The (ab)use of import duty waivers in Nigeria

An increasingly popular but disturbing method of misappropriating government revenue in Nigeria is the practice of granting all manner of indiscriminate waivers of tariffs and duties on imported commodities under the directive of the Presidency. This paper critiques the law, use and abuse of duty waivers in Nigeria. It argues that although the President, on the advice of the Tariff Council, has powers to grant waivers, such powers are neither supposed to be granted indiscriminately nor in secret. The granting of indiscriminate waivers to individual operators in an industry rather than to the entire industry distorts national economic and industrial development which is normally the very essence of granting such waivers. The paper also raises questions about the implications of the granting of indiscriminate duty waivers by the Presidency for fiscal relationships in a federal state.