory that was built with the support of Bank of Industry which, according to him, has the capacity for producing tyres for cars and lorries, had not been able to go into full production due to high environmental impact assessment costs by the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, as well as other bureaucratic bottlenecks associated with NESREA approvals. He stated that the delay in getting the necessary approvals made Chinese expatriates to leave the country in the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the exit of the experts had left the factory idle since approvals were finally received.
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