Customs Begins Phased Implementation of Automotive Policy

There are indications that the Nigeria Customs Service may have began the phased implementation of the controversial policy on importation of vehicles, even as importers and their agents have lamented the sudden increase in duties of imported tyres as a fall out of the policy.

It would be recalled that importers and their agents had staged a protest at the Tin Can Island Port recently, kicking against the new tariff on imported vehicles which was rolled out by the Ministry of Finance last year.

Confirming this to Shipping Position Daily yesterday, Image Maker of the Apapa Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, Mr. Emmanuel Ekpa said that the ministry had rolled out a fresh policy last week Thursday and that customs has commenced implementation accordingly.

Under the new arrangement, Ekpa said that contrary to the 30% levy and 35% duty proposed in the policy earlier, government has shifted grounds that imported vehicles should pay only 35% duties without levy.

According to him, the automotive policy earlier released will now go into full implementation by July 2014 as directed by the Finance Ministry.

Speaking, the Customs PRO stated that "it is true that we have started implementing the new Tariff but the imported vehicles now pay 35% duty without levy, before now it was 20%"

"This is the policy of the Federal Government and we have been directed to implement to the letter" he said

Meanwhile, a customs license agent majoring in tyre importation, Mr. Kehinde Odumuyiwa, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Tripple K Investments told Shipping Position Daily that tariff on a forty foot container has now shot up from N6million to N8million.

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala in the new automotive policy signed last year had said that tyres of cars, buses and lorries will also attract 20 per cent duty and five per cent value added tax from year 2014.

But speaking with our correspondent, Odumuyiwa alleged that the customs has commenced the implementation of the policy by jerking up the tariff on tyres without recourse to the operators.

"I have a container of tyres that I want to clear, it use to be six million, but when we got there they told us that they have brought a new policy and that they should raise it to eight million"

"If government wants to change its policies they should allow us to know, they should give us a date of implementation officially, you can't just implement without letting anybody know what is going on"

He lamented that most of the monies used by importers in the business of tyre importation are gotten from letters of credit from the banks.

"Some of us bring tyres through the seaport while some of us bring through the land borders, I may decide to put my tyres at 35,000 and those that imported through land border can sell for 30,000, the country of origin is different and customs should take note"

He stressed further that tyres from China is different from those coming from America, but the best tyres are imported from China.

Meanwhile, the new automotive policy released last year states that "local tyre manufacturing plants are to import tyres at five per cent duty in numbers equal to twice their production for two years from the date of commencement of production"
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