The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has said that the total value of the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) backlog claims between 2007 and 2016 is N350.417 billion and not N1.2 trillion as earlier reported.
Abdullahi Sidi-Aliyu, director in charge of policy and strategy, NEPC, had been quoted as saying that the value was around N1.2 trillion, but he has come out to state that the figure was far less than reported.
Earlier at the annual general meeting of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria Export Promotion Group (MANEG) in Lagos in 2018, however, he had told journalists that the value of backlog EEG claims was over N1 trillion.
In a fact sheet sent to BusinessDay, he said the backlog claims approved by the National Assembly were worth N195.089 billion. But a document seen by BusinessDay earlier put the number at N193.042 billion.
The fact sheet also shows that the number of beneficiary companies was 270, though document seen by BusinessDay said 269.
As reported earlier, Sidi-Aliyu said the number of expected beneficiaries was 38 while claims waiting approval at the National Assembly were valued at N129.88 billion.
He further said for 2017, total claims approved for payment were worth N23.849 billion, with 61 companies as beneficiaries. However, the value was yet to be paid with Export Credit Certificate.
He added that N4.086 billion out of N13.2 billion budgeted for 2018 EEG settlement was released by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. The EEG Implementation Committee has approved promissory notes of the sum in favour of the 61 companies, having secured the approval of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment for the disbursement to beneficiaries.
The EEG was originally established in 1986 to help Nigerian exporters to become competitive at the global market. It is a practice in many developing and developed countries such as China, India and Australia to provide concessions or cash rebates/grants to companies penetrating new markets or consolidating already established markets to enable them rival competitors.
Companies that exported different kinds of products or commodities between 2006 and 2016 were owed billions of naira in claims as the federal government did not meet the obligation of settling them as promised.
Some of 38 companies that are yet to be paid, including PZ Cussons, British American Tobacco, Okomu Oil, Lee Group (which has seven subsidiaries), Sapele Integrated, Nestlé Nigeria, De-United Foods, Beta Glass, Unilever, and Dangote Agrosacks, among many others, alleged in an earlier report that some senators wanted them to offer ‘lunch’ before approval.
But Francis Alimikhena, chairman of the Senate Committee on Promissory Notes, debunked the allegation.
“Don’t mind them; they are telling lies,” he responded. “The promissory notes that we have already passed? We didn’t see them and we passed over 290, and it is just remaining 38 companies. The 38 just appeared before us last week. They did not even come with their papers. They are just telling lies. What they are telling you is a lie. They have not even appeared before the House of Representatives even,” he said.
ODINAKA ANUDU& HARRISON EDEH
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