The Nigeria Customs Service has broken its silence over circumstance surrounding the delay in implementing a duty waiver on food imports to reduce prices in the country, despite the presidential directive.
The federal government announced a 150-day duty-free import window for food commodities on 8 July 2024 to alleviate food inflation.
Two months have passed since this directive, but implementation has not yet commenced.
The Presidential Accelerated and Stabilisation Advancement Plan recommended this initiative in July as part of measures to combat rising food inflation, which led to hunger protests in August.
During the nationwide protests, the federal overnment announced in early August that the guidelines for suspending customs duty and taxes on imported food items would be introduced one week later.
The guidelines were to be developed by the Ministry of Finance and implemented by the Nigeria Customs Service.
However, Abdullahi Maiwada, the spokesman for the Nigeria Customs Service, speaking at the Strategic Communications Inter-agency Policy Committee (SCIPC) office of the National Security Adviser, stated that the directive had not yet been implemented because the list of beneficiaries for tax exemptions had not been received from the Ministry of Finance.
Maiwada, who spoke at the NCS headquarters in Abuja, said, “The issue of food security is crucial. You mentioned the policy announced by the President, and we have issued a statement on the guidelines for benefiting from that policy. I would like to explain it in a way that the common man can understand.
“People might think that anyone can simply import rice. That is not what the policy entails. We have policy issues with long-term, medium-term, and short-term effects.
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“When formulating policies with short-term impacts, we must ensure they do not adversely affect long-term policy issues. Our responsibility as a government agency, the Nigeria Customs Service, is to implement government policies.
“That’s why the statement we issued is based on the Federal Ministry of Finance’s guidelines. They have outlined how to benefit from the zero import duty, including the conditions and requirements.
“We have three lines, six lines of tariff lines with the HS code, harmonised system code, initially with a duty of 35%, and some items have been waived.
“However, the policy clearly states that beneficiaries must be millers, taxpayers, and have been in operation for a certain number of years. The Federal Ministry of Finance will issue a quota for these exemptions.
“So, the list of beneficiaries will come from the Ministry of Finance, and our role as a government agency is to implement these directives. We are policy implementers, not formulators.
“Once we receive the lists, we will implement the directives from the Federal Ministry of Finance promptly.”
The Presidential Accelerated and Stabilisation Advancement Plan recommended the initiative in July as part of measures to combat rising food inflation across the country, which triggered hunger protests in August.
During the nationwide protest, the Federal Government announced in early August that the guidelines for suspending customs duty and taxes on imported food items were to commence one week later.
The guidelines were to be developed by the Ministry of Finance and implemented by the Nigeria Customs Service.
However, the spokesman of the Nigeria Customs Service, Abdullahi Maiwada, speaking at the Strategic Communications Inter-agency Policy Committee (SCIPC) office f the National Security Adviser, said the directive had yet to be implemented because the list of those who would benefit from tax exemptions had yet to come from the Ministry of Finance.
Maiwada, who spoke at NCS’ headquarters in Abuja, said, “The issue of food security. You made mention of the policy that was announced by Mr. President, and we have issued a statement on the guidelines on how to benefit from that policy. Well, I would like to discuss it in such a way that the common man would understand how these things work.
“People think that you and I can just go and import rice. No, that is not what the policy is all about. We have policy issues that have a long-term effect. We have the medium-term, and we have the short-term impact.
