Dr. Kayode Colin Farinto, Vice President of ANLCA.
Story by Dili Utomi.
The Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has accused the Nigeria Customs Service of unilaterally jacking up the cost of the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) within a short time of twenty four hours.
In a press conference which took place in Apapa on Friday, the vice president of the Association, Dr. Kayode Colin Farinto said that ” The information reaching me indicates that the Comptroller of PAAR has directed that henceforth (a) 1×20 footer duty be jacked up to 1 million naira, (b) 1×40 footer duty be jacked up to 2 million naira as basic duty.”
Dr. Farinto said that “This effort is a desperation on the part of the NCS management team to meet up with the self imposed targets”. He pointed out that this negates the valuation acts 20 of 2003 which stipulates six principles to follow sequentially on value.
The Customs NPRO, DC Joseph Attah.
He complained that this is part of the reason why Nigeria’s ranking has continually been poor at the
world bank logistics index where predictability of Customs formalities is one of the criteria in measuring performance. He noted that it is criminal and an effort to arm twist Nigerian traders, forcing them to pay higher duties on import which eventually falls back on the final consumer.
He concluded the statement by saying that “In view of the above, I am directing any Customs broker that notices any illegitimate and arbitrary increase in the PAAR issued to them in the last twenty four hour to reject such PAAR and should this continue, we may not have a choice other than to call for the withdrawal of service from the Ports”.
Our correspondent also sought the Nigeria Customs Service’s side of the story and their response through the Customs National Public Relations Officer (CNPRO), deputy controller of Customs Joseph Attah is that ‘”The Customs does not value containers, but the value of the goods inside them and duty rates vary in terms of percentages according to the kind of goods in the container”. He also said that duty rates can be 5%, 10% or 20% depending on the kind of goods and that if you add the 7.5% VAT, you will get a higher value. He added that “It is looking like some people rate their relevance on the amount of attacks on the Customs, hence this allegation”.
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