For a growing economy, duty waivers are important. Industries need such waivers to be able to compete against import dumping. However, for an economy that is run with so much deceit and corruption, waivers are additional means of dispensing political patronage and giving extra advantage to a privileged few. Since 1999, successive governments have grossly misused the power to grant duty waivers and in the process, the country has lost trillions.

The ever contentious matter again gained currency with the illegal purchase of two armoured vehicles at grossly exorbitant prices by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) for the Minister of Aviation, Ms Stella Odua. At an investigation by the National Assembly, the Nigerian Customs Service disclosed that Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala granted a waiver to Coscharis Motors to import the cars. The however, denied this. A national daily, The Punch wrote an editorial, highlighting the corrupt waiver regime especially under Ms Okonjo-Iweala. As usual, the minister rebutted the criticism and went ahead to publish a doctored list of beneficiaries of the corrupt waiver regime. Also, online newspaper, Saharareporters spotted the loopholes in the list and highlighted them. Again, Okonjo-Iweala replied with venom. “The story by Saharareporters on the so-called waivers scandal in which the notorious news website made outrageous allegations against the Office of the First Lady is a false exclusive based on distorted information. The website merely extracted and distorted information on the list of beneficiaries of the revised waivers policy which the Federal Ministry of Finance voluntarily published as part of its drive for transparency and accountability,” Paul Nwabuiku, the Minister’s adviser on information wrote in a release.

Now, the House of Representatives has waded into the issue. In a tone indicative of their frustration about the management of the economy, the Committee on Finance has directed Okonjo-Iweala to produce a detailed report on the exact amount of money Nigeria lost to import duty waivers between 2011 and 2013. If the questions were eventually answered, it would be a post mortem on the economy. The questions went far beyond the waiver issues.

Aside demanding a comprehensive list the beneficiaries; what the waivers were used to import; and the justification for granting such duty exemptions, the questions delved into oil and gas, employment generation, growing the GDP and more.

The 50 questions titled ‘state of the economy’, Okonjo-Iweala was asked “how much exactly has been the amount of money lost in government revenue as a result of import duty waivers in 2011, 2012 and 2013?

“In your opinion as the Minister of Finance, who oversees the economy, what are the implications to the country’s economy? What efforts have you made to stop this waiver policy, which is distorting the economy?

“Our non-oil income has dropped in 2013, a case where increased tariffs on various items effectively reduced importation to zero in some sectors.

“However, those items now find their way into Nigeria through our borders.

“Does it make any sense to increase these tariffs when we have such porous borders? As an example, officially, Togo imported more rice this year than Nigeria.”

The 50 questionsUnder question number 16, the minister is to explain why the Federal Inland Revenue Service planned to engage foreign consultants to collect tax for the agency, beginning from 2014.

She was therefore asked thus, “Could the minister clarify this position and what Nigeria stands to gain? Has the FIRS not been working effectively?”

Question number 30 dealt with corruption, where the committee expressed doubts over the Federal Government’s commitment to fight corruption and querried why the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission should be starved of funds.

The committee asked, “Do you believe in the fight against corruption? If you do, why has EFCC not been properly funded? Without properly funding the commission, how should it be expected to carry out its duties effectively?”

The committee also queried the choice of Chevrolet cars for the SURE-P taxis as against Asian and European brands.

It noted that the vehicles were not fuel-efficient and not durable on Nigerian roads.

The document reads, “Who is in charge of the management of SURE-P and who takes responsibility for its success or failure?”

Okonjo-Iweala was also taken to task over the bloated recurrent component of successive national budgets in the country.

The committee recalled that she had boasted to reduce recurrent spending, but failed to keep the promise. For example, the 2014 budget of N4.6trn has a recurrent lion’s share of 72 per cent.

The committee observed, “Since your arrival as Minister of Finance in 2011, you have publicly announced the need to reduce the recurrent expenditure so that more money will be made available to capital spending, which is critical to growing and diversifying the country’s economy.

“How far has government succeeded in making these necessary cuts; and where exactly have these cuts been made in the effort to reduce recurrent expenditure?”