223 Nigerian companies that imported goods into the country without full duty payment under the Temporary Admission Permits (TAP) have now been given 21 days to fulfil the terms of their agreement by Customs or face penalties, including bond invocation.
The TAP, a temporary importation agreement, is a regulated concession under international and national customs law that allows companies to string in goods free of customs duty, provided such goods are re-exported within a specified period “without alteration beyond normal depreciation,” or converted for home use.
The Nigerian Customs Service, in an official statement, said the defaulters must “regularise their importation status by either applying for a valid extension, re-exporting the items under Customs supervision, or converting the goods to home use, subject to the payment of appropriate duties,” on or before August 17.
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“At the expiration of this deadline, the Service will commence enforcement actions, which may include bond invocation, imposition of penalties, and legal proceedings.”
When an importer brings goods in under a TAP, they are required to secure their duty exemption with a bank bond. This bond acts as a financial guarantee.
“These TAPs are granted for 12 months, extendable by another year, and under special consideration, a further extension of six months plus a final six-month grace period,” the Service said.
If the importer defaults on the TAP terms by not re-exporting or paying duties to convert to home use, the NCS calls it a “breach” and says it is empowered by law, specifically Section 143 of the NCS Act 2023, to discharge the bond value as customs duty into the Federal Government’s account.
Compliance checks by the Service revealed that the defaults of the 223 amounted to a total bond value of approximately N380 billion.
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Frank Onyebu, the immediate Past Chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Apapa Branch, confirmed to BusinessDay that some importers, who “may or may not” be members of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, exploit loopholes in government policies to the detriment of genuine manufacturers.
His biggest suspicion is the Free Trade Zones, where importers can bring in goods and evade duties.
“A lot of that happens within the Free Trade Zones,” he said. “Some importers actually manage to smuggle goods from the FTZs into the country without paying duties. These same goods are in direct competition for the market with products of genuine manufacturers,” he said.
He advised “affected importers” to “regularise their status in line with the directive of the NCS.”
