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By Steve Agbota
Following the intervention of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), freight forwarding associations have agreed to resume the clearing of general cargo and containers from Tin-Can Island Port while vehicle clearance will remain on hold until further notice.
During a meeting with the management of NSC yesterday, the representatives of the protesting freight forwarding groups decided to put vehicle clearance on hold as a result of outrageous duty Customs imposed on imported vehicles through introduction of Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) valuation policy.
The Executive Secretary of the NSC, Emmanuel Jime who spoke during the meeting at the Council’s headquarters in Lagos, described the actions of the freight forwarding groups as a patriotic move, which is for the benefit of both the consumers and the economy at large.
He said the protest was not against the newly introduced Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) valuation policy but against the methodology of its implementation.
However, he called on the freight forwarding groups to step down action by calling off the strike to enable the Council to champion further negotiations on the issue with the management of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
He assured the group that the Council will escalate the matter till both parties reached an understanding.
Meanwhile, National Secretary of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Abdullazeez Babatunde, said that the new VIN policy does not put into consideration the wear and tear as well as the depression value on vehicles when generating Customs duties to be paid on imported cars.
“Customs has refused to openly address the issue associated with the new policy after admitting to the fact that there is error associated with the policy.
“Citing example, a 2012 model of car, which is not supposed to have market value of more than N4 million now has about N12 million as value with the new valuation system of Customs, which is outrageous,” he said.
On that basis, he emphasised that the freight forwarding groups will not call off the protest as requested by the Council.
Also, Deputy National President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Segun Musa urged Customs to go back to manual valuation of vehicles till the issues associated with the new policy are resolved.
“We will allow for the operations and clearance of general cargo but RoRo clearance, which involves clearing vehicles will still be on hold till we hear from the Shippers’ Council on the outcome of the discussion with Customs,” he added.
He said that rather than encourage trade facilitation, the new policy would rather encourage smuggling in of vehicles by importers who want to run away from paying the new ‘outrageous duties’ imposed on imported cars to the government through Customs.
“This will push importers away, companies will shut down while jobs would be loss, and government will be using limited resources to buy guns to fight smugglers,” he said.
