Importers Want Involvement In Trade Policy Formulation

Mr Kingsley Chikezie, Secretary of  Importers Association of Nigeria (IMAN), on Wednesday called on the Federal Government to always invove them when formulating trade policies.

Chikezie made the call in Lagos at  the two-day sensitisation seminar for importers and other stakeholders in the maritime industry.

The seminar was organised by the Federal Ministry of Finance  and has  the theme: “Building The Capacity Of Stakeholders To Enhance Service Delivery Under The Destination Inspection Scheme’’.

He said that the inclusion of IMAN in policy formulation would enhance implementation of those policies since the policies were meant for importers.

 “This will in addition, facilitate smoother policy appreciation, implementation and responsible partnership,’’ the IMAN Secretary said.

 According to him, private sector entities like MAN, NACCIMA and other organisations would  offer useful  inputs during trade policy making processes.

 Chikezie said that such inputs could be provided through their membership of ministerial committees and through pre-budget memoranda.

 ”However, we have observed that importers are never called upon or listened to when trade policies that concerned members are being made.

 ”Little wonder that in the past we encountered a lot of problems when implementing trade related fiscal policies.

 ”We are also excluded from membership of certain trade related boards of parastatals or agencies,’’ he said.