VREG to end vehicle smuggling, evasion of Customs duty – Edun

The Federal Government is set to end the smuggling of vehicles into the country and evasion of Customs duty, as it operationalises the National Vehicle Registry Policy (VREG).

VREG integrates vehicle data across several agencies including the Nigeria Customs Service, Vehicles Inspection Offices, the Police National Central vehicles data and the Federal Road Safety Corps’s database.

Wale Edun, minister of Finance and coordinating minister for the Economy, told participants at the VREG Zonal Sensitisation campaign in Abuja recently, that the initiative would curb Customs duty evasion by vehicle importers.

“The Federal Ministry of Finance is saddled with the responsibility of managing the nation’s finances and revenue streams. Amid dwindling revenue orchestrated by falling oil prices and a mono-economy further worsened by revenue leakages from unplugged loopholes such as customs duty payment evasion, it became imperative that the government provided effective responses to these issues.

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“Furthermore, the absence of a dynamic and centralised platform for national vehicular information, despite Nigeria being the largest importer of vehicles in Africa with an additional 15 million vehicles operational in the country,” the minister said.

According to him, “This huge vacuum had sustained the menaces of Customs duty evasion, paucity of data for vehicular policy formulation, nationwide vehicle administration for revenue leakages, vehicle theft and vehicle-related crimes, challenges in road traffic regulation enforcement, limited access to credit facilities and ineffective vehicle insurance coverage and monitoring and evaluation.

He said with the emergence of VREG in 2021, several benefits of the registry have been achieved including utilisation as a tool to mitigate the evasion of Customs duty administration.