• Group appeals to FG on release of 43 items seized by NCS
Maritime Researchers and Authors Association of Nigeria (MARASSON) has said about 70 per cent of licensed customs agents and freight forwarders were thrown out of jobs with 90 per cent of bonded terminals dead due to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) forex restrictions on 43 import items.
The researchers also noted that all the shipping companies, bonded and seaport terminals operating in the country downsized, with shippers and consolidators struggling for survival.
According to them, the forex ban on the 43 items was the albatross of international and local trade in the country during the eight years of the past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and the embattled former CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele. The National Executive Secretary, MARASSON, Ajanonwu Vincent, commended the Federal Government’s decision to lift the ban on importation of these essential commodities at this most critical time in the economy.
He reminded the Federal Ministries of Finance and Marine and Blue Economy on the need to automatically open the country’s borders for free flow of trade among the West African States.
Vincent said it is clear that bureaucracy is now playing an adverse role in the implementation of this laudable Federal Government policy to reopen the borders once again.
“The lifting of this ban will generate more revenue to the Federal Government, create more job opportunities, open up local and international trades, keep more industries busy, and help in healing the wounds of the past eight years,” he said.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has appealed to the Federal Government to release import goods under the 43 items unbanned by the CBN that were seized by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS). The founder of NAGAFF, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, made the appeal in an open letter to the leadership of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and Minister of Finance on the matter of lifting forex restrictions on 43 trade items.
He commended President Bola Tinubu for taking the trade-related decisions to reverse the inappropriate actions of the former CBN governor, Emefiele that had severe consequences on trade investment. Aniebonam said investors and shippers of the 43 items delisted from forex benefits suffered unavoidable loss of investments.
He said the items delisted from forex benefits are not among goods fallen under prohibition list and/or absolute prohibition, adding that every import into the country must have a registered Form M in any of the authorised commercial banks for the purposes of trade data and statistics.
“But here again the extant law of the Nigeria Customs Service is superior to the executive order of Godwin Emefiele sitting at CBN. Under Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA), the provisions for remedy are provided under the circumstances. Please see section 27 of the CEMA as amended then.
“Under this section, the Nigeria customs service has the powers to deal with imports whose documentation is incomplete and penalty thereto applied. The situation was so simple to mitigate noting that destination inspection trade policy is in force. This is coupled with the fact that the pre-arrival assessment report of the customs is advisory. There were no reasons to confiscate and seize rice imports and the 43 items of innocent traders. Indeed, we all know the existence of bills for collection in our foreign trade transactions,” he stated.
Aniebonam urged the President to grant amnesty to all the people whose goods were seized and are still within the custody of the Nigeria customs service to take delivery of their imports.
