Two Nigerian freight forwarders operating in Houston, Texas, United States, have appealed to the Federal Government and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to review the new levy on imported used vehicles.
Ms Adetutu Adeparusi, Automated Logistic Manager and Ms Osayi Ero, Logistic Manager of Double A. Logistic and Procurement Company in Bellaire, Houston, made the call on Thursday.
It would be recalled that, the NCS recently reviewed duty on imported used cars from 35 per cent to 20 per cent, but went further to add another 15 per cent National Automotive Council (NAC) levy. This title was later changed to Common External Tariff (CET) levy, because of the opposition to it.
Spokesperson of NCS, Timi Bomodi, had said the new tariff was in line with adjustments stipulated in the Common External Tariff (CET) of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol, of which Nigeria is a signatory.
Speaking on the sideline of the ongoing Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Adeparusi said that freight forwarders were having hard time with the new customs policy.
According to her, unless changed, the levy will increase hardship among Nigerian business owners and prospective clients home and abroad.
“In 2021, we were able to clear a 2009 Toyota Camry car between N980,000 and N1million but now, with the new policy and implementation, the clearing fee for the same car is now up to about N2.2 million.
“This situation now is pretty absurd. How do you go from that point to this point within one year where Nigerians can no longer buy cars anymore?
“We freight forwarders in the U.S. want the government to really look at this policy and see how they can reduce the levy to what will be affordable.
“This is to enable people like us that love to come back home and do business to also strive in it,” she said.
Adeparusi noted that the new policy had made the price of fairly used cars to skyrocket adding that the business had become very slow presently in the U.S.
“This is our full- time job. Currently, we are having hard time with the new customs policy that has just been implemented.
“We are pleading with the Nigerian government and NCS to review the new levy of 15 per cent.
“For some foes here in United States, this is all we do. People like myself don’t have any other job other than this. We export cars to Nigeria and when our clients cannot pay the clearing fee, that means we will soon be out of business.
“We want the government to regulate the clearing fee by have a fixed price and a transparent service where people can just go online and find out about the amount to clear a particular vehicle,” she said.
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