Customs agents oppose vehicle importation ban

   More than 500,000 Nigerians may lose their jobs at Seme border if the ban on importation of vehicles through land borders comes into full effect.

The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents disclosed this during a media briefing in Seme on Wednesday.

The customs agents added that the government risked losing monthly revenue of N600m and an annual revenue of N12bn.

According to them, in the past one week since the ban was announced, revenue generated by the customs from the border had dropped considerably owing to fears by importers who have been reluctant to order new vehicles before the January deadline.

The Chairman of ANLCA, Seme Chapter, Mr. Bisiriyu  Fanu, who indicated that more than 600 vehicles were cleared daily across the border, said that the decision by the government to ban the importation of vehicles through the land borders would affect the well-being of 500,000 Nigerians and other nationals involved in legitimate business and trade facilitation along the Lagos-Abidjan corridor.

According to him, the people affected will be drivers, small-scale traders, food vendors, freight forwarders, licensed customs agents, insurance and other allied agents.

He said, “ANCLA urges the Federal Government to reconsider the ban because vehicle IMPORTATION through the land borders has provided employment for over 500,000 Nigerian graduates who would have ordinarily been roaming the streets due to unemployment situation in the land.

“Such a policy in the past had led to serious revenue leakages and massive smuggling along the border areas as well as waste of human and material resources because there are thousands of unapproved access routes through which these consignments can enter Nigeria.

“Once this policy is enforced, all unapproved access routes will be activated by smugglers who are known to conceal goods in fuel tankers, cement trucks and vehicle engines. “

Fanu noted that the action might ignite another form of crisis along -the border areas in the South-West, North-Central and North-West, where smugglers could do anything to achieve their aim.  “Furthermore, a period of three months would have been more appropriate to enable vehicles on board to berth for clearance if the government, with all its electioneering promises, is still bent on going ahead with the implementation of the policy,” he said.

One of the agents, the Chief Executive Officer of Fleming International Agencies Limited, Mr. Khally Momodu, said that the Customs made N1.2bn in the first quarter of 2016 from the border, adding that 70 per cent of that revenue was from vehicle importation.

“On Wednesday, December 21 alone, we made N70m from vehicle importation. Between Thursday December 22 and today, (Wednesday December 28,) no significant revenue has been generated,” he said.

[Punch]