Duty hike: We’re finished, say importers, agents

Following another hike in Customs import duty rate from N282 per dollar to an all-time high of N313, importers and clearing agents say the development appears the final death knell to wipe off the nation’s import community.
In June, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), in response to the flexible exchange rate introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), adjusted the import exchange rate system from N197 to N282.
Thousands of consignments caught in the sudden change were affected by the hike forcing importers to part with large chunks of money for clearance.
They had barely recovered from the June shock when the Customs, following a directive from the central bank and the Finance Ministry (its supervising Ministry), jerked up the duty exchange rate to N313 to a dollar.
Lamenting the increase, an importer, Williams Okechukwu, said, “importers are finished in Nigeria. Nothing is working. This increase is like asking importers to go and die.
You opened your Form M with N282 and by the time you want to clear, you’re told it’s N313. This is the height of government’s insensitivity. Many of our members have closed shop, with their workers laid off because cost of goods have doubled and it’s still going to increase with this development. Government shouldn’t kill people to realise revenue. We need to protest this wickedness,” he stated.
Also lamenting the development, the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) said it was jolted by the increase.
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