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Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria (REAN), at the weekend, lamented the crippling effect of the five per cent import duty placed on the solar components.
Speaking to Daily Sun, at the weekend, the Executive Secretary, REAN, Lande Abudu, said that beside the five per cent value added tax (VAT), the Federal Government imposed a five per cent duty on the materials.
Before now, she said, it was zero-per cent duty on the components. This, the Executive Secretary, said, would affect the cost of installation and would have a backlash effect on the new industry.
“There was zero-per cent duty on the components. But all of a sudden, I believe in June 2018, the government changed the order. There was no longer zero per cent duty on solar components. All these now attract five per cent duty plus the five per cent VAT which of course, bearing in mind that it is a new industry, we have to encourage people bringing in things. If you put duty on it, how do they make profit? It affects the bottomline which will translate to more expense to the consumer. Which means that we will not be able to deploy and scale up as fast as developers would like to. What does that mean, we will not have other sources of electricity as quickly as we want to, bearing in mind that over 55 per cent of Nigerians lack access to electricity. How do we begin to electrify at a faster rate? The grid is not very strong. Even if there are millions of investments in the grid, it cannot provide electricity solution in the next decade or more” she said.
According to Abudu, solar materials are not manufactured in Nigeria. So, most of the materials are imported into the country by REAN members. The best the members can do is to assemble them in Nigeria.
