The Nigeria Customs Service has accused valuation officers on imported vehicles at various commands of failing to follow the procedure for the examination, valuation, and release of imported used cars.
This was contained in a circular titled ‘Re Conduct of Examination and Release of Used Vehicles’ signed by the Assistant Comptroller General, Tariff and Trade, C.K Niagwan, and dated August 24.
Instead of applying the base value, the service stated in the circular that imported vehicles should be referred to valuation seats to verify the trim of the imported vehicle and assign the appropriate value.
“It has been observed with great concern that examination and valuation officers are not complying with the procedure for examination, valuation, and release of used vehicles,” the circular stated. To avoid confusion, all used vehicles must be referred to the valuation seat after examination to verify the trim of the imported vehicle and assign the appropriate value, rather than applying the base value. In light of the foregoing, you are requested to re-orient all examination and valuation officers of this procedure in order to avoid further revenue loss. Ensure strict adherence.”
Read Also: Palliatives: Zulum donates N36m, 100 bags of rice to Borno corpers
However, licensed customs agents have stated that the new process will cause delays in the clearance of imported vehicles.
Remilekun Sikiru, the youth leader of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents, stated that the Vehicles Identification Number for clearing imported vehicles is supposed to take care of all of these things.
According to Remilekun, Chief Executive Officer of Sikremstar Logistics Limited, with this new process, clearing of imported used cars will now take longer.
“The normal VIN process is designed to have all of the artificial intelligence including the trim, engine capacity, and the rest, but in Nigeria, the opposite is true.” This new process appears to be a return to the old method of clearance, which I believe is contrary to the process of trade facilitation. And, without a doubt, by going through this process, jobs will take an extra 2-3 days to process, allowing for human interference and extortion. It will also accrue a lot of demurrage, which raises the question of who will pay the demurrage. Why don’t we do the right thing and enter all of these chassis into the VIN valuation as promised? We’ve been asking for it for a long time. As a result of the government’s harsh policies, there has been a significant drop in importation of up to 70%, and many freight forwarders, particularly young people, have stopped coming to work. The NCS should conduct a thorough review of this because it will exacerbate the process of trade facilitation.
ANLCA chieftain Babatunde Mukaila also spoke out, saying, “We believe it is another ploy by customs to discredit the VIN platform.” If your valuation officers are not doing the right thing, you should let them know and then wipe them back to line instead of returning us to Egypt, which we will not do. We hope that this reaction will cause Customs to reconsider, because we will not return to Egypt with their manual system.” He came to an end.
