The United Kingdom has called on the Federal Government to consider the issuance of a tariff and duty exemption on solar equipment to improve Nigeria’s energy access and fast-track its low carbon energy transition.

These developments were contained in a communique issued on Tuesday at the end of the Fifth Ministerial Meeting of the United Kingdom-Nigeria Economic Development Forum, which was held virtually.

This was disclosed in a statement by the Special Adviser on Media to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments, Ifedayo Sayo.

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The statement was titled ‘UK seeks tariff exemption on solar squipment’.

It said, “The United Kingdom has called on the Federal government to consider the issuance of a tariff  and duty exemption on solar equipment to accelerate Nigeria’s energy access and low carbon energy transition.”

According to the statement, the meeting was attended by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Niyi Adebayo; Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zanaib Ahmed; Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Col Hameed Ali (retd.); and the United Kingdom Minister of International Trade, Ranil Jayawardena.

The ministers noted that deepening the trade policy relationship between the two countries had the potential to benefit both countries and therefore promised to consider options for this in future.

In February 2018, the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) imposed a five percent duty and a five percent value added tax (VAT) on solar panels coming into Nigeria.

This was asides the already 20 percent customs duty on deep-cycle batteries required for energy storage.