• Demands' 10% of Customs revenue
The National President of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA); Prince Olayiwola Shittu has threatened that his association will go on strike should the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) try to collect the vehicle inspection levy at the port.
• Demands' 10% of Customs revenue
The National President of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA); Prince Olayiwola Shittu has threatened that his association will go on strike should the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) try to collect the vehicle inspection levy at the port.
Shittu also said that the association is already in discussions with the Federal Government to ensure that the association is given 10% of all customs revenue as it is being done in other developed countries of the world.
The ANLCA President expressed shock at the fact that SON had recently assigned destination inspection giant; Cotecna, as well as two others to carry out inspection on all vehicles coming into Nigeria.
Going by statistics, Shittu noted that over 250, 000 vehicles are imported annually, and that should importers pay N20,000 on each vehicle as proposed by SON, the service providers stands to earn N5.7 billion annually from the scheme.
"I hear that Standards Organisation of Nigeria wants to be charging 20,000 per vehicle imported into Nigeria, when we calculated an average of 250, 000 vehicles per annum, this gives 5.7billion that is not going through National Assembly or through appropriation, this is the same organisation that government pays money on the budget every year"
"The day SON says they are forcefully collecting that money, we will stop work" Shittu threatened.
He observed that customs brokers around the world are financed by government through the customs.
Shittu further stated that: "We generate the revenue but customs collect the revenue, the least demand we are asking from the Federal Government is to give us 10% of total collection, we are entitled to it because Cotecna, SGS and so on were contractors to government and were collecting 1% of FOB"
"When they couldn't manage the RAR and customs came with a superior system which is PAAR, they could not continue with the cheap money they were making so they went through ministry of investment to get another contract from Standards Organisation of Nigeria so that they can be making minimum of N5billion per anum" he said
He assured that in no distant time, ANLCA shall draw the government to a wrestling match by going round the Federation to sensitize its members to be ready for show down.
He said that ANLCA has kept peace in the port for four years, but that it is ready to now engage government by all means.
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