Jewellery Maker Urges FG to Reduce Import Duty

• Jewellery Maker Urges FG to Reduce Import Duty

The Chief Executive Officer, Rare Gems Limited, a jewellery manufacturing firm, Mrs. Talatu Olulana, has tasked the Federal Government to make foreign exchange accessible to entrepreneurs.

She noted that forex scarcity still remained a major challenge to the growth of the Small and Medium-scale Enterprises in the country.

Olulana spoke at a news conference to unveil the firm’s brand of wrist watches in Nigeria.

While noting that commercial banks were hampering entrepreneurship in the country, she called on the Central Bank of Nigeria to create a different window for entrepreneurs to get access to forex

She said, “Our banks are not helping the SMEs to get access to foreign exchange. The SMEs are being frustrated even though the multiplier effect of the sub-sector is quite huge.”

The Rare Gems boss bemoaned the cargo clearing process in the country, describing it as cumbersome and therefore the government needed to hasten the process of cargo clearing and reduce import duty.

Olulana stated that the jewellery industry was largely unregulated, leading to the influx of unsafe imported jewellery into the Nigerian market.

She said, “Lead is a poisonous material and you will find a lot of products in the market with lead which is cacogenic and can over time lead to cancer. There is nobody that checks this industry, but our products are completely lead-free.

“The jewellery market in Nigeria is large and I will say Rare Gems gave it a face, because before now people just go out of the country and bring in jewellery from anywhere because the industry is unregulated.”

Rare Gems, she said, was built to fit into the Nigerian climate, noting that its products were five times stronger than the conventional imported ones.