The Customs Area Controller in charge of the Port & Terminal Multipurpose Limited Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, Festus Okun, has said that the Vehicle Identification Number valuation system being implemented will increase transparency and revenue generation and engender predictability.
Okun, in a statement on Thursday signed by the command’s Public Relations Officer, Yakubu Muhammad, said the process would address discretionary duty value borne out of sentiments and address the problem of having variations in the value of same vehicle model and age in various commands of the service.
He said a recent stakeholders meeting held with the port users at PTML on Tuesday was targeted at keeping them abreast with the new policy on valuation for imported vehicles into Nigeria.
Okun said, “I will now relate VIN to some of the core principles of trade facilitation. Like, you can look at the trade facilitation agreement and the Kyoto Convention; what are they all saying? It’s about processes and procedures that need to be simplified, to have harmonisation, to put integrity into the system for uniformity, predictability.
“By using it to generate appropriate duties and taxes to be paid, it means that it is predictable and there is harmonisation between all ports and terminals across the country. The human interface will be removed, and this brings integrity into the system. There will be harmonisation and absence of discretion because discretion is what has been causing a lot of issues, where people bring emotions into official transactions.
“When there is uniformity, there will be peace, because people will know that whatever is obtainable here is the same as all over and when something is predictable, it means that route is made more user friendly and people will rather come and make their transactions than go elsewhere.
“It’s not like the NCS will relent in its enforcement of law but people will be encouraged to come into the system and do the appropriate thing. This will lead to a decrease in smuggling.”
