Tag Archives: Importation

Nigeria Loses Over N130b To Corruption At Land Border – NANT

Posted on by
28

Nigerian traders say the country lost more than N130bn to corruption at its porous land borders in the past three months.

According to Ukaoha, Nigerians can only imagine the gravity of the situation when similar practices happening at the airports and seaports are taken into consideration.

The President, National Association of Nigerian Traders, Mr Ken Ukaoha, on Wednesday, said, “These past three months alone, Nigeria has lost more than N130 billion due to the porosity of our borders and the corrupt practices going along the border routes.

“This is for land borders only.

“We have not added the goings on at the airports and we have not added the ones at the seaports.

“And these are selected land borders.

“So you will know the gravity of the situation if you add up everything.’’

Ukaoha called on the Federal Government to address the corrupt practices on the country’s trade routes especially in view of the fact that cross-border trade is key to economic recovery, revenue generation and growth.

“The unnecessary trade barriers created by non-transparent, burdensome rules and procedures, in turn, constitute vulnerabilities and breed corrupt behaviours,’’ he said.

The president of the association stated that unnecessary delays in the movement of goods have continued to increase operators’ and consumer’s losses as well as reduce the revenue that should accrue to the government.

He added that the unnecessary delays in the movement of goods had further increased the cost of doing business.

He said sharp practices such as over-invoicing, false declaration of goods, illegal importation, smuggling, trafficking either in human or small arms, as well as drug peddling were being perpetrated on the trade routes on a daily basis.

Ukaoha stated that the association is working closely with the Economic Community of West African States toward tackling the corruption that goes on at border routes.

He said the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme would be used to promote trade and economic integration in the region.

The scheme was set up in 1979 as one of the first and immediate instruments of ECOWAS to galvanise the realisation of development objectives of the region.

Ukaoha stressed the need for awareness campaign involving all trade-related committees and clerks to deepen understanding of the scheme and other related regimes.

He also called on ECOWAS to set up a dedicated portal for the scheme to ease access to information.

Ukaoha further called for the relocation of the National Approval Committee (NAC) of ETLS to the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

Source: NAN

NAFDAC denies registering ‘Indian garri’

Posted on by
16

The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Tuesday, said contrary to reports, it did not register the ‘Indian garri’ that was reportedly being sold in the Nigerian market.

The agency’s Director, Special Duties and Media, Abubakar Jimoh, said this in an interview with newsmen on Tuesday, noting that there had been false reports that the agency registered the brand.

Nigerians had expressed concerns over the weekend when it was reported that ‘Indian’-packaged garri was being sold in the country. The garri was packed in a 500g bag, which had the picture of a lady and an inscription, ‘TRS’, on it. It also had a price tag of N450, according to reports.
NAFDAC said it immediately commenced investigations into? the alleged importation of the “Indian garri”.

The agency also cautioned Nigerians against consumption of the product
.
Similarly, the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, spoke on the development in a statement on his verified twitter handle, noting that 26 packets of the product were seized for analysis by NAFDAC after regulatory officials visited the supermarket in Ikoyi on Monday.

While speaking with newsmen Tuesday evening, Mr. Jimoh said that preliminary investigations revealed that the product was produced in UK, shipped to Ghana and now being sold in Nigeria.

He, however, said that the agency did not register the product as being insinuated.
“Let me make it clear again that NAFDAC did not register any garri,” he told newsmen.

“We have collected samples of the product and sent them for screening,” he added.
Explaining further, Mr. Jimoh said NAFDAC couldn’t have registered the imported ‘Indian-garri’ because the agency understood the implication of such a decision on the local production market and the general Nigerian economy.

“We are not just safeguarding public health, we also ensure the growth of the Nigerian production industry and facilitate the federal government’s efforts at fixing the economy,” he noted.

The NAFDAC spokesperson said investigation is ongoing on the product and the agency would reveal the outcome of its findings once the investigations are concluded.

“The (Acting) Director-General of NAFDAC, Mrs. Yetunde Oni, would address the press once the result is out,” he said.

 

Lagos Lawmaker Advises PMB Against Banning Cars Imported By Road

Posted on by
Reply

The President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government has been advised to review its planned ban on the importation of cars by road.

