Firm Seeks Tariff Reduction On CDs

NIRA Group of Compa
nies has appealed to the Federal Government to reduce tariff and taxes imposed on the importation of machines for mass-production of compact disks (CDs) and video compact disks (VCDs).
The Managing Director of the NIRA Audiovisual Limited., Mr Alnoor Bhanji,  made the plea in an interview with newsmen in Lagos.
Bhanji said that the down ward review of the taxes would help grow the industry and protect it from extinction.
He said that the tariff and ancillary taxes charged by government agencies at the ports were always on the high side.
Operators in the sector were finding it hard to break even with this trend, he said.
With these charges, the cost of importing these machines had gone higher compared with what they were in the past.
“Also, the scarcity of foreign exchange is affecting importation and is unhealthy for our businesses.
“We are incurring high expenses in importing the machines, “ Bhanji said.
He also lamented the high cost of maintaining the machines, adding that they had to fly-in experts from overseas to repair the machines in the country whenever they were faulty.
He attributed this to the non availability of skilled local technicians that could repair them at present.
“It is a sensitive machine that cannot just be tampered with it. It requires the expertise of the manufacturing companies to repair, “ he said.
He, therefore, urged the government to reduce Customs’ duties and related taxes on importation of the replicating machine to safe their businesses.
Bhanji said that if the government could reduce the tariff on such importation, it would help their business to succeed and also revitalise the industry.
He recalled that there were 15 replicating companies across the country before, but at present, they had been reduced to seven due to high cost of maintaining the machines.
He urged the government to grant soft loans to the companies in the country to boost their businesses.