Ordinarily, placing high tariffs on imported goods is never justifiable except under certain circumstances. For instance, the EU tariffed steel imports from China at a point, citing as reason the fact that Chinese producers pay a fraction of European wages to their workers, so Europe will not allow them to impoverish their workers and wipe out the European steel industry as well. Outside that consideration, that particular duty on imported steel from China would not have been justifiable. Steel from Japan could not be blocked in thesame manner for instance because any price reduction would be due to an improved expertise and not on economic cheating. Also, imports can be restricted if they do not meet up to national standards but outside all that, the customs should not be mainly for revenue generation in any country because trade helps both participating parties develop and grow. Ideally, importers should be charged only handling and warehousing costs, if other things were equal. Once a country is on its feet, more or less everything can be produced in the country either by locals or foreign investors bringing in expertise. The practise in Nigeria of imposing a certain percentage of the value of some imports as import duty is morally wrong because government is not the one providing the capital. It is why an automobile worth USD 10,000 will end up being sold to Nigerians for around USD 20,000. Government may claim to be doing this to encourage local producers but this is also an untruth like most government statements in Nigeria. It is an untruth because even the FG imports automobiles and do not patronise the plants set up in Nigeria. In the future, there shall be free trade and free movement globally with borders there only for administration. Europe is the region that has achieved this and it will surely become global standard in the near future. The source of government revenue should be frontal via income taxes and ideally it should never be through the backdoor.

I've always question this import duties by FG. Why not place high custom duties on contraband items and relieve for legal items? Its not everything you produce in Nigeria.

The last time I had to pay almost the same amount I used to purchase a laptop to clear it, are they advicing me to buy made in Nigeria laptops?

The Nigerian govt. are just sadist, they claim to encourage self determination and development yet...

Ok