Protest Against New Import Duty Exchange Rate is Misplaced- Customs

– Cabal within shuts DTIs

– Ali, rattled, reverses it

– NAGAFF, others condemn leadership style

Against the background of pockets of protests by licensed customs agents over the new exchange rate for duty assessment in the nation’s ports, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has said that their reactions and protests are misplaced because the service has no hand in the crafting of monetary policies for the country.

Speaking with MMS plus last week in Lagos, the Zonal Coordinator of NCS, Zone “A”, Harvey road, Lagos, Assistant Comptroller General (ACG) Charles Edike said, “The protests were misplaced. I think that part of the problem is that people are not properly informed. There is a way the government works. They are people that make the policies. The fiscal policies come from the Federal Ministry of Finance, the monetary policies come from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and when these policies come, ours is to implement. We do not have powers over these policies”.

He continued, “The 41 items that they removed from foreign exchange transactions, did it not affect our revenue collection? Were we able to change it? Of course, once it is monetary or fiscal policy, all we do is to implement. Left turn, yes sir. Right turn, yes sir. About turn, yes sir.”

However, following the new policy, the NCS has pegged import duty rate at N282 to a dollar with effect from 1st July, 2016 as against N197 that was obtainable, irrespective of the black market rate.

The circular signed by the Deputy Comptroller General, Tariff and Trade, NCS, Akinade Adewuyi, read, “In consonance with the provision of CEMA on the evaluation and clearing of imported goods into the country, Mr. President has approved the use of the exchange rate  at the time of making entry as provided in CEMA, Customs and Excise NO. 13 on the value of imported goods.

“Where the value of an imported goods is shown in the foreign currency, such value is to be converted to be equivalent to Nigerian currency as at the rate at that time of making the entry. The current rate of exchange is published at the Customs House”.

Beside the protest staged by the Association of the Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), PTML  chapter, last week, stakeholders have condemned the development, saying it would result to importers abandoning their cargo at the ports.

More worrisome to shippers is that the policy took effect retroactively, meaning that it has resulted to higher import duty for the imports made before the policy was introduced

Recall that the NCS had earlier in the year attempted to adopt the foreign exchange of N285 but the move was truncated necessitating the Service’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Wale Adeniyi to deny the report, saying that N197 remained the basis for duty calculations.

In a related development, the NCS  shutdown the Direct Traders Input (DTI), last week without the knowledge of the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hammeed Ali, who was away attending a conference in Brussel, Belgium. The authority was said to have alleged that DTI constitutes a major avenue for revenue leakage for the Service.

However, following the direct protest to the CGC by the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), the CGC who was alarmed at the development instructed the Customs head quarters to reverse the decision from Brussel.

Thereafter, NAGAFF, in a press statement chided the Customs authority for the brazen act of impunity and disconnect with the freight forwarders and shippers who constitute the core stakeholders in its administration and service delivery.

“It’s very sad(at) the level of decadence in the Customs relationship with practitioners and the Nigerian shippers. It is most embarrassing that the Nigeria Customs Service is seemingly fixated on its statutory duties.

“You can see the disconnect between the customs administration and the people who come to do business with the service. The protesting agents do not have reasons to do so if the Customs authority had deemed it fit to call a stakeholders’ meeting to inform the agents and the trading public about the introduction of the astronomical exchange rate that has changed the economic equation of trade and commerce in Nigeria at the moment.

“To further buttress this act of impunity and total disdain for the feelings of the traders, freight forwarders and agents just overnight, DTI cafes were shut down without any inkling that it will happen. This foisted on practitioners a fait accompli through an avoidable ambush that cost the country a complete shutdown of the port system and the economy. If the customs service had only taken the stakeholders along the avoidable policy implementation of shutting down the entire DTI, the loss inherent in the economy would have been avoided” NAGAFI asserted.