Even as the year 2018 gradually takes off, the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has called on the federal government to create an enabling environment for investors in the maritime sector in order that economic activities in the sector and the nation at large will thrive.
The National Publicity Secretary of ANLCA, Dr. Kayode Farinto who made this call in a chat with this paper in Lagos recalled that the year 2017 was a challenging year for Nigerian importers occasioned by the placing of 41 items on the import prohibition list.
He further called on the government to liberalize trade so that the imported products would compete with the locally made ones even as he advocated for government incentives for the locally made goods.
He said,” Look at the issue of rice, the locally produced rice is not even affordable to Nigerians. If you want a plate of Ofada rice which is locally made; it is N500 when you can eat N200 for the imported ones.
“Our policy formulators are not helping us, the various agencies in the ports are making the cost of clearance very expensive. I give you an example, I have a product I am clearing now, engine oil and break fold, having gotten SONCAP from SON, the same product was now blocked by NAFDAC, insisting that I must have import permit. By the time we got there, NAFDAC now gave us a penalty of N163,000 and many other charges because they said that we did not go for import permit. All these charges that the consignees pay will now shoot up the overhead cost which is eventually transferred to the final consumers. This is not too good for our industry and it is not helping us”.
The NPS faulted the situation where the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is given annual revenue target contending that the practice was not in the national interest as he believes that the Service could make more than N2 trillion if stakeholders were carried along.
“I also said that if agents are given incentives that will make them have 2% CIF value of whatever they generated in a year, it will boost their morale and they will insist on compliance and that actual duty should be paid on the part of their importers and more money will be generated as government revenue.
“Above all, we need the Ministers of Transportation, Finance and Agriculture to always call for stakeholders’ meeting in the maritime industry quarterly. This becomes imperative because in view of what is happening and many hurdles that we go through in the course of cargo clearance. If we have stakeholders’ meeting, it will enable us air our grievances, our challenges, and the Ministries will liaise with each other which in turn will increase and encourage the ease of doing business in the maritime industry”, he submitted.
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