The governments of Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Rivers states have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a framework for the duty-free movement of goods and services and a harmonized levy system at all points of entry and exit within the three states.

The tripartite agreement is contained in a communiqué reached at the end of a two-day stakeholders engagement workshop in Calabar to unlock economic prosperity in the Niger Delta with the theme: ‘Unlocking economic prosperity in the Niger Delta Region: Facilitating Trade, Agriculture and Tax Policies’ facilitated by Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) with support from OXFAM in Nigeria.

The two-day engagement allowed stakeholders to brainstorm on the initiative, which aims at unlocking economic prosperity in the Niger Delta through trade facilitation, agriculture value chain development, and policy engagement for ease of doing business, tax and levies harmonization.

In a six-point recommendation issued at the end of the workshop, the stakeholders called on the Tax Justice and Governance Platforms in the three states to continue to drive and sustain advocacies and institutional engagements with all relevant institutions in the three focal states to ensure that the process is successful and fully implemented.

They also called on political leaders in the three states to prioritize economic growth and work with civil society to ensure it is effectively and sustainably achieved and realized.

The workshop also recommended that all institutional, policy instruments and legal loopholes/bottlenecks that hinder the effective implementation of the ease of doing business programme should be removed through appropriate legislation and enactment of relevant policies.

They further recommended that political leaders in the focal states should strengthen economic cooperation and promote the ease of doing business to foster economic development in the region.

The workshop also recommended the implementation of harmonized tax policies and that all multiple taxes, illegal levies and charges are removed to make the process of economic cooperation seamless and effective.

The stakeholders also recommended that the three focal states should set up appropriate agencies and institutions that will oversee the process of ratification and signing of the MoU to provide for adequate legal backing and a relevant policy framework that will promote the successful implementation of the economic cooperation agenda between the three focal states. (The Guardian)