The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC on Sunday, condemned in strong terms the recent policy of the Nigeria Customs Service to compel vehicle owners to pay outstanding customs duties on their vehicles between March 13, 2017 and April 12, 2017, describing it as unrealistic, callous and immoral.
NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, in a statement on Sunday said that the congress was opposed to the policy because its enforcement would create chaos and suffering for vehicle users in the country.
Wabba, who urged the NCS to shelve the unpopular policy, argued that the claim being put forward about porous borders in the country could not be a justification for the policy.
He added that the policy would only enrich corrupt Customs personnel who contributed to the creation of the current situation through their complicity.
He said that it would be unfair and unacceptable for the NCS to subject vehicle owners who did not play a role in the importation of vehicles to avoidable trauma, insisting that duties on imported vehicles were payable at the point of entry.
Wabba said that the NCS did not even provide information on the vehicles, which would be excluded from the planned exercise.
He said, “However, we are opposed to this new policy for the aforementioned reasons. It is logistically callous and will create unimaginable chaos and suffering for innocent vehicle users.
“It is self-serving and will in the end enrich unscrupulous Customs personnel who