Nigeria Customs Service on Wednesday commenced the implementation of the new tariff on imported second-hand vehicles into the country amidst unease at the ports.
Blueprint learnt that the ministry of finance had on February 28 issued a circular to the comptroller general of customs directing that Customs should commence the collection of the new tariff on imported vehicles as from March 1, 2014.
The circular was signed by the deputy comptroller in charge of tariff and trade, G.T Aliu and directed to ACGs, zonal coordinators, controllers of commands and units heads.
PTML Customs command, Lagos PRO, Mr Steve Okonma, confirmed the receipt of the circular. He said the policy had been on ground and customs was supposed to have begun the implementation in January but had to wait for government directive.
The PRO of the customs command that handles the largest volume of vehicles imports in Lagos was quoted as saying:
“On Monday, I went round the various associations in this command and sensitized them about it. We appealed to them to conduct themselves maturely because we are not foreclosing any problems.”
The latest directive was in line with the February 28, 2014 deadline given for the old tariff structure to be stopped under the new automotive policy.
With the new tariff structure, duties and levies payable on imported new and used vehicles as well as used tyres have risen from 20% to 70%.
