A frontline freight forwarder, Mr Dayo Azeez has advocated the abrogation of the 20 per cent levy on rice importation to make it affordable.
Azeez, a former vice-president of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, said that the import duty on rice is currently 20 per cent and added that when other charges are imputed, the total payable duty amounts to 50 per cent.
A frontline freight forwarder, Mr Dayo Azeez has advocated the abrogation of the 20 per cent levy on rice importation to make it affordable.
Azeez, a former vice-president of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, said that the import duty on rice is currently 20 per cent and added that when other charges are imputed, the total payable duty amounts to 50 per cent.
“The import duty on rice is 20 per cent of the Cost Insurance Freight (CIF) value and at the same time you pay an additional 20 per cent as levy and 5 per cent as VAT. So everything put together on rice is almost 50 per cent of the CIF value.
“We are clamouring for removal of that 20 per cent levy because it is of no reason; there is no just cause for the 20 per cent levy because every household in Nigeria consumes rice.
“From statistics only about 20 per cent of rice consumption is produced locally which means 80 per cent is imported.
“So, I want the fiscal policy of government to have human face by taking the interest of Nigerians at heart, so they should abrogate the 20 per cent levy so that the cost of rice can be affordable to Nigerians.’’
Azeez also x-rayed problems faced by operators in the industry and noted that most shipping companies delayed the refund of container deposits paid by importers.
According to him, importers pay between N150, 000 and N200,000 on 40-feet containers and half the amount on 20 feet containers as collateral security to guarantee the return the empty containers.
He argued that refunds should not take more than one week after the containers were returned to the ports, but some shipping companies never complied, delaying payment for between 60 days and 90 days.
On the rising volume of import at the existing ports, Azeez suggested the creation of more seaports to take care of the imports.
“Presently, the port facilities cannot accommodate the volume of imports and that is the reason why you have some imports being transferred to off-dock terminals.
“Off-dock terminal does not favour the customs brokers because the importer and the clearing agent are meant to pay for the transfer of these containers to off-dock terminals.’’
Azeez said that ideally a consignment should remain at the port where it was discharged for clearance by the customs licensed agent.
He, however, said that because of shortage of storage facilities at the ports, cargoes were being taken off-dock terminal.
Azeez said there was need for additional ports in the Western zone, adding that the zone took care of about 80 per cent of imports.
He advised government to go into Public Private Partnership (PPP) in building more ports, which he described as “a lucrative business’’.
He asked government to open up and liberalise the maritime sector and allow private investors to operate there.
Azeez also told NAN that port concession had achieved its objectives six years after six years in terms of efficiency.
“ Yes, the concessioning has achieved most of the desired results in terms of efficiency and effectiveness; the terminal operators have done very well, cargo clearance is faster than before.’’
He urged terminal operators to operate round-the-clock to reduce congestion at the ports.
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