The Customs has blamed the Ministry of Finance for the non-implementation of President Bola Tinubu’s directive that a 150-day duty-free window be given to importers to allow for the importation of maize, husked brown rice and wheat, two months after the directive was given.
The Presidential Accelerated and Stabilisation Advancement Plan, in July, recommended the initiative as part of measures to combat rising food insecurity and inflation across the country.
It would be recalled that in response to the #EndBadGovernance protest last month, the federal government had announced that the guidelines for the suspension of customs duty and taxes on imported food items were to commence one week after.
However, reports showed that imported foods which were listed during the announcement are yet to be in the market.
Explaining the reason for the non-implementation of the policy, the public relations officer of the NCS, Abdullahi Maiwada, said that the list of those who will benefit from tax exemptions was yet to come from the Ministry of Finance.
Maiwada, at a joint press briefing of security agencies, organised by the Strategic Communications Inter-agency Policy Committee Office of the National Security Adviser, said: “The issue of food security. You made mention of the policy that was announced by Mr. President and we have issued a statement on the guidelines, how to benefit from that policy. Well, I would like to discuss in such a way that the common man would understand how these things work.
“People think that me and you can just go and import rice. No, that is not what the policy is all about. We have policy issues that have a long-term effect. We have the medium-term and we have the short-term effects.
“So, while formulating policies that are related that have a short-term effect, we have to do it in such a way that it will not have adverse effects on long-term policy issues. Our responsibility as an agency of government, Nigeria Customs Service, is to implement government policies.
“That’s why the statement we issued is based on the guidelines issued by the Federal Ministry of Finance. They have issued guidelines on how to achieve the objective – what are the conditions, and what are the requirements for you to benefit from that zero import duty.
“We have three lines, six lines of tariff line with the HS code, harmonized system code, with initially a duty of 35% duty and leave you some of the items and they have all been waived.
“However, the policy stated clearly that you must be a miller, you must be a taxpayer, you must have been into operations for a certain number of years and there will be a quota that will be issued by the Federal Ministry of Finance.
“So, the list of those who benefit from those exemptions will come from the Ministry of Finance and our role as an agency of government is to implement the directives of the government. We are policy implementers, not formulators.
“So, by the time we get those lists, within the twinkle of an eye, we are going to implement those directives from the Federal Ministry of Finance.”
