Lagos — The Federal Government may have ordered the cancellation of the $250 million import duty waiver earlier granted WEMPCO Nigeria Ltd, a steel products manufacturing firm in Lagos.

The approval letter from the Federal Ministry of Finance (Budget Department), was reportedly issued on July 15, and was signed by the Director General of the Budget Office, Bright Okogu.

However, President Musa Yar'Adua was said to have cancelled the concession on the advice of the Finance Minister, Shamsudeen Usman, who queried the circumstances surrounding its grant, describing it as "abnormal and fraught with irregularities of unprecedented magnitude."

The cancellation, according to a source, was conveyed to the management of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in a letter dated November 5.

The source added that the management of the company has also been informed about the development.

However, the letter was silent about the huge income the government has lost since the budget office misled President Yar'Adua into granting the concession.

Investigation by Daily Independent estimated the loss at N325 billion.

It revealed that WEMPCO had applied for a waiver under the government's special investment incentive package for the establishment of a $250 million cold rolled steel plant, but ended up importing some questionable items into the list, contrary to the agreement reached with government officials.

According to the source, the list only conceded five items, but the company injected other items into it, thus, expanding it to 12.

This has resulted in petition to the presidency by the organised private sector, who were disturbed by the waiver and wanted the matter thoroughly investigated.

The petition, dated October 10, alleged that by the concession, WEMPCO was importing items that were supposed to attract both customs tariff and VAT, including brand new vehicles of different made.

It was also alleged that the company also used the opportunity to import 2,000,000 meters of electric cables, 1,000 units of forklift trucks and over 10,032 electric generating sets free into the country.