The FG was advised to overhaul the customs and excise instead as it is feared that the policy would affect the income the government is generating from vehicles and make life difficult for the masses.

Speaking in an interview with LEADERSHIP, a lawmaker in the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Abiodun Tobun stated that importing cars through land borders is okay, but that the government only needed to put more infrastructure in place and overhaul the Nigeria Customs and Excise.

Tobun, who is representing Epe Constituency 1 in the assembly, said further that if importation of vehicles through land is banned, then only few vehicles would come into the country.

“Money from hackney permit and vehicle license would reduce, import duties would reduce, so it is a wrong policy. They might have done it for security reasons, but what are the duties of customs and excise.

“Rather than doing that, the customs and excise should be sanitised, while the bad eggs should be flushed out,” he said.

On how the country could get out of recession, The lawmaker, who is the Chairman of the House Committee on Works and Infrastructure, said that the Federal Government should look into its economic team and see how to end the economic problems in the country.

He explained that if the government is fighting corruption and the economy does not improve, people would cut corners to put food on their tables.
He stressed that the government should put measures in place to make the economy better.
“All the watertight policies that make it difficult for people to survive should be reviewed.

“During the era of the past administration, things were not as bad as this despite the allegation that they were corrupt, now that we say the government is not corrupt, things should be better,” he said.

Commenting on the 2017 budget of Lagos State, which is about N813 Billion and the biggest by any state government in Nigeria, Tobun said that it is meant to enhance the speedy infrastructural development of the state.

According to him, it is a budget that tends to enhance security of life and property, improve education, provide infrastructure, good health and that it would ensure that the Neighbourhood Safety Corps Board that was newly constituted is properly funded.

He said: “Based on that, the budget is realisable because LIRS generates about 71% of the revenue, while capital receipt would take certain percentage. Lagos State is now part of Oil Producing States and we are expecting 13% derivation from the Federal Government, which will give us over N1 Billion every month.

“So, it is a realisable budget and we need to encourage the people to pay their taxes as expected and we will generate the fund. “Also, we have just approved N500 Billion to the state government, but they have not been able to access it.

“By next year, they would take the first tranche, which is about N100 Billion. With that, it is sure that the revenue is realisable. “The budget would ameliorate definitely poverty. If infrastructure is provided, security oof life and property is ensured as we are currently doing, investors would be attracted to the state and it would lead to more employment.

“Once there is security, people would be more productive and there would be foreign investment.
“Access to raw materials and nearness to market would be guaranteed, more people would do businesses and more people would pay taxes. With what the budget would provide, there would be prosperity for all.”

On Works and Infrastructure in the state, the lawmaker said that the performance of last year is about 91%, and that the allocation for next year is about N68 Billion.

He revealed that N13 Billion has been allocated in the 2017 budget for further job on Lagos/Badagry expressway, and that the state government would complete the overhead bridge in Abule Egba and Ajah, and start that of Pen Cinema Agege, rehabilitate roads in Epe axis, provide more pedestrian bridges and complete on-going ones.

“The multi-level building in Alausa and the one in Apapa would be completed. The government is trying to construct as many roads as possible,” he said.

Tobun however, defended the proposed Pension Law for those who serve as speaker and deputy speaker in the Lagos State house of assembly.
He emphasised that the law was actually meant to be for all the lawmakers for, according to him, having served the state meritoriously.

“We decided to restrict it to the speakers and deputy speakers. So, it is a welcome development, afterall the Governor, Deputy Governor, President and Vice President have pensions and they all went in through joint-tickets.
“If they work for four years and enjoy life pensions, why can’t the speaker and his deputy enjoy same,” he said.

Rice farmers seek total ban on sale of foreign rice

Posted on by
Reply

Rice farmers have urged state governments to follow the footstep of Ebonyi and ban the sale of foreign rice as a means of boosting local production.

Mr Aminu Goronyo, the National President, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), made the call in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Monday.

Goronyo was reacting to the current ban by the Ebonyi State Government on the sale of foreign rice in the state.

He said the ban would encourage local production of rice and impact positively on the economy of the country.

“We are going to Ebonyi State to pay a solidarity visit to the governor for that kind of effort that he made. It is a commendable effort and we urge all the state governors in this country to follow suit.

