Auto dealers grumble over customs raids

Alleged extortion, forceful seizure of vehicles and harassment of motorists by officials of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) have grown in recent times, findings by

have shown.

Daily Trust

Auto dealers who spoke to our correspondent said the excesses of officials of the customs had sent some of them out of their genuine businesses while those who were still in it were having sleepless nights.

They said the current happenings are against their expectations that the new customs management, led by retired Col. Hameed Ali, would curb the excesses of the officers.

Daily Trust learnt that though the comptroller general had read the riot act to officers and men of the service, some still engaged in illicit activities and hounding of motorists with a threat to arrest and prosecute culprits. The worst affected with this arbitrary treatment are auto dealers who now live in perpetual fear of the customs.

Tariff regime

A look at the new regulations on importation of new vehicles shows that a brand new vehicle attracts 35 per cent duty and 35 per cent levy. Customs said this was to encourage local manufacture of vehicles. But car dealers were quick to note that so far it was only Innoson that was into vehicle manufacturing in Nigeria.

With the tariff, the implication is that if you buy a vehicle for $100,000 you will pay $70,000 for clearing

Despite the fact that there is evidence of the cost of every vehicle brand on the internet, customs officials are alleged to have their own vehicle prices which are computer-generated and which they call benchmark.

A prominent car dealer in Lagos who spoke with our correspondent said some of the customs officials would raid car shops using their own computer-generated prices as benchmark, and charge the car dealers extra millions of naira as official costs of duty and levy.

“Very serious car dealers have been sent out of jobs,” he said.

Another car dealer, Mr. Femi Olawale, said “The customs officials have been going around shops and checking vehicle documents. This is wrong because we were not the ones who cleared the vehicles at Tin-Can. So we should not be the ones facing the consequences.”

The NCS recently said it was leaving some highways far from the coast as part of the ease of doing business policy of government, but this directive has not been adhered to as the number of customs officials has reportedly multiplied on the highways; a development seen as a direct affront to the authority that issued the directive.

The car dealers reiterated that many more of their members would close shop and thousands of people who were engaged in allied businesses would also lose their jobs. It stressed that the development would not augur well for the nation.

They are therefore, urging the Federal Government to remove the 35 per cent levy, saying that people should be guided properly because “this policy has given customs officials an opportunity for extortion.”

Spokesman of the Nigeria Customs Service, Mr. Joseph Attah, did not pick calls and did not reply an SMS sent to him at the time of filing this report.