Nigerian importers of used vehicles through neighboring ports of West Africa have been alleged to be engaging the services of naval personnel as escort in order to avoid paying statutory duties to the Nigeria Custom Service and other agencies of government, sources has disclosed.
Insider sources who highlighted the activities to Auto Port Weekly last week in Lagos, said that the act has gone beyond seeking security and protection of their vehicles as they are cleared from Cotonou, Lome and Tema port in Ghana, but that it is now used to avert duty by customs.
Nigerian importers of used vehicles through neighboring ports of West Africa have been alleged to be engaging the services of naval personnel as escort in order to avoid paying statutory duties to the Nigeria Custom Service and other agencies of government, sources has disclosed.
Insider sources who highlighted the activities to Auto Port Weekly last week in Lagos, said that the act has gone beyond seeking security and protection of their vehicles as they are cleared from Cotonou, Lome and Tema port in Ghana, but that it is now used to avert duty by customs.
According to our source, most of the importers engage naval officials for the sum of N3, 000 on each vehicle in order to evade duty, while they simply pay N1, 000 for cars that complete duty have already been paid to the government.
According to the source, the officers can go for as many trips as possible within a day.
He said that without the presence of naval personnel during the process of transporting the vehicles from neighboring ports, the importer will be made to pay the sum of N3, 000 at everything check point mounted by customs totaling about N20, 000 to N25, 000 per vehicle.
He noted that importers have used this device to buy and import more vehicles because of the high profit involved after sales.
According to him, the illicit act, used to be purely the Nigerian Navy business and gradually some merchant navy officials have also involved in the deal.
‘’whenever the customs sight the presence of the naval officials along Lagos Badagry expressway, they don’t bother to stop or ask them of their identifications to confirm if they are fake or not’’.
‘’some of the escorts who accompany the drivers or the importers that parade themselves as officers of the Nigerian Navy or Merchant Navy are fake because of the dirty uniforms they wear during the transfer‘’ he stressed.
He also explained that the drivers that are involved in the movement of the vehicles transfer are paid N1000 by the importers for their services.
He revealed that spare part dealers at Ladipo market who import vehicle parts from neighboring ports of West Africa also engage the services of the officers to escort their import to the market.
President of the Nigerian Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association, Engineer Matthew Alalade also confirmed the act saying that ’’we have heard about the situation but I believe that those persons are fake merchant navy and that is why we want to put in place a taskforce committee to checkmate such things because it is giving our association and Nigeria a very bad image ‘’.
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