The Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Bashir Adeniyi, says the service will begin implementation of the duty waiver on imported foods in a week time.
Adeniyi made this known on Tuesday in Abuja during a combined news conference by the heads of security agencies and Service Chiefs, convened by the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa at the Defence Headquarters.
He said that the guidelines for the implementation were still being worked out at the Ministry of Finance, saying it would begin as soon as the guidelines were ready.
Adeniyi appealed to Nigerians to exercise patience, adding that efforts were ongoing to address the demands of the protesters, especially concerning the food inflation and cost of living.
President Bola Tinubu had directed the suspension of import duties and taxes on essential food stuffs to reduce inflation.
“I like to let Nigerians know that there has been a lot that is going on to address these issues that are related to ameliorating this situation.
“This is through a mixture of fiscal policies of government and a number of strategic interventions from the government.
“The Federal Government’s effort as part of intervention is the distribution of strategic food items which was released from the national grain reserves about a month ago.
“This was released to all states of the federation. We also recall that a number of the food items that are consumed in Nigeria are imported.
“Better parts of the components are imported and importations are not done of the shelf, it takes some time before they are done.
“So, one of the things that the president has done is to reduce the cost, to push on the effects of the cost inflation by suspending customs duties and taxes on imported food items for a period of time.
“We believe that when this is implemented, it will help to bring down the price of food items in the market”.
According to him, the Nigeria Customs is committed to the implementation of this particular fiscal policy as enunciated by government.
“But I also like to remind Nigerians that we need to be very, very careful in implementation of this and this is why the guidelines for implementation is being meticulously worked out at the Ministry of Finance,” he said.
Adeniyi said there was need to understand what the intervention implied for the local markets, adding that the government was trying to address the interest of all the stakeholders.
He added that most of these food items that enjoyed the duty waivers and concessions were also being cultivated by Nigerian farmers, hence the need to balance interests.
“There is the issue of striking a balance between the long-term interest of Nigerian farmers and stakeholders who are involved in the production of these items and the short term interest of addressing food inflation.
“So the guidelines are being worked out at the Ministry of Finance and I can assure you that within the next one week these guidelines will be ready and Nigeria customs will begin implementation of these particular fiscal policies,” he added.
He also expressed hope that the suspension of duties and taxes on imported food items would help reduce food prices.
Adeniyi said, “The protest was premised on a number of things, one of them being to end hunger. We discovered that a significant amount of food consumed in Nigeria is imported. Importation takes some time. So one of the things the president has done to cushion the effect of the cost of importation is to suspend customs duties and taxes on imported food items for a period of time.
“We believe that when this is implemented, it will help to bring down prices of food items in the markets. Nigerian Customs is committed to the implementation of this particular fiscal policy as enunciated by the government.
“What does this kind of intervention imply for the local markets? Because we are trying to address the interests of all stakeholders. Those that are going to enjoy these duty waivers and concessions are also being cultivated by Nigerian farmers.”
He said there was a need to ensure the interests of all the stakeholders were considered before the implementation of the policy.
The Customs boss urged Nigerians to be patient, adding that some of the imported items already in the country would be cleared without duties and taxes.
Adeniyi said, “There is the issue of striking a balance between the long-term interests of Nigerian farmers, Nigerian stakeholders who are involved in the production of these items, and the short-term interests of food inflation”.
