A friend recommended his brother to clear my car purchased through Cotonou a year ago. Despite emphasis on ensuring proper that clearing is done, still he went ahead to bypass the due clearing process so as to reduce fee payable to customs. Although he collected more than the required fees from, he paid less than half to customs and pocketed the rest.

To confirm genuineness of his clearing papers, I approached customs office where the scam was exposed. Fast forward a year later, I am unable to resolve the issue. The Chassis no. in custom's system differs from my car's own. I'm even afraid to travel outside Lagos with it. An officer offered to resolve the issue through the backdoor by altering system info. I am skeptical. I would have preferred following the proper channels but dont how to go about it.

Really need your advice.

Thanks in advance.

I am going thru the same thing right now. Bought this 2005 Mazda 626 as a utility car for wifey. After registering and just before taking the vehicle from Abuja to Osun State to deliver and surprise Madam, I just on a hunch decided to verify the Duty Papers. Alas! the C-Number belongs to Toyota Hilux. Confronted the stupid Car Dealer who annoyingly said he had to go thru the crooked way because the official rate was too expensive. Its been three solid weeks now but there has been no positive response from the bagger. And the Custom Office i approached said the actual duty is 255k. Well I am planning to unleash woman vitriols on the man by getting wifey herself do the talking to the fraudulent dealer. But in fairness to the Dealer the first car a friend bought earlier in the year carried genuine papers.