Customs Await Finance Ministry’s Nod On Food Importation Waiver -

The Nigeria Customs Service, yesterday, said the suspension of customs duties and taxes on imported food items will be implemented as soon as the service receives the list of beneficiaries from the Ministry of Finance this is coming almost two months after the Federal Government directed that the authorities of the Nigeria Customs Services should give a 150-day duty-free window to allow the importation of maize, husked brown rice, and wheat.

The initiative was said to be part of measures to combat rising food inflation across the country on August 7, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, said the implementation of the policy would commence the following week once the guidelines are ready.

He explained that the delay experienced in the implementation of the policy was to ensure that the interests of all the stakeholders, including farmers, were considered. However, while fielding questions at a joint press briefing of security agencies, organised by the Strategic Communications Inter-agency Policy Committee Office of the National Security Adviser,

The spokesperson of the NCS, Abdullahi Maiwada, said the directive was yet to be implemented because the list of those who will benefit from tax exemptions was yet to come from the Ministry of Finance he added that by the time the service gets the lists, the directives would be implemented within a twinkle of an eye. He added, “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.