There was confusion at the Lagos ports
on Wednesday as importers and
clearing agents had difficulties clearing
their goods following the implementation
of the Economic Community of West
African States’ Common External Tariff.
All the 16 members of the ECOWAS,
including Nigeria, had agreed to
introduce a uniform import tariff, pegged
at 35 per cent maximum, from January
this year, to facilitate trade within the
region.
Although the Nigeria Customs Service
said the policy had taken effect on April
11, it was not enforced until Monday.
But the importers, who claimed not to
be aware of this development, said
many of them were asked to pay double
what they use to pay as tariff on
imported materials.
They also said the tension generated by
the rate adjustment was heightened on
Monday and Tuesday when they could
not assess the Customs online portal.
They expressed fears that the
development could result in another port
congestion as many might be unable to
immediately pay the new tariff.
An importer, whose consignment of
electronic metal detector apparatus had
just arrived at the port, complained to
one of our correspondents that there
was no prior notice about the
adjustment in tariff, adding that she
discovered on Tuesday that what she
needed to pay on her goods had
doubled.
The importer said she had already
obtained the Pre-Arrival Assessment
Report from the Customs stating the
tariff she had to pay on her goods but
that when she attempted to log on to
the Customs portal, she could not, only
for bank officials to inform her that the
tariff she had to pay had doubled.
A clearing agent, who spoke with one of
our correspondents on the condition of
anonymity, said, “They (Customs)
adjusted the rates. Ours was increased
from five to 30 per cent, although we
learnt that some had theirs reduced
from 40 to 30 per cent, but these
category of importers were in the
minority.
“We could not access the Customs
portal on Tuesday. My client’s
assessment jumped up by N2.5m. And
if you pay anything less, the system will
raise an alert because it is automated,
and you are likely to be interrogated as
if you want to circumvent the system.”
But the Public Relations Officer, NCS,
Tin Can Island Port Command, Mr.
Chris Osunkwo, said the ECOWAS CET
was a two-way tariff, adding that while
some importers would have to pay more
on certain goods, others would pay less.
Details of the new tariff show that a zero
per cent duty is payable on goods
imported under social and necessary
items category; five per cent on raw
materials; 10 per cent on intermediate
goods; and 20 per cent on finished
goods not produced locally.
Osunkwo also said in a telephone
interview with one of our
correspondents that while 35 per cent
rate would be paid on imported used
vehicles, 70 per cent had been imposed
on new vehicles to encourage auto
industries to assemble vehicles locally.
According to a statement by the Public
Relations Officer, NCS, Mr. Wale
Adeniyi, the new tariff comprises an
Import Adjustment Tax list, which
involves additional taxes on 177 tariff
lines of the ECOWAS CET; and a national
list consisting of items whose import
duty rates have been reviewed to
encourage more development in
strategic sectors of the economy.
It stated that the Comptroller-General of
Customs, Abdullahi Dikko, had directed
the immediate enforcement of the tariff
provisions by all Customs area
commands and urged all stakeholders
to comply.
He also allayed fears about fresh port
congestion resulting from the ECOWAS
CET implementation, noting that there
were usually initial teething problems at
the start of any policy.



http://www.punchng.com/news/confusion-at-ports-as-fg-increases-import-tariff/

Era of change. All sort of change.

winds of change...

Increasing tariffs will cripple our economy. Nigeria is import driven thus the increment in tax, especially at this period of economic crises caused by fuel price, will discourage the use of conventional channels to import goods. Importers will resort to illegal importation through our porous boundaries. And this will not be good for our economy.

Also our small and medium scale importers will be frustrated out of business. As a result, commodities will be scarce, price of goods will skyrocket and the masses will suffer.

Some one should please teach some economic sense into the Daura President. We all know he failed economics back then in school. We even need to see his WASC Certificate sef.

[size=20pt]#BabaOneChance[/size]

Good morning to fellow Nigerians and nairalanders,the 35% tariff is still as the normal tariff we've been paying as at this year january,the change in the tariff was NAC to be 15%,while import duty is based on 20%,which still stands as 35% and. 70% for vehicle from 2014 till date,even depending on the mileage

So fellow nairalanders and importers,nigerians feel free to get ur consignment shipped and cleared by 35%

Will be available to thread for further info and enquiries

Regards

Jaid

wow