The Nigeria Customs Service has said that it would not refund the 35 per cent import duty that may have been paid by importers or their agents in the wake of the controversy which trailed the July 1, 2014 take-off date of the full implementation of the automotive policy.
Deputy Comptroller Customs in charge of Tin-can Island Container Terminal, Peters Olugboye, gave the verdict on Wednesday, when he categorically stated that the 35 per cent duty already paid by some stakeholders on imported vehicles would not be refunded.
The Nigeria Customs Service has said that it would not refund the 35 per cent import duty that may have been paid by importers or their agents in the wake of the controversy which trailed the July 1, 2014 take-off date of the full implementation of the automotive policy.
Deputy Comptroller Customs in charge of Tin-can Island Container Terminal, Peters Olugboye, gave the verdict on Wednesday, when he categorically stated that the 35 per cent duty already paid by some stakeholders on imported vehicles would not be refunded.
Olugboye made the assertion in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos in spite of the clamour by many maritime operators that the collection of duty and levy on used imported vehicles be stopped until 2015.
He said: “The 35 per cent duty tariff is not refundable even though the total collection of 70 per cent tariff on used vehicles had been postponed till January 1, 2015.
“It is not reversible; the Nigeria Customs Service will always implement government policies.
“The 70 per cent tariff is supposed to be fully implemented from July 1, but shifted to January 1, 2015.”
The TICT deputy comptroller said that Customs had never collected 35 per cent tariff on levy and that clearing agents had not been paying levy on imported vehicles.
Olugboye said that the current 35 per cent duty tariff being collected by the NCS was based on government law.
He said: “The system of clearing goods is automated.
“If any agent or importer insists that he had paid 35 per cent tariff on levy, it can be verified so that there will be no further allegation.”
Olugboye said it was regrettable that some agents blamed Customs for the delay in clearing their goods on time even when there were other government agencies at the nation’s ports.
He advised importers and agents to genuinely declare their goods to ensure quick clearance of their cargoes.
“It is wrong for an importer to declare that he or she imported only tiles while vehicle parts are included in the cargo because he does not want to pay the right duty,” he said.
The Federal Government had on November 4, 2013 introduced a policy that increased the tariff on imported vehicles to 70 per cent from 20 per cent.
The government said that this was part of the policy of encouraging made in Nigeria vehicles.
But the implementation of the policy took off partially in January as the tariff was increased to 35 per cent.
The implementation was later moved to March 1, 2014 before being shifted again to July 1, 2014.
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