Don’t subject vehicle owners to unnecessary trauma, NLC warns Customs

THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has described the directive by the Nigeria Customs Service that all motor dealers and private owners of vehicles whose customs duty has not been paid to do so between today and Wednesday, April 12, as unrealistic and unacceptable.

In a letter written to the Comptroller-General, Nigeria Customs Service, Colonel Hameed Ali (retd), and entitled: ‘This Policy is Not Realistic,’ the congress said the policy was logistically-callous and capable of creating chaos and sufferings for vehicle users.

The Customs Service had also said there would be aggressive anti-smuggling operations after the deadline.

However, describing the policy as self-serving, the letter signed by the NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said the move would, at the end, enrich unscrupulous Customs personnel.

Besides, Wabba said it would amount to rewarding their complicity, adding that it was unacceptable to subject vehicles owners to such trauma.

Comrade Wabba said: “It is common knowledge that duties on imported vehicles are payable at the point of entry. Subjecting vehicle end-users to this kind of trauma, majority of who have no hands in the importation of their vehicles, is unfair and unacceptable.

“There is no information on the vehicles to be excluded from this exercise. This presupposes that the owner of a Morris Minor or a Peugeot 404 brought into the country in the 70s is similarly affected.

“Beyond this, a state of mental siege is being created by all manner of endless verification and re-certification exercises in the country. It is thus morally wrong to inflict on the citizenry this kind of discomfort.

“In view of these reasons, we strongly advise that the Nigeria Customs Service shelve this plan. Lessons ought to have been learnt from the violent outcome of the raids of Ota market. Porous borders, as the Customs claim, are no justification for the policy action.

“Accordingly, in place of this unpopular policy which has received condemnation from all sectors of the economy, the Nigeria Customs Service should devise a coherent response that will deal with these challenges.

“Such response, we believe, should focus on capacity building, modernisation of operations and use of technology.”