The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has added three more banks to the 19 earlier approved for export fee collection under the Nigerian Export Supervision Scheme (NESS).
According to a CBN circular signed by the Director of Trade and Exchange department, W.J. Kanya, the appointment was approved by the minister of finance, budget and national planning and the apex bank further noted that all authorised dealers were to disseminate the information to all customers involved in the export business.
The newly approved financial institutions include Coronation Merchant Bank Limited, Paralex Bank Limited and Lotus Bank.
The NESS Fee which covers payment for crude and its derivatives and payment for non-oil related goods is a statutory payment to the FG on all legitimate goods exported from the country.
The export goods range from commodities, clothing, food, furniture, minerals, and manufactured and semi-manufactured products.
The fee, according to a 2021 approval, includes a 0.5% administrative charge of the value of the export and 0.15% of Freight On Board (FOB) which is paid to the CBN through the approved banks.
The NESS scheme is an initiative of the federal government that aims to effectively manage the quality and quantity of exported goods from Nigeria.
NESS also handles regulations and compliance for goods by exporters as all exports from Nigeria are subject to inspection prior to their shipment.
Following the CBN’s bank consolidation exercise, 13 banks were designated to collect the NESS fees in January 2006. This figure increased to 19 banks in 2021 and with the addition of the three banks, the number has increased to 22.