NAGAFF CONDEMNS 7% DROP IN CUSTOMS REVENUE
... As First Bank failed to do proper remittance to Central bank.
By: Bisi Akingbade
The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF has condemned in clear terms the recent 7% drop in revenue realised by the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS and called on the Federal Government to tackled it as a matter of urgency.
The National Coordinator, 100% Compliance Team of NAGAFF, Alhaji Ibrahim Tanko made this known in a press conference at the Compliance Secretariat in Lagos, revealed that the Compliance Finance Intelligence Unit has discovered that the Customs revenue has recently dropped by 7%, due to the suspension given to First Bank by the Central Bank of Nigeria as a result of former’s failure to do proper remittance to the apex bank.
Alhaji Tanko also attributed the low revenue being generated by the Nigerian Customs to importers being afraid of bringing in goods as a result of the incoming administration policies which might not be favourable to them.
He highlighted that the exemption of import duty granted multi-nationals by the Ministry of Finance also contributed to the drop in revenue. “the bulk of revenue realised by the Customs is from the multi-national companies, granting them exemption is like pouring water inside the ocean so by asking Dangote, Flour Mills and the rest not to pay duties maybe because of some agreement or contracts between them while you mandate a freight forwarder with only two containers to pay duty, not knowing that some importers hide under this multi-nationals, import goods and fail to pay duties.
Tanko proffering solutions to this problems, said the customs should applied alternative area window code to zero duty payment which make freight forwarders make payments on the trapped goods at the ports pending when first bank and the apex bank resolved their rift.
He added that "We are calling on the Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, to review the exemption granted to the multi-nationals so that they will stop abusing the privilege being given to them”
He appealed to the Federal Government to look inward and encourage local industries to thrive instead of depending solely on importation at the detriment of home based industries and also appealed to the Comptroller-General of Customs Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd) to assist in the training of young freight forwarders so as to enable them to fully understand customs process and operations thereby turning them into bonafide professionals.
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