Africa: Jonathan at AU Summit, Advocates Taxes on Imports Into Africa

Daily Independent (Lagos)

Chesa Chesa

29 June 2011

Abuja — President Goodluck Jonathan has advocated establishment of a tax regime on goods imported into Africa, as a means of generating revenue to fund infrastructural projects on the continent.

The President made the suggestion in Equatorial Guinea on Wednesday while presenting Nigeria’s debate on mobilising resources for funding development projects in Africa, using the Nigeria-Algeria trans-Saharan gas pipeline project as an example.

He spoke at the 25th Summit of the Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD).

Jonathan cited the ECOWAS five per cent tax regime on goods coming into ECOWAS countries from outside the sub-region, saying revenue generated from this policy has helped significantly to finance intervention projects within the sub-region.

In this regard, the President proposed that the African Union (AU) should set up a technical committee to place tax benchmarks on identified goods and raw materials that are imported into the African continent.

According to an Aso Rock statement, Jonathan argued that revenue generated from such policy will go a long way to complement funding of development projects under public private partnership initiatives.

“If at the level of the continent, we set up a technical committee to place tax on some of the goods and raw materials that come into the continent from other parts of the world, this will be a source of funding that could complement any PPP arrangement, and finance critical social and health projects, including the burden of HIV/AIDS and other related health challenges in the continent,” he stated.

Jonathan said the $20 billion Nigeria-Algeria gas pipeline project is expected to be completed in 2015 and that it will transport about 30 billion cubic metres of natural gas from Warri through Niger Republic to Algeria.

He said the gas pipeline will be operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Sonatrach of Algeria, both of which will hold 90 per cent shares of the equities of the project, while the national oil company of Niger Republic will hold 10 per cent equity.

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