Following the suspension of importation of vehicles through the land borders by the Federal Government, stakeholders have called for close and strict monitoring of the activities of officials of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and other uniformed men involved in smuggling across the Nigerian borders, which they say constitutes about 40 percent revenue loss to the country.
Also, following the concerns generated by the order last month, the NCS had on Wednesday announced the suspension of the implementation of the payment of import duties on old vehicles.
The suspension, according to NCS, is in compliance with an earlier directive by the Senate that the policy, which has generated controversies, should be suspended.
Joseph Attah, acting public relations officer, NCS, said the suspension still remain in force until it received the support of the lawmakers in carrying out the exercise.
According to Attah, “They both (Senate and NCS) agreed that the proposed motor duty payment, though in line with the provision of the Customs and Excise Management Act Cap C.45, LFN 2004 should be put on hold while the Senate Committee on Customs and Excise interfaces with the NCS for further discussions.’’
The statement read in part, “Following the unnecessary tension generated as a result of the misconception and misrepresentation of the Nigeria Customs Service’s planned motor duty payment, the leadership of the National Assembly and the Comptroller-General of Customs, Hameed Ali met with a view to resolving the impasse.’’
The stakeholders argue that the objectives of closing the land borders against vehicles imports by the Federal Government will be defeated with the collusion of men in uniform getting involved in movement of the vehicles.
Since the border closure to importation of vehicles by the Federal Government, there has been upsurge in smuggling of vehicles through illegal bush parts by uniform men.
To beat border and other documentation checks many of the officers are also involved in the clearing process right from when duty is paid on the vehicle through to the release, and then subsequently driven into the country through a network of pre-arranged special arrangement by a ‘’fly in’’ method in collusion with the uniformed men.
Patrick Uzezi, one of the licensed vehicle documentation agents at the Seme border, told BusinessDay that some importers of the vehicles had prices of their vehicles dropped by between 10 percent and 25 percent, depending on the vehicle and year of manufacture.
The drop in price is due to low patronage, since the import ban as many Nigerian buyers have resorted to shopping for their preferred brands and models from the local market as a result of the restrictions on bringing in vehicles through the border for fear of being impounded upon interception by the NCS.
On rumours that importers are considering buying vehicles from Benin Republic and shipping them into Nigerian seaports, Tony Anakebe, managing director of Gold-Link Investment Limited, a clearing and forwarding company, said there was possibility of importers whose vehicles were trapped in the neighbouring countries port like Republic of Benin to devise the means of shipping through Cotonou ports as a recovering plan.
According to Anakebe, the freight to ship a vehicle from Cotonou port to Lagos ports will not cost more than $600, but the only challenge would be that the importer would be required to pay the appropriate duty of 70 percent to the NCS.
“Nigerians prefer to use neighbouring countries ports because it is cheaper to bring in vehicles to Cotonou port that collect 10 percent duty rather than Nigeria that takes 70 percent. And this is the real reason Nigerians prefer those port and to bring in through land borders,” he said.
Anakebe, who noted that the challenge was that many RoRo vessels call Nigerian seaports, usually make Lagos ports their first point of call before transiting to other West African seaports, stated that the possibility would be achieved based on demand.
He however called on the Federal Government to consider downward review of import duty on vehicles as a way of discouraging smuggling through the land border.
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