“I think, it is part of efforts to make Nigerians to eat Nigeria’s homegrown rice. We have available rice that we produce locally,’’ the national president said.

90% of Imported Products Not Verified – SON

Posted on by
Reply

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria has disclosed that it had no opportunity to verify 90 per cent of the products imported into the country between September and December 2015.

The Acting Director-General, SON, Dr. Paul Angya, disclosed this during a two- day capacity building workshop organised by the SON for media executives in Lagos recently.

Angya said September to December 2015 was a-three-month window that was provided for importers to be able to register on the Nigeria Customs electronic platform, Nigeria Integrated Customs Information System.

He said, “The NICIS platform allowed all stakeholders in the maritime sector to view data on shipment. But because the World Trade Organisation required that we should allow time for importers to register on the NICIS platform, we left a window of three months between September and December and issued them Electronic Provisional Clearance Certificate as an alternative.

“EPCC permitted importers to bring in their goods without the mandatory SON Conformity Assessment Programme certificates.

“But when this window of opportunity was created, criminal-minded importers took advantage of the situation and brought in substandard products which they were able to take out of the Nigerian seaports without the SON’s verification. So, between the periods of September and December 2015, 90 per cent of the goods imported into this country had no SON verification.”

Angya disclosed that after observing how importers had taken advantage of the EPCC platform to bring harmful products into the country, the agency had gone ahead to close it and as a result, the management and staff of SON are now facing threats and blackmail from importers.

“When we tried to communicate this fact, they resorted to blackmail, threatening that if we close down the EPCC platform, they will react. So we shut down the platform in July and directed that whatever they were bringing into Nigeria should go through the SONCAP regime.

“So they have now gone to the Internet to vilify SON. My staff and I have also been threatened by some of them, violently.”

Angya added that the major challenge the agency faced was being able to intercept containers right from the arrival point noting that since 90 per cent of substandard products come into Nigeria through the seaports, the absence of the SON’s agents at the ports had made the job more difficult.

He said since they were not allowed at the ports, they resolved to chase containers on the highway any time they received information that the container carried harmful goods.

“My officers who are all graduates and engineers chase trailers on the highway like touts, risking their lives to jump on trailers to try and catch them,” he stated.

100% Examination On Container Not Possible – Customs Boss

Posted on by
Reply

The Apapa Area 1 Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, has said that 100 percent examination on imported cargoes into the country was not possible.

This was disclosed by the ASYCUDA project manager, (APM) of the command, Yusuf Malata, at a monthly stakeholders’ meeting held at the command headquarters, Lagos.

Speaking earlier, the Customs area comptroller, Willy Egbudin, decried why most importers still falsely declare consignment despite campaign against it at the command.

“Most of the time we talk of transparency and honesty in cargo declaration I was thinking by now, we should have all been complying with it and if we are not complying then we are not doing our work.

“We should advise our individual importers to understand why it is necessary to declare what they are importing, it will be wrong for someone to declare tyre as raw materials and we know CEMA empowers us to make seizure of such items and for you to make seizure it is not a good thing,” he said.

Rice Importers Owe FG N44bn – Senate

Posted on by
Reply

The Senate ad-hoc Committee on Import Duty Waivers, on Monday accused two foreign companies, Messrs Stallion Group and Olam  International, which were  involved in rice importation into the country, of owing Nigeria N44bn as import duties on 457,000  metric tonnes they imported since May 2014.

The panel stated this when the representatives of the two firms appeared before it to answer their connection with  the flagrant abuse of rice waivers’ policy in the country.

Chairman of the committee, Senator Adamu Aliero, demanded full payment of the money owed by the foreign firms, insisting that “Nigeria would not fold its hands and watch the huge debt swept under the carpet.”

He said, “There is no way the government will ignore this kind of money. We have to ensure that that this money is collected and deposited into the federation account”

Aliero further claimed that the companies imported rice into the country without paying waivers, off-loaded it into their warehouses and refused to pay required duties when asked by the Nigeria Customs Service.

He noted with concern that,  while  the Nigeria Customs Service confronted  Stallion Group with  payment demand notices, the firm opted to drag NCS to court.

He also accused the company of exceeding the quota given to it to import 157,000 metric tonnes of rice with impunity by importing 457,000 metric tonnes in excess of its required quota.

