PAINTS Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has appealed to the Federal Government to place paint in the fifth band under the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) Common External Tariff (CET) to encourage patronage of indigenous products.Besides, the manufacturers called on the government to complete the second phase of the petrochemical plant to reduce dependence on imported raw materials.The fifth band is for selected critical sectors of the economy meant by the government for protection and which imported finished products are to attract high duty rates under the CET.According to the group, the importation of finished paints at 20 per cent duty is not protective to operators in the sub-sector.The Chairman of the association, Sulaiman Tella, stated at the 24th yearly general meeting of the group recently in Lagos, that placing paint under the fifth band would afford the operators in the industry some level of protection and fair competition.Tella while urging the government to complete the second phase of the petrochemical industry, pointed out that the paint industry is currently import dependent as over 70 per cent of the raw materials are being sourced from abroad.He said: 'The second phase of the petrochemical industry, which is supposed to produce some of the chemicals used in the industry is yet to be completed. We appeal to the government to encourage the new private investors in the petrochemical industry to make arrangement for completing the second phase now that the phase one is running so that the level of our raw materials importation will reduce to about 40 per cent. Also, a lot of foreign exchange will be saved from importation.Tella, who commended the enactment of the Local Content Law, appealed to the major International Oil Companies (IOCs) to support the initiative by ensuring that at least 60 per cent of the materials needed by them are sourced locally in order to assist in the development of sustainable capabilities within Nigeria.He said: 'They should place less emphasis on importation of goods and services which are available in Nigeria. The Nigeria Content Development Board (NCDB) should monitor the IOCs by making it mandatory for them to obey the local content law and also by ensuring that appropriate sanctions are meted out to non-compliant by IOCs. They should not be allowed to continue to deny Nigerians the opportunity to benefit from this critical sector of our economy'.Tella emphasised the need for the government to ensure that the N75 billion intervention fund introduced by the federal government to revitalize the ailing Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) to ensure that the funds are easily accessed by the relevant SMEs.The business environment, Tella disclosed is still fragile, therefore the need for government to put in place the basic infrastructure, so that the money accessed by the SMEs would not be invested in correcting the inadequacies of the system in which they operate.
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