FTZ: ‘Banned Goods Can Now Be Sold in Nigeria’
From Ernest Chinwo in Calabar, 10.08.2008

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To remove bottlenecks in the operation of Free Trade Zones (FTZs) in the country, the Nigeria Customs Service said banned goods produced in the zones can now be sold in the local market.
The Comptroller General of Customs, Alhaji Hamman Ahmed, said this at an interactive session with investors and management of the Calabar Free Trade Zone and Tinapa Business Resort that the goods could be sold in Nigerian Customs territory provided the manufacturers added 35 percent value to the products.
He, however, said the importers of the goods into the Nigerian territory would have to pay necessary duties, adding that the highest duty to be paid stands at 35 per cent.
Ahmed said the measures were contained in the new fiscal policy of the Federal Government aimed at making the free trade zones in the country operational.
Ahmed lamented that out of the 23 free trade zones in the country, only about six are operational, and said Government was interested in removing the bottlenecks.
He, however, said the concessions did not cover prohibited items like fire arms and ammunitions as well as explosives.
He directed customs area comptrollers to refrain from the inspection and examination of goods going into the free trade zones and restrict themselves to the ones coming into the Nigerian Customs territory, stressing that men of the customs should only escort goods into the FTZs to ensure that they are not diverted.
Ahmed said the Nigeria Customs Service is now ready to partner with investors to improve the economy of the nation but warned that all aspects of the laws must be adhered to.
“We will work within the ambits of the law. We are not here to terrorise any investor. But the fraudulent ones, we will hit them hard. The laws are there and we will implement them to the letter. Importers who under-declare their imports will be prosecuted and their goods forfeited to government. Customs will apply full weight of the law. The days of concealment and false declaration are over,” he said

:banana::banana::banana:

This is excellent news.

Imoke: Tinapa takes off Dec
From Ike Abonyi in Abuja, 11.10.2008
Monday, November 10, 2008

Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke has said the multi-billion naira business/tourism resort otherwise called Tinapa will take off December.

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Speaking with journalists weekend, Imoke, who said N50 billion had so far been spent on the resort, added that the state would still spend another N5 to N10 billion before its take-off.

The governor said the take off followed the approval of the resort’s Procedural and Operational Guidelines by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) last week.

He said: “We reckon that we are at the final stages. Tinapa is well over 90 per cent completed. We will need to spend maybe another N5 to 10 billion to get to where it should be for phase one.

“But that is just the beginning of Tinapa. We expect that to a great extent, to be able to make it a destination, where people, families can come in and spend a few days, enjoying themselves, relaxing in the hotels at the leisure facilities. It is a destination that people can go to and everybody will have something to do.

“If the daddy goes for a conference, the mummy is shopping, the kids will be at the amusement parks and you can spend a week at Tinapa without getting bored. That is the ultimate objective.

“There is no such facility like that in this part of the world and I think it is an excellent opportunity and there is significant demand.”

According to him, “the key to Tinapa is the policy framework. It is not the buildings, it is not the infrastructure. I have always said that the easy part of Tinapa is the part we have done. Which is to build. It is having a policy regime that is clear on Free Trade Zones, operating a Free Trade Zone, attracting investment into the Free Trade Zone and operating it to the standards that are expected internationally of facilities of that nature. And we can’t achieve that without the Federal Government throwing its full weight, saying this is our policy for this project.”

On the state government’s indebtedness on the project, Imoke said the debt was significant, but that such debt was usual for a project of that magnitude.

He said Tinapa was financed with a combination of equity and debt, adding that discussion was ongoing with a view to converting some of the debts to equity.

“Debt is significant. Our liabilities are also significant. But for projects like this, there has to be debt. Whether it is private sector or otherwise. So, every project like this is usually partly funded by equity and partly funded by debt. Significantly, Tinapa is funded by debt which we intend to convert to equity,” he said.

He observed that apart from the Oil and Gas Free Trade Zone in Onne, Calabar is the only free trade zone that is operating in Nigeria, complemented by the Tinapa Free Trade Zone, adding that the project would be a boost not only for the economy of the state but Nigeria as a whole.

The governor said infrastructure such as roads and water ways would be expanded with a view to catering for the high volume of traffic that Tinapa would engender.

To this end, he said the state government was working with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to dualise the Odupkani road, adding that there is a lot of synergies between his state and Akwa Ibom to use the cargo airport and a means of evacuation of goods from Tinapa.

He said work was ongoing on the Ikom-Kastina Ala road and to the rest of the Northern part of the country, as well as the Ugep-Abakiliki road to Onitsha, which is the shortest route to the eastern part of Nigeria.

He said the Calabar Port was also being dredged to accommodate big vessels.

On security, Imoke said: “Naturally, geographical location is at the end-point of Nigeria and in terms of security, I think it has some features that make it naturally safe.

“To leave Calabar for instance, you can only leave and come into the rest of Nigeria through one route. There is only one route, which makes it easy for us to police it. You can’t come in or go out of Calabar through any other way.

“The same goes for our water ways. We have the Calabar Channel. That is the only route in and out of Calabar. So it is relatively easy to police. Calabar also is the headquarters of the Eastern Naval Command, the Army Amphibious Brigade is there and we have a significant presence of the 13th Brigade, in addition to being the headquarters of Zone 6 of the Police. So in terms of security, it is probably, potentially one of the safest places in the region.” :banana::banana::banana:

I am glad Tinapa's finally opened to the Nigerian public.

Do not be deceived. Imoke's tour was merely PR, "Hey there, we know you businesses are getting sick and tired of the legal delays, we're here to tell you that you the law will be GAZETTED soon in early 2009 when all the govt. officials, senators, etc. will be back from vacation".

Are Tinapa businesses legally allowed to operate now?

The answer is still a flat NO.

Do not be deceived. Imoke's tour was merely PR, "Hey there, we know you businesses are getting sick and tired of the legal delays, we're here to tell you that you the law will be GAZETTED soon in early 2009 when all the govt. officials, senators, etc. will be back from vacation".

Are Tinapa businesses legally allowed to operate now?

The answer is still a flat NO.
Without commenting on the rest of your post, the legislators are not required to gazette the approved operational guidelines for the Tinapa FTZ, and these guidelines have in fact been gazetted (and the gazette published) after agreement was reached with the Customs Service. However, whether the COMMERCIAL takeoff of Tinapa is imminent is a different matter, as most of the outlets (including ones already let out and some of the anchor tenants) are still empty.

Tinapa is geared for opportunity!

http://tinapa.com.ng/portal/modules/news/index.php?storytopic=6

some images from the Arcade section:

1.
http://i317.photobucket.com/albums/mm391/billysboss2005/DSC02910_14ce141.jpg


2.
http://i317.photobucket.com/albums/mm391/billysboss2005/DSC02921_1b83e41.jpg

3.
http://i317.photobucket.com/albums/mm391/billysboss2005/DSC02924_1337f61.jpg


4.
http://i317.photobucket.com/albums/mm391/billysboss2005/DSC02927_1641141.jpg