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By Omodele Adigun and Steve Agbota
As the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) puts March inflation rate at 15.92 per cent, experts have listed arbitrary charges, delays in cargo clearing, multiple alerts, reckless interception of containers after legitimate clearance, among other factors as the accelerators of rising cost of living.
The NBS which recently released the March 2022 inflation figure, attributed price increases recorded in all Items Index divisions that yielded the Headline indexin the aforementioned factors urged restraint on the part of revenue collection agencies.The consumer price index, (CPI) which measures inflation, increased to 15.92 percent on year-on-year basis. With Nigeria as net importer, those who spoke to Daily Sun also blamed the gridlock and barriers erected by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) as part of the problem contributing to rising cost of living.
For example, Mr Frank Ogunojemite, President of Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON) said the introduction of 15 per cent National Automotive Council (NAC) levy on imported second hand vehicles (popularly called Tokunbo) by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS)remains a challenge.
“APFFLON is demanding for a unified tariff on vehicles but not astronomical rise in duty that will reduce the purchasing power of the citizens and accelerate inflation in the country. We are of the opinion that they engage stakeholders to clarify more on the new price which did not consider Essential Service Vehicles like Ambulances, Commercial buses and firefighters,” said Ogunojemite.
The NCS in a statement by its Public Relations Officer, Timi Bomodi, on Monday announced the Service migration from the old version of the Economic of West African States (ECOWAS) Common External Tariff (2017-2021) to the new version (2022-2026) with effect from Friday April 1,2022 in line with the World Customs Organisation (WCO) five years of the nomenclature.
According to Bomodi, “as allowed in Annex 11 of the 2022-2026 Common External Tariff (CET) edition and in line with the Finance Act and the National Automotive Policy, NCS has retained a duty rate of 20 per cent with a NAC levy of 15 percent. New vehicles will also pay a duty of 35 percent with a NAC levy of 20 per cent as directed in the Federal Ministry of Finance letter ref. No.HMF BNP/NCS/CET/4/2022 of 7th April 2022”.
