Fiscal Policies Impact Ports Negatively - Customs Agents
Maritime
By Francis Ugwoke
The fiscal policies of the government and the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) in the past few years have impacted negatively on the ports industry, freight forwarders have said.
In a position paper to the Presidential committee on Customs Reform signed by the Head of Special Duties, Mr. Eugene Nweke, the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) drew the attention of the committee to "unfinished assignment" in customs reform exercise.
Noting that government was determined to restrict imports into the country as a way of encouraging local manufacturing, the association stated that what had been wrong was the approach taken and implementation of the reform .
According to the body, government failed to take into consideration the poor economic situation in the country and the mass unemployment.
"Fiscal policies must be made in such a manner as to give consideration to the environment and people of Nigeria. Our environment is very filthy and non-conducive for living including in-security. Most Nigerian people are very negative in their attitude to the rule of law because they believe that government may have failed from providing basic necessities of life", the Association stated.
It added, " taking a critical look at the policy of prohibition of selected goods into Nigeria, one is forced to ask questions. Can we actually say that most of the banned goods can be replaced by local manufacturers. Are we sure that government did a thorough job as to ascertain products that can serve as substitutes before the prohibition orders. Are Nigerians being made to believe that the agents of the government may have failed it, the idea of selected entry points for certain items like pharmaceutical products and vehicles is preposterous. We know that the Customs and other agents of the government are designated in all approved seaports and order stations. Some of the actions of the government at times tend to give an impression that Nigeria is unruly. But it is not, rather human element barriers, corruption, unpopular policies and implementation methods are the problems. The government should remove trade barriers, encourage and remunerate her agents, impose sanctions on trade goods against defaulters rather than seizures, creating incentives and financial support to local manufacturers in other that they can compete with the foreign traded goods".
The agents noted that due to the policy of age limit on vehicles import, smuggling of such items has been rampant.
"Because of high level of corruption in Nigeria, over aged cars are entering this country day and night with very little resistance. Government should forget any report indicating that it is well.", the group said.
On the policy of auction of seized goods, the Association argued that this has not solved any problem as owners of such goods turn round to purchase them at a reduced duty rate.
"What government should do is to simply apply graduated tariff rates depending on the age of the cars. New cars should attract lower tariff rate while the older, the higher the rate of the duty. In so doing the government will collect maximum revenue for other responsibilities and people will have choice of purchase. While this is ongoing, the government would encourage investors on vehicle assembly to produce a car that an average Nigerian can afford.", the association advised.
It continued: "On the part of prohibition trade goods, drawing examples from items like used over-aged cars, used compressors, used fridges etc., a severe sanction of an imposed penalty of 150 percent of the FOB value can be enforced."
If the owner cannot pay, such item can be given to charity homes rather than auction. On the issue of selected ports for the importation of certain items into Nigeria, the association described it as a mere loss of confidence by government on its agents.
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