Expdonaloaded News; Ekwunife backs removal of import waiver

The Senator rep­resenting Anam­bra Central Senatorial Zone, Uche Ekwunife has called for the removal of waiver on goods as proposed by the Comp­troller General of Nige­ria Customs Service.
Senator Ekwunife said removal of waiver on most goods produced locally would help get employment for Nigerian youths and bring about development of various sectors of the economy.
“I want to commend the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Ser­vice on his call for the removal of waiver, this waiver did not start under the administration of for­mer President Goodluck Jonathan, it has been in the system during the ad­ministrations of his pre­decessors.
This is the aus­picious time to remove it because of our dwindling economy”, she stated.
The Senator further maintained that the re­moval of waiver will encourage local manu­facturers and encourage revival of the agricultural sector which will help absorb the teeming un­employed youths in the country.
She called on the fed­eral government to sub­sidize agriculture and industries by giving local manufacturers subsidy to hire experts while calling on the federal govern­ment to remove waiver on cement and all the goods produced locally in Nigeria.
“There are certain things we can not remove waiver like the aircraft parts and other important goods which have direct bearings on the masses. We must have to touch the lives of the people, the people we are repre­senting because over the years, government poli­cies only benefit the elites and the poor are not be­ing taken care of, so we must speak up to protect the interest of the people we are representing”, she added.
On corruption, Sena­tor Ekwunife called on the Economic and Fi­nancial Crimes Commis­sion, EFCC to strengthen the fight against corrup­tion in Nigeria. “This is an era of accountability, stealing in government is not done by one person, EFCC should do better by getting to identify the chain of those embez­zling government funds”, she urged.