But while defending the action of his firm, the Executive Director of Stallion Group, Harpreet Singh, claimed that their mission in Nigeria was to ensure that the country was self-sufficient in rice production.

He also said the firm had planned that the nation is saved from the global scarcity of the commodity.

He also claimed that Nigerian borders were porous and that former President Goodluck Jonathan granted the approval on fiscal policy on rice production on May 26, 2014.

According to him, the Ministry of Agriculture opted to flout the tenets of the policy by giving quotas to “non-existing millers and investors who have no connection with the policy while existing investors were left blind.”

He claimed further that the Stallion Group’s investments in Nigeria were not giving jobs to foreigners but to Nigerians.

He said that his company had lost millions of naira to activities of smugglers as a result of porous borders.

Olam, through his  spokesperson,   Ade Adefeko, claimed that it had the largest rice farm in Africa and that it has been operating in Nigeria in the past 35 years.

He argued that given its long period of business operation in Nigeria, the company would not consider short-changing the nation.

According to the Olam’s representative,  the company was seeking a legal opinion on the matter, saying whatever counsel it is given, it would be duly followed.

It’s Shameful To Import Toothpick, Fish, Eggs, Sugar, Wheat —CBN Governor

Posted on by
Reply

Gives reasons for excluding rice, others from forex Says importers can’t access forex in any market

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, yesterday said that importers of rice, cement and other products will no longer access Foreign Exchange from CBN, banks and bureaux de change for such importation.

The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, who disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja, said the measure would prevent further depletion of the country’s foreign reserve.

He said the country was spending huge amount to import things that could be produced locally, adding that the apex bank would not continue to support the importation of such items through the
use of the hard earned foreign exchange.

Some of the products include margarine, palm kernel, palm oil products, meat and processed meat products, vegetables, private airplanes and jets, Indian incense, tinned fish, galvanised steel sheet, roofing sheet and furniture.

He said: “Importers who may want to continue importing these goods would have to sort their foreign exchange from their own private sources. The CBN will continue to be vigilant around this policy, keep reviewing the list of items as it becomes comfortable that these items can be produced locally if we apply ourselves sufficiently.

Emefiele said the CBN was forced to come up with the new policy to exclude importers of rice and 40 other items from the foreign exchange market in order to save the nation’s economy.

Speaking to journalists in Abuja, he said the time has come for Nigerians to decide what must be done to realise the much-desired economic development, rather than making the nation a dumping ground for other economies of the world.

Warns banks, bureaux de change

According to Emefiele, importers of the listed items would not be allowed access to foreign exchange even from the bureau de change and that any bank or bureaux de change that tried infractions would be severely punished.

His words: “We will not make foreign exchange available to such importers from any market. If you read that circular, it said ‘from Nigerian foreign exchange markets’, plural not singular.   Foreign exchange will not be provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the banks or by bureaux de change. If we find people flouting it, luckily these people we have mentioned are under our regulation, we know how to deal with them.

“Sometimes, policy changes are forced on policymakers as a result of exogenous shocks beyond their control. While most people do not like to be forced to do something, one of the hallmarks of effective policymaking is to be nimble and responsive when such situations arise.

“In the case of yesterday’s (Tuesday) announcement, I am happy to inform and underscore that this policy change is in line with my long-held believe that Nigeria cannot attain its true potentials by simply importing everything. At some point, we have to all decide what we really want for our country, and I believe that the time is now right for that deep and honest conversation.”

He added that CBN’s analyses of the nation’s economic situation “compelled us to believe that we needed to aggressively begin the process of feeding ourselves by ourselves and producing much of what we need in this country.”

Emefiele noted that the nation was wasting huge amounts of money importing things that could be produced locally, a situation, he said, had become a drain on the nation’s Foreign Exchange Reserves.

It’s shameful that we have to import toothpick

According to him, “most of you are aware of the often-quoted number of N1.3 trillion, which is what we spend on average importing rice, fish, sugar, and wheat every year.

“I am saying it is shameful that we have to import toothpick.  I am saying that it is shameful for us to import fish in sauce canned, fish in sauce and sardine. I am saying it is shameful. Before I was born palm kernel was taken out of Nigeria and taken to another country and today we go to that country and import palm oil. It is shameful.

