Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, has urged the federal government to stop the Nigeria Customs Service’s inconsistent FX duty charges.
Obi stated this in a series of tweets on his official X page on Wednesday, February 21.
According to the Labour Party’s leader, the national business climate is being negatively impacted by the inconsistent duty rates.
Obi said: “I wish to urgently call on the federal government of Nigeria to end the inconsistency in duty charges as it is affecting the general business atmosphere in the country.
“The federal government should stop the arbitrary and ever-increasing customs duties as it is now negatively impacting businesses and the cost of items, and this portends a huge danger to the economy.
“A situation where at the point of initiating importation, Form M and other documents related to importation are based on a particular rate of exchange, for example, N1000 to $1, being the prevailing exchange rate at the time which the importer of goods was used to calculate the entire process, from the import initiation to receipt of goods in his warehouse.
“Then suddenly when the goods arrive in Nigeria, and duties are calculated at different rates, say N1400 to $1, it becomes a serious business challenge that results in business losses.
“Worse still, it directly fuels the inflationary spike which is the basis of increasing cost of goods and living. Such arbitrary charges will obviously lead to further closure of businesses, and attendant job losses.
“This is because at the time of the initiation of the business, calculations, including duties, have been made based on the prevailing exchange rate, and the prevailing market prices.
“If this situation is not corrected, our importers may resort to using ports of nearby countries, a situation that will leave our ports under-productive, and further deepen our economy into a worse situation as a result of loss of revenue.”
