OpeOluwani Akintayo
03 July 2018, Sweetcrude, Abuja — Engr. Simbi Wabote, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, NCDMB, has lashed out at free trade zone investors in the country, saying they have gone against the Act governing their establishment.
Speaking in his opening address at the Nigerian Content Seminar at the ongoing 5-day 2018 Nigerian Oil and Gas conference in Abuja on Monday, Wabote said the investors have failed to comply with the Act by producing both for exports and in-country use.
He further explained that although free trade zones investors are no expected to pay taxes, it has become a prevalent habit for the investors to go beyond their boundaries, adding that they (investors) now take contracts for execution outside the zone.
According to him, such moves will attract taxes from the government.
“Freetrade zones have gone against the act set up by the government. They ought to produce goods only for exports. However, what we now see is that they produce both for exports and use in the country. They now even take contracts which ought to be executed within the zone outside.
“Once such is happening then, they must surely get taxed by the government,” he said.
