FG abolishes prohibition list …declares there will be duty on all goods

By FUNSO OLOJO
In line with the ECOWAS Common External Tariff(CET), the Federal Government has declared that it shall abolish prohibition list by 2020.

 
However, it announced that Textile materials and Furniture, the two hitherto prohibited goods, have immediately been removed from prohibition list.
Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service, Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko, who make the disclosure in Lagos at a stakeholders meeting  ,declared that the concerned items are now dutiable and accommodated under the Import Adjustment Tax (IAT) in the new CET.

 
At the stakeholders meeting where the Customs formally announced the commencement of the new harmonized regional tariff structure, the Customs boss solicited for the co-operation and support of industry operators to make the task of the agency easier one.
Represented by the Zonal coordinator, Zone ”A” Victor Gbemudu, the Customs top man declared that the CET is subject to review every five years.
He however said that poultry products still remain banned as government cannot allow their importation from outside the country.

 
”If you go through the Common External Tariff, you will see that a lot of items have been removed from the prohibition list and it is going to be implemented, mostly furniture, textiles and the rest of them, most of them will now pay duty and will have Import Adjustment Tax (IAT)”
”The CET is not new, it embraces about 15 countries which include Nigeria, all we are just doing is to bring stakeholders to understand what the CET is all about, to a large extent it comes with some adjustments for member countries”, the CGC noted.
The Customs boss observed that Nigeria has a lot to gain from the implementation of the harmonized tariff as it will allow for policy constituency which would ensure long -term fiscal planning.

 
”There would no longer be policy somersault on importation and importers can now project and plan five years ahead since the duty payable will remain the same.”, Gbemudu, the CG representative observed.
He charged stakeholders not to blame the Customs or the federal government for any inconveniences in CET, saying that it is not peculiar to Nigeria, but that it is a regional thing.
The Customs egg head explained that there are 97 chapters in the CET and 5,899 tariff heading and out of this, every member country is entitled to 3 per cent adjustment which translates into 177 tariff headings which enables most member countries to protect their industries.

 
” Nigerian Government introduced the Import Adjustment Tax (IAT) in order to protect certain policies of government such as the sugar policy, agricultural policy, auto police, rice policy and solid mineral policy among others.”, the Customs CG declared.
The  Assistant Controller of Customs, Systems Audit and a member of the ECOWAS CET Committee, Tony Ayalogu  said that proper implementation of CET will commence only by 202
”The duration of the IAT, the prohibition list will gradually phase-away and ultimately end by 2019, we are in a transition stage which is five years, every year the Ministry of Finance will continue to review the prohibition list and it will continue to decrease and by 2019 it would have been phased out” he stated.
He informed stakeholders that the CET has nothing to do with port charges and that it may not necessarily bring down the cost of doing business at Nigerian ports.
President of ECOWAS Commission; Mr Kadre Ouedraogo, assured member-countries that the leadership of ECOWAS would ensure the regulation of all the protocols of the CET in all member countries.
”I want to assure you that ECOWAS will make sure that the protocols of the CET will be enforced” he declared.
He advised that countries should make their ports comfortable enough to boost trade facilitation.

 
Mr Muda Yusuf, the Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), urged the Customs service to publish a comprehensive soft copy of the tariff on the agency’s website for stakeholders to access.
He also urged the government to put efforts together to fight dumping and faking of goods, which he said, was killing the Nigerian industries.
The President, Nigerian Association of Government-Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Chief Eugene Nweke urged stakeholders to invest in training programmes to meet up with the demands of full implementation of the CET.

 
In his reaction, the Chapter Chairman of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, Tin Can Port, Prince Kayode Oyinlola expressed fears that the imposition of the Import Adjustment Tax could be abused by unscrupulous Customs officers.
Ada Apunonu, the Vice Chairman of the chapter noted with dismay the propensity of government for churning out policies that will affect the industry operators without their involment or consultation.
She expressed reservation over the implementation of the new tariff system and wondered if it would benefit the country.