The Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC); Col Hameed Ali (rtd) has ruled out any possibility of reducing Customs duty on imported vehicles.
He stated this at a meeting with a delegation led by the National President of Association of Motor dealer of Nigeria (AMDN), Prince Abibola Adedoyin in Abuja on Tuesday.
Customs Acting Public Relations Officer Mr Joseph Attah, in a statement disclosed that at the meeting, the delegation raised the issue of high customs duty and requested that customs duty should be reduced.
Justifying the stand of Customs, Attah said that, “reduction of duties is not in the function of NCS; customs duty of 35 per cent is a regional decision in the ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET).
What is different is the levy which every nation is given as lead way to make adjustment as it fits its national interest”.
He said that the 35 per cent levy on new vehicles was brought in by the National Automotive Council drive to ensure that Nigeria was able to meet its vehicular demands.
“To that request, the Comptroller-General said that the NCS has made its position known to the Federal Government, that it is the decision of government to see the need to take a second look at the levy but as regards 35 per cent, it will remain as it is,’’ he added.
Attah said that the association also raised the issue of delays in the system, handling charges and the ease of doing business in customs ports.
The National President AMDN, Mr Ajibola Adedoyin, said that the policy was a welcome development but the problem was the issue of implementation.
Adedoyin said that the association would work with the Federal Government in any policy that would bring betterment to the country.
“We are not saying that the policy of making Nigeria becoming a better country is a bad idea but it’s the implementation that we are not too comfortable with.
“Because if they implement it the way they felt they wanted to do it, it might not anchor well for the generality of Nigerians.
“ Like we said the policy is good but can be implemented in phases so that after we finished in one phase then we can move to the next phase so that the policy can be implemented with humanity.
“So that people will not get so pained about the whole system and be taken out of business and unemployment will increase, because that is the only thing that we are bothered with.
“At the end of the day, if it is not done fairly, there will be a lot of challenges; so what we are saying is, it should be in phases and be done with humanity,” Adedoyin said.
Commenting on high cost of duty tariff, Adedoyin said that customs duty charged on car was too high.
According to him, the Comptroller-General said that it was the levy that made it high, and promised to inform the Federal Government and see what can be done.
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