Nigeria Risks Loss of $600m on Imported Meters

Nigeria may lose over $600 million to capital flight in favour of China in addition to hurting the local content pursuit with the recent presidential approval to defer for one year, the 35 per cent import taxes on three million prepaid electricity meters, which are to be imported into the country, the meter manufacturers in the country have warned.

The domestic meter manufacturers under the aegis of Electricity Meter Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (EMMAN) said such approval was a disincentive and inimical to the development of local capacity in the downstream sector of the country’s power industry and appealed to the president to review the decision.

President Muhammadu Buhari had last week approved a one-year deferment of the 35 per cent import adjustment tax (levy) imposed on fully built unit (FBU) electricity meters HS Code 9028.30.00.00 under the 2019 fiscal policy measures for the implementation of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) common external tariff (CET) 2017 – 2022.

The approval which was to help close the metering gap in the nation’s electricity sector, followed a request by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, to support the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to roll out three million electricity meters under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) framework.

MAP scheme is a gradual up-scaling of the patronage of local manufacturers of electricity meters with an initial minimum local content of 30 per cent with the potential of significant job creation in the area of meter assembly, installation and maintenance.

Advancing the position of the association in a statement issued yesterday, the Chairman of Momas Electricity Meters

Manufacturing Limited (MEMMCOL), Mr. Kola Balogun, said that the 35 per cent levy was the only protection available to them in the sector, which according to him, was not peculiar to the sector alone.

Balogun said the removal was an indication that the government was more disposed to favouring importation to the detriment of the country’s local industry.