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Customs seek prompt payment of duties

By on July 10, 2016

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has stepped up a campaign to ensure that duty accruable to government was promptly paid into the federation account.

The service launched the campaign following the increasing number of defaulting firms in the country.

The Comptroller General of Customs (CGC), Colonel Hammed Ibrahim Ali (retired) disclosed this while taking a tour of about 13 excisable factories in Lagos.

Ali who was represented by the Zonal Co-ordinator, Zone A, Assistant Controller General of Customs (ACG) Charles Edike said the move was to ensure that the duty accruable to government was paid promptly, especially by defaulting firms.

According to the Customs Chief, the weeklong tour was necessary considering the low container traffic in the ports and the sharp fall in import duty. Given the economic downturn, NSC had to re-strategise and innovate on ways of boosting government revenue by focusing on other sources permissible by the law.

He expressed optimism that the effort would shore up revenue from NCS to government, considering the lull at the seaports, the major revenue source.

His words: “This initiative to visit the excise factories is to encourage the excisable factories and at the same time ensure that every kobo owed government is paid. With import volume down due to the general business outlook, we decided to intensify efforts in this regard to get the revenue from factories producing alcoholic beverages. The customs has been collecting revenue from the identified excise factories, but doing this is to make them live up to date with paying their duty.”

Operators of some of the factories however complained of scarcity and skyrocketed price of ethanol, a major raw material used for the production of their products.

According to them, the scarcity of the material had caused them to produce epileptically, and sometimes on orders only. Some of the factories also complained of scarcity of packaging materials like bottles, resulting from complaints by such producers who consider the high production cost.

At one of the factories located in Iyana-Oworo, the ACG directed Mrs. Aremu to formally write to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) about the filthy environment where the factory produced its drinks.

“I have instructed that the CAC of the area writes NAFDAC so they can come and inspect this premises, because the environment is not healthy for production of what people consume,” Edike said.

At Guinness Nigeria, the Corporate Relations Director, Mr. Sesan Sobowale who received the team from NCS pleaded for promptness in the approvals of applications sent to the service.

He said situations where organisations had to wait for as long as one year before receiving approvals was disadvantageous as often times their investments were premised on market indices.

He also called on NCS to resolve the conflict on what the actual value for excise duty was by adopting a more specific and transparent structure which among other things would factor in changes in the market price of materials used for production.

Sobowale also pleaded with the management of NCS to assist them in recovering funds which they had overpaid as duty since 2014.

He said frantic attempts to recover the funds had hitherto remained futile.

In his response, the Zonal Coordinator explained that even though the excess in payment was made, the Service could not refund without approvals of the Ministry of Finance, the Accountant General of the Federation as well as the Auditor General.

He however urged them to make a fresh presentation to the Comptroller General of Customs promising that the current management of the service would do all in its power to assist.

The team which comprised of the Assistant Comptroller General and the Customs Area Controller in charge of Lagos Industrial Area, Mrs. Aremu, visited factories in the Ipaja, Alagbado , Ikorodu, Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Iyana-Oworo, Ogba, Ikeja and Mushin areas.

In another development, the Zonal Coordinator also addressed heads of Central Intelligence Unit, Valuation, Terminals along with all APMs in commands under Zone A.

He stressed the need for officers to be alert to their jobs, ensuring that every avenue for revenue leakage was blocked at the nation’s seaports and borders.

He charged officers of the CIU to up the ante in intelligence gathering as it is crucial national security and revenue generation.

Edike also called on officers in charge of the valuation units to show precision in their activities and ensure that the right value is placed on every single item.

He noted that the nation is in a dire state where every kobo due it through the payment of duty could not be neglected.

Addressing APMs, he stressed the need for system processing and also charged officers in charge of terminals to painstakingly examine containers in order to ensure that government was not short-changed through under-declaration or the nation put in harm’s way through the concealment of dangerous and prohibited items.

 

[ThisDay]