Members of the House of Representatives on Thursday kicked against the recent policy rolled out by Federal Government to ban importation of vehicles through land borders.
The policy, according to the lawmakers will impact negatively on the revenue generation through land borders, employment and further impoverish Nigerians who currently facing hard times.
The lawmakers argued that “some of those making these policies have failed to patronise made-in-Nigeria goods, especially Nigerian Assembled vehicles which are, in any case unaffordable to over 80% of Nigerians who can only afford fairly used imported vehicles.”
The prohibition policy issued by Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) which takes effect from 1st January, 2017, prohibits importation of new and used vehicles through land borders except through sea ports.
The House also urged Federal Government to ensure that the law enforcement agencies, especially those working at the borders, are diligent in their duties by ensuring that import charges through the land borders are paid when due and remitted to Government coffer.
The resolution was passed following the passage and adoption of the motion sponsored by Abdullahi Salame, who lamented that the percentage of Nigerians who can afford cars has declined drastically following the decline I’m the value of naira, inflation, unemployment and high cost of living that has bedevilled Nigeria where over 80% of Nigerians live below $200 a day.
Some of the lawmakers who spoke in favour of the motion are: Nasir Ahmed, Mohammed Bugaji and Ahmed Babangida.
Salame who admitted that Federal Government has powers under section 18 of the Customs and Excise Management Act to restrict the movement of goods into and out of Nigeria by land or inland waters and to appoint customs stations, however noted that similar exercise of such powers on rice importation through land borders in April 2016, has occasioned untold hardship on Nigeria’s as a bag of rice now sells for between N20,000 to N23,000 as against N8,000 few months ago.
He also expressed concern over Government’s failure to alternative measures in place to ensure that Nigerians have access to cars since it is cheaper to buy cars from neighbouring countries and still generate revenue by ensuring that our borders are secured to prevent smuggling, and also heightens unemployment.
The lawmaker who stressed the need to halt the policy pending the resuscitation of the nation’s economy, argued that “the ban will cause more harm than good as it will certainly lead to increase in smuggling, deprive poor Nigerians of access to acquiring vehicles, skyrocket the prices of cars cleared at the wharf, increase inflation and further mount pressure on the already weak naira, and lead to idleness, insecurity and criminality at the border points.”
To this end, the House urged Federal Government to install border security and surveillance equipment for effective monitoring to address the recurring menace of smuggling and ensure a maximum revenue generation on all lawfully imported goods.
Government was also admonished to expand its plan on youth empowerment programmes by developing skills acquisition centres in border areas so as to enable youths to acquire skills necessary for the type of businesses that are being carried out in the border areas and also employ more people from those areas into the border security agencies as they have relevant experiences on how goods are being moved in and out of the country.
To this end, Speaker Yakubu Dogara mandated the joint Committee on Governmental Affairs and Customs and Excise to ensure implementation and report back to the House within six weeks for further legislative action.
