The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has urged the Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to peg the exchange rate for import duty purposes alone.
The association has equally condemned the CBN Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) for cutting down the lending rate for commercial banks.
Speaking with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week, National Publicity Secretary of ANLCA, Dr. Kayode Farinto said that the only way government could get the ports busy with activities is to peg the exchange rate at N280 for import purposes alone.
He equally confirmed Shipping Position Daily's report on Monday that many customs licensed agents are diverting attention to Cotonou port, Seme border and Idiroko borders because the seaport are no longer friendly for importers.
He said "Government should peg exchange rate for import purposes alone, the exchange rate could be N420 but for import purposes it should be pegged at N280"
"This should be done between now and January, by then if the dollars continue to fluctuate, then you can shift it up a little, by doing this, you are already preparing the minds of the importers, they would know what is happening, and by January they would be able to project"
"What Federal Government needs to do is to peg exchange rate for import purposes for the importers, this would ameliorate the suffering in the industry, our problem is not about commercial banks pegging their lending rate, the government needs to come to the grass root of the maritime industry and speak with the operators" he said
Apart from these, he suggested that the government should lift forex ban on 41 import items, as well remove the levy placed on rice imports.
"On the issue of the auto policy, government should abrogate it completely because it is not helping anybody, it only favours less that two percent of Nigerians who say that they want to assemble vehicles but they are not doing so"
He lamented that the amount of duty payable on imported vehicles through the borders is not commensurate with what importers are paying at the seaport.
Farinto urged the Federal Government to call for a stakeholders meeting where operators would advise on how to liberalise the collection of import duties.
"From idiroko, four containers could be un-stuffed into a trailer and it would pay just N2million, meanwhile the value of each of the containers at the port is worth millions through the seaport"
"Irrespective of what any of the trailers are carrying, once you pay N2million, customs will pass it, meanwhile government is losing money. But at the port, they will tell you that your cargo has low duty or various alerts"
He said that importers coming through the seaports should be encouraged because they are like the golden chicken laying the golden egg.
"If you have a 2016 Prado Jeep and you bring it through the seaport, you cannot pay less than N10million as duty alone. Meanwhile if you take it to Cotonou/ Nigerian borders, the moment you pay N1.5million it enters Nigeria legitimately"
He confirmed that many agents have transferred their licenses to Seme and Idiroko borders because the ports are no longer attractive.
"I don't know about smuggling, but don't be surprised if you see me taking my license to Cotonou because my Children have resumed school and I cannot pay their school fees and I will not steal, and there is enough cargoes coming through the borders legitimately"
"I may likely move my license to Cotonou too because the license is for sea, air, and land borders, I will transfer my license to the borders and clear goods legitimately" he said.
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