The House of Representatives said it would investigate infractions and the diversion of containers, excise duties leakages, temporary importation irregularities and misuse of quota on importation of essential commodities in the country, leading to loss of revenue by the Nigerian government.
Adopting a motion sponsored by the Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Customs and Excise, Hassan Shehu Hussain (NNPP, Kano), the House directed the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service to beam the agency’s searchlight on Customs officers involved in the transfers and escorting of containers on Bond through the use of technology to ensure every container’s duty is collected and accounted for to its final destination.
Hussain told the parliament that the creation of Bonded Terminals and Fast-track Warehouses was aimed at decongesting the ports and facilitating trade, thereby making the ports more user-friendly and boosting revenue for the Federal Government.
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He alleged that containers meant to be transferred from mother ports under Nigeria Customs Service escorts with bond coverage for the value of the said containers are diverted before reaching their final destination, as the contents of such containers are unknown, and may contain dangerous drugs, such as tramadol, or arms and ammunition that could destroy the nation.
He stressed that it is the policy of the Nigerian Government to grant tax or excise duty holidays to newly established factories and industries, typically for a three-year grace period before excise duties are collected.
He maintained that some of these factories and industries abuse this largesse and continually evade paying excise duties, while in some cases, the collection of excise duties is done manually, leading to improper assessments and inadequate collections.
He said, “Another source of substantial revenue loss to the Federation account is through Temporal Importation (TI), an arrangement that supports investors to bring in vessels, aircraft, and other major equipment for a specified period without paying customs duties, provided a cash-backed bond with banks for the duration applied for is deposited.
“Unfortunately, many organisations with TI have exceeded their bond periods, and these bonds remain undischarged into the Federal Government’s account, resulting in unpaid duties.
“Another cause of revenue losses is due to the overshooting of import quotas for sugar and other essential commodities to supplement local production shortfalls, which were doubled without proper government approval. Additionally, the repeated recycling of these quotas has resulted in losses amounting to billions of Naira that should have accrued into the Federation account.