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The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) appears unmoved by the condemnation and controversy trailing the announcement of its plan to impound vehicles brought into the country without duties payment and prosecute owners of such vehicles after one month grace.
And despite Tuesday’s condemnation of the plan by the Nigerian Senate, which also asked the Customs to halt the plan,NCS went ahead on Wednesday to announce that it was going ahead with the plan,saying the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (retired), had approved placement of 60 per cent rebate across board on vehicles brought from 2015 downward.
The acting Public Relations Officer of the service, Mr. Joseph Attah, who made the announcement in Abuja, said the Customs chief approved the adjustment of points of payment of duty on old vehicles to ease the process, even as he explained that vehicles which duties had not being paid from 2015 downward would enjoy 60 per cent rebate.
He added that all vehicles brought in 2016 to date would have to pay the normal duty rate.
According to Attah, the rebate is to create a soft landing for people who are in possession of the vehicles.
He explained that the 60 per cent of the total value meant the calculation would only be based on 40 per cent.
“So any private vehicle owners who wish to take advantage of the period and pay duty would save a lot before the coming into effect of a system that will totally block them out,” he said, stressing that the essence of the adjustment of points and payment was to ease the process and encourage motor dealers in possession of uncustomed vehicles to come forward and pay duty.
According to him, the grace period still remains March 13 to April 12, adding that the points of payment, with the exception of Lagos and Port Harcourt, will now be made at the nearest Customs Area Command.
“More dealers in Lagos are to pay their duties at Zone A, Headquarters and Federal Operation Unit Zone A, Ikeja while in Port Harcourt, it will be at Zone C, Headquarters, Nigeria Ports Authority.
“Private vehicle owners who know that duty has not been paid on their vehicles should take advantage of this grace period to do so.
“Owners of such vehicles or their representatives are expected to go to the nearest pay point for assessment and payment.
“It should be noted that the 60 per cent rebate applies only within the grace period,” Attah said.
He said that the decision to grant a period was not sudden but a product of consultation and long standing engagement with the leadership of Association of Motor Dealers of Nigeria (AMDON).
According to him, AMDON had earlier pleaded for a window to pay duty on all uncustomed vehicles within the country before the ban on vehicle importation through the land borders.
He said that the ongoing collaboration with FIRS, FRSC, VIO and the Nigeria Police in the Vehicles Identification Number (VIN) project was another bold step by the Nigeria Customs to boost revenue and enhance national security.
“The benefit of this collaboration is that those who do not pay duty on their vehicles will not be able to obtain licence and register them in the country.
“We believe that when all vehicles are properly registered and owners identities tied to them, national security will be enhanced.
” We are expecting motor dealers and indeed private owners of smuggled vehicles within the country to use this grace period to pay the duty.”
Attah said that with the ongoing collaboration on VIN and customs planned operations of bonded vehicle terminals, there would come a time in the near future when owners of smuggled vehicles will not be able to register vehicles in Nigeria.
Commenting on third party buying of vehicles, he said that 60 per cent rebate on the value of the vehicle still applied.
He said that the grace period could not be discussed now, adding “If the grace period is about to expire and vehicle owners keep coming and we see the need, of course wisdom demands that we do the appropriate thing and take a review.”
The National President of AMDON, Mr. Ajibola Adedoyin, said that the association had been collaborating with NCS over the past few months to ensure that genuine duties were paid on cars brought into the country.
Adedoyin said that the association and customs were also working on duty charges to ensure that cost of cars was brought down, adding that vehicles were not luxury but necessity.
“The association sees it important to collaborate with the NCS to see how we can have a win-win situation.
“In our several meetings with them, we were able to agree on certain areas that we are going to work together to make it a success.
“As I talk to you now, customs are trying to put in some kind of things that will make it better for us as dealers, at the same time we on our own are building a platform to make it easy so that buyers can check every car brought at our car stands.
“The platform is almost ready and it is already in the country and our consultants are working on it and maybe in the next three days, we are going to unveil it.
“We find out that in every area motor dealers, customs officers and smugglers are liable to the offence,’’ Adedoyin said.
He said that the aim of the platform was to ensure that even after duties were paid on every vehicle, there would be something that would be issued to buyers to enable them to check on their own to be sure of what they were buying.
“This platform will make it difficult for people to try to patronise cars that have no duty paid on them,’’ he added.
Meanwhile, a former Senate Leader, Sen. Mohammed Ndume, on Wednesday advised NCS to fish out the source of fake import duty documents issued to car owners, rather than embarking on seizure of vehicles with fake documents.
Ndume gave the advice in Maiduguri as he expressed support for the Senate’s resolution calling for the suspension of the impending seizure of vehicles with fake import duty documents by the service.
According to Ndume, the planned action of the service is tantamount to undue harassment of motorists plying the highways.
“The NCS said that they will be seizing people’s vehicles on the road instead of the borders, the Custom has no business going to town to ask anybody anything.
“They should stand at the borders and do their job; where is the fake import duty coming from; is it not from the Custom?” he asked.
Ndume said that the service should look into its operations and fish out the bad eggs rather than checking for culprits in the larger society.
“They should make sure that there is no fake import duty document around.”
“What does an innocent buyer has to do with fake import duty?
“In fact, Nigerians are buying second hand cars because they cannot afford the new ones, why suffer them the more?”
He urged the Service to set aside their plan or else they face stiff opposition from Nigerians.
“From the information that I have gathered, some human right lawyers are already wading into the issue so as to ensure that poor Nigerians are well protected.
“Laws are not applied in retrogression,” Ndume said.
Source : NAN