“It is shameful that items that we used to produce in this country we now begin to import them. It is shameful and we need to stop them. That is what we are saying.

“Only last week, I met the Governor of Kebbi State and he lamented the unfortunate situation in that state. Where people, our own farmers, have committed themselves to producing rice and have produced paddy and we have paddy glut in Kebbi State today.

“As I speak, the government has spent its money buying paddy from the rice farmers, almost close to 200,000 of paddy rice.

“Aside from that, Kebbi State farmers have unpurchased paddy rice close to 800,000 tons. And yet we patronise imported rice. For our benefits, those rice imported to the country are those that have spent at least seven years in their stores and yet we have rice that is produced today in Nigeria and we are running away from them.

“The only way we can encourage people who are producing rice to go back to the farms is to do what we have done today.

“How can we keep complaining about the depreciation of the naira when all we do as a people is to import everything from ordinary Geisha and toothpicks to even eggs? These are some of the fundamental reasons behind the bank’s recent announcement.”

He disclosed that there was already a glut in paddy rice in parts of the country, especially Kebbi State where the government had spent huge sums of money to buy off 200,000 tons from the farmers, yet they had another 800,000 tons unpurchased.


Source: Vanguard

PENGASSAN Faults Revenue Drain On Importation Of Petroleum Products

Posted on by
Reply

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has called on President Muhamadu Buhari to increase local refining capacity before embarking on any deregulation process.

This is contained in a statement on Tuesday by PENGASSAN National Public Relations Officer, Mr Emmanuel Ojugbana.

The union called on the president to ensure that the focus of deregulation policy was based on local production rather than importation.

It said that if local refining was not increased to meet local demand for petroleum products, especially the premium motor spirit (petrol), removing subsidy on petroleum products would bring more hardship on Nigeria.

It stated that removing subsidy while the country depended on importation of refined products would make prices of refined products to be out of the reach of the masses and would cause inflation.
It said that importation of refined petroleum products was a major drain on the nation’s revenue, adding that it created jobs for the refining nations in spite of the high unemployment rate confronting Nigeria.

“Importation of refined petroleum products is also putting the Naira under undue pressure and creating social problems for the economy. This is unacceptable to PENGASSAN.

“Abrupt removal of fuel subsidy will create chaos that may ground the economy.
“PENGASSAN calls for well-coordinated measures with timeline to achieve self-sufficiency in local refining as a means of proffering acceptable steps to end fuel subsidy.

“This should be combined with such other measures for effective optimisation of gas, especially for domestic, industrial, electricity and automotive energy. Such will create other affordable and friendly sources for energy needs” it stated.

Credit: Vanguard

Importation of Petrol Commences

Posted on by
1

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) on Tuesday directed its members to commence importation of refined petroleum products as the Federal Government had pledged to pay outstanding subsidy.

The National President of IPMAN, Chinedu Okoronkwo, disclosed the directive in Lagos. Okoronkwo said the directive followed assurances from government and to alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians from the ongoing national scarcity of petrol.

According to him, we have had series of meeting with government agencies that are saddled with the payment of subsidy claims and we have been assured of prompt payment. “IPMAN members have been instructed to commence importation of petrol into the country to avert the lingering fuel scarcity.

“The Ministers of Petroleum and Finance have assured us of prompt payment of the marketer’s money; we urge Nigerians not to engage in panic buying of petrol as adequate petrol will be in circulation soon,’’ he said.

The IPMAN boss, however, warned its members to desist from hoarding petroleum products, adding that the association’s surveillance teams would monitor compliance nationwide. He said the association would penalise marketers indulging in hoarding of petroleum products and other sharp practices.

Okoronkwo said that joint taskforce by IPMAN and the NNPC had been set up to monitor petrol retailing as part of efforts to stabilise supply. He lauded the programmes of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, a subsidiary of NNPC, saying that without them the sanity in the downstream oil sector would not have been possible.

He advised the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to give import licences to serious marketers who were willing to import petrol.

The management of NNPC on Monday began fresh measures to halt artificially induced petrol scarcity in some parts of the country. The corporation said it planned to import more than one billion litres of petrol in March to address short fall in supply.

Credit: NAN