Our correspondent gathered that the Minister for Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelemah, has disclosed the 27 industries that would benefit in the Federal government’s recently introduced pioneer status also known as tax break policy. Last week, the Federal government announced the introduction of Pioneer status, a policy where companies within a certain industry will be exempted from paying company income tax for an initial period of three years. Afterward, they can be exempted for two more years.

Among the industries to benefit from the tax break include:

1. Mining and processing of coal.

2. Processing and preservation of meat/poultry and production of meat/poultry products.

3. Manufacture of starches and starch products.

4. Processing of cocoa.

5. Manufacture of animal feeds.

6. Tanning and dressing of leather.

7. Manufacture of leather footwear, luggage, and handbags.

8. Manufacture of household and personal hygiene paper products.

9. Manufacture of paints, varnishes and printing ink.

10. Manufacture of plastic products (builders’ plastic ware) and molds.

11. Manufacture of batteries and accumulators.

12. Manufacture of steam generators.

13. Manufacture of railway locomotives, wagons and rolling stock.

14. Manufacture of metal-forming machinery and machine tools.

15. Manufacture of machinery for metallurgy.

16. Manufacture of machinery for food and beverage processing.

17. Manufacture of machinery for textile, apparel and leather production.

18. Manufacture of machinery for paper and paperboard production.

19. Manufacture of plastics and rubber machinery.

20. Waste treatment, disposal, and material recovery.

21. E-commerce services.

22. Software development and publishing.

23. Motion picture, video and television programme production, distribution, exhibition and photography.

24. Music production, publishing and distribution.

25. Real estate investment vehicles under the Investments and Securities Act.

26. Mortgage backed securities under the Investments and Securities Act.

27. Business process outsourcing.