No waiver was granted to First Lady - Finance Minister

THE Federal Ministry of Finance has described as false and distorted, information report on Sahara Reporters  that the Office of the First Lady is involved  in alleged import waiver scandal.
In a statement by Paul Nwabuiko,the Finance Ministry alleged that “the website merely extracted and distorted information on the list of beneficiaries of the revised waivers policy, which the Federal Ministry of Finance voluntarily published as part of its drive for transparency and accountability.

“The revised waivers policy replaces the old regime of individual waivers, with the objective of boosting key sectors such as agriculture, power, gas and mines/steel. The strategy is to deploy waivers as a stronger tool of economic development,” the statement explained.

According to the statement, part of the information published by the Federal Ministry of Finance was a list of state governments, private sector organisations and other institutions which were granted waivers to bring in vehicles for various events, including sports festivals, conferences and workshops, adding that “this practice did not begin with the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration.

“Beneficiaries of the waivers for vehicle imports include state governments such as Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Lagos, as well as organisations such as the Continental First Ladies Forum, which was granted a waiver for vehicles required for their event hosted by Nigeria,” while clarifying that “the First Lady did not in any way personally benefit from this waiver.

“It is important to recall the fact that the country has a nascent leasing industry and no company in the sector currently has the quantity and quality of vehicles required for such events.”

The statement added that “government is encouraging private sector organisations with the requisite focus and expertise in this area and the hope is that soon, it would no longer be necessary to grant such waivers.

“The resort to falsehood by Sahara Reporters based on a distortion of information voluntarily made available by government underscores the desperation of this scurrilous medium and its paymasters.”