…commends Nigerian Customs Service for suspending implementation of customs duty
Kano Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (KACCIMA), has expressed its readiness to work in partnership with global international agencies, to create conducive environment for improved business relationship.
In achieving this objective, the chamber want USAID, and other similar agencies, to include it in all activities it outlined for capacity building for Organized Private Sector (OPS) across the country.
Faruk Rabiu Dansuleka, president of the chamber, made this call while delivering a lead address, at the workshop organized by USAID for private sector players drawn from the northern part of the country.
Dansuleka disclosed that his chamber is not happy seeing USAID and other Development Agencies with presence in the country engaging in active collaboration with OPS in other states, without extending same to the chamber. He stated that the chamber noted with concern that USIAD and other Development Agencies prefer to deal with individual business owners rather than working with business groups, like the chamber.
In a similar development, the chamber has lent it voice in calling on the Nigerian Customs Service to jettison its directive urging all vehicle owners in the country to pay customs duty on their property.
President of the chamber, Dansuleka, who spoke to BusinessDay on the side lines of the USIAD workshop, said while the chamber was glad that the leadership of the Service had suspended the implementation of the directive, he how want it permanently cancelled.
“While, we join you and your team in celebrating these great achievements; however, we wish to draw your attention to some observations as regard one of your policy initiatives which we believe was borne out of good intention, but on the other hand seems to have the potential of undermining the legacy of honour that we assumed that you would like to leave behind at the end of your tenure.
“The issue has to do with your recent directive to all owners of imported vehicles (old and New) across the country to pay – up Customs Duty (DC) on their property within one month. We noted that the directive took effect from yesterday, 13th March, 2017.
“Without any intent to circumvent your organization’s statuary mandate to impose duty on all categories of Goods imported into the country, it is our considered opinion that the on-going imposition of duty on imported vehicles, including all existing ones on the nation’s roads, at this material time, tend to suggest a gross lack of sensibility on the part of your Agency, about the current socio-economic difficulties which most of the citizens are going through.
“In the same vein, we also observed that your agency unilaterally took the decision to impose the duty without due consultation with the stakeholders, as well as without putting into consideration the ability or inability of citizens to pay.
“The other thing we noticed about the exercise was the poor arrangement that has characterized the exercise; How would your agency carry out the documentation of the estimated over 10 million vehicles on Nigerian roads from only four centers you designated for the programme within a space of one month?” the chamber president argued.
Dansuleka concluded that while, the chamber empathise with leadership of the service over the huge revenue target given to it by the Federal Government at this moment of economic downturn, it wants the service to look beyond what it described as an attempt to capture revenue from real and imagined customs duty derivable from imported vehicles for now, as this will project the current customs leadership as lacking human feeling, and out to make life more difficult for the citizens.
