Does your business have anything to do with mass transit buses (40-seater and above), air transport, solid minerals and sugar manufacturing? If so, start preparing for a boom next year.

This is because the 2013 Nigerian Federal Budget presented to the National Assembly this morning by President Goodluck Jonathan favours these four economic sub-sectors.

The President (shown in photo) announced the following measures effective from January 1, 2013:
• Sugar: Machinery and spare parts imported for local sugar manufacturing industries will now attract 0% duty; there will also be a 5-year tax holiday for “sugarcane to sugar” value chain investors. Furthermore, import duty and levy on raw sugar will be 10% and 50% respectively, while refined sugar will attract 20% duty and 60% levy;
• Rice: A 10% import duty and 100% levy will be applied to both brown and polished rice;
1. Aircraft: All commercial aircraft and aircraft spare parts imported for use in Nigeria will now attract 0% duty and 0% VAT. This will appreciably improve safety in our skies as newer fleet and less onerous maintenance will prevail;
• Solid Minerals: Machinery and equipment imported for use in the solid minerals sector will now attract 0% import duty and 0% VAT; and
• Public Mass Transit: In order to encourage the production of mass transit vehicles in Nigeria, duty on Completely Knocked Down components (CKD) for mass transit buses of at least 40-seater capacity, will now be 0%, down from 5%. Government is desirous of supporting green growth and, in this regard, will explore options for providing incentives for energy efficient vehicles from the 2014 fiscal year.

Dr. Jonathan announced that “an aggregate expenditure of N4.92 trillion is proposed for the main budget of the 2013 fiscal year, representing a modest increase of about 5% over the N4.7 trillion appropriated for 2012. This is made up of N380.02 billion for Statutory Transfers, N591.76 billion for Debt Service, N2.41 trillion for Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure and N1.54 trillion for Capital Expenditure.”

Some key allocations as announced by the Nigerian leader are as follows:

•Works – N183.5 billion

•Power – N74.26 billion

•Education – N426.53 billion

•Health – N279.23 billion

•Defence – N348.91 billion

•Police – N319.65 billion

•Agriculture & Rural Development – N81.41 billion.

“It is a budget that gives priority to our concerns for security, infrastructure, food security and human development sectors,” Jonathan said. “It is a budget that introduces a series of innovative features. This budget is a push in the right direction borne out of our well thought-out and articulated developmental policies.”

He described the budget as one for every Nigerian, saying: “It belongs to the farmer, the investor, the entrepreneur, the youth and the elderly. Yes, we have challenges, but also incredible opportunities. Ours is the task of transforming these opportunities into real, tangible outcomes which all our people can experience and call their own. We need the cooperation of everyone to make it work, to grow the economy, and to create jobs for our people. I continue to call on all Nigerians to act. Making Nigeria work begins with you and me.”