The implementation of the ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) in Nigeria has been suspended by the Nigeria Customs Service as a result of the delay in the passage of the 2015 budget by the National Assembly.
The implementation of the ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) in Nigeria has been suspended by the Nigeria Customs Service as a result of the delay in the passage of the 2015 budget by the National Assembly.
Nigeria along with other members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) after an economic integration meeting in October 2013 agreed to begin the implementation of an adopted Common External Tariff. Last year, the community’s secretariat, after the final endorsement by the Heads of State and Government agreed to flag-off the CET among its 15 member nations on January 1st 2015, but Shipping Position Daily gathered that implementation may not see light of the day yet.
The adoption of the CET is also expected to lead to cooperation among all customs organisations within the sub region and they will operate as a single union with uniform duties and other trade policies.
Already, our correspondent learnt that desk copies of the tariff have been distributed by the ECOWAS to member nations, and the Nigeria Customs Service headquarters has availed the to various commands of copies of the harmonised tariff structure.
In a chat with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos yesterday, Controller of the Apapa Command of Customs, Mr. Charles Edike however said that the commands were given instructions from headquarters not to commence implementation of the new tariff yet.
"There is an instruction from headquarters not to operate it yet, and that we would be told when to start, we are still using the old one for now", he told our correspondent.
"I don't want to comment on it until it comes on stream and we see the details in it, that is when we can comment on it, by then we would have come up with the fiscal policy for the year, that is when we would be able to analyze properly, if we analyze now, we would be doing that in a vacuum" Controller Edike stated.
Apart from this, image maker of Tin Can Command of Customs, Mr. Chris Osunkwo also confirmed to our correspondent that the implementation of the Common External Tariff is highly dependent on the passage of the budget and determination of the fiscal policy for 2015.
Osunkwo said that, "when the budget is ratified by the National Assembly, the Minister of Finance gets down to do the breakdown of the budget and different tariff, this is when the CET will come into full effect"
On his part, ASYCUDA Project Manager of the Apapa Customs Command, Deputy Controller Yussuf Malanta told our correspondent that the CET implementation does not involve Nigeria alone, but that it will be implemented uniformly by all signatory countries.
"It does not concern Nigeria alone, it has to do with all member nations of ECOWAS, it will be overzealous if Nigeria is going ahead to start implementation", he added.
Meanwhile, freight forwarding associations are already anticipating the commencement of the new tariff, even as the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has predicted that the CET will cause a drop in smuggling.
National President of ANLCA, Prince Olayiwola Shittu told Shipping Position Daily that competition is going to be very stiff for Nigeria, because the purpose of the CET is to ensure that same duty is paid on cargoes in all ECOWAS countries.
"Cargoes destined for Ibadan can now be cleared in Ivory Coast and duty is paid there and brought to Nigeria, as you pay the duty there, it also reflects here in Nigeria. What this means is that you have the alternative of taking your cargo elsewhere within the ECOWAS sub region"
"It is going to bring about stiff completion. Cotonou is closer to us and they are expanding their ports, apart from this, they do not have as many regulatory agencies that Nigeria is having, maybe they don't have terminal operators collecting money for services not rendered"
"When you look at these, you tend to patronize whichever port is lower in cost and this is going to be a challenge. The duty paid in Ivory Coast will not be queried by Nigerian customs" he said.
Shittu observed that 60% of cargoes coming to West Africa are destined for Nigeria, and with the CET, there would not be any need for smuggling of cargoes because it will no longer be attractive.
"It is going to be a tough time for everybody and we are bracing up our self for this eventuality" he added.
Already, the customs had last year trained top executives ANLCA on the Common External Tariff in order to make them conversant with the operations.
Discussion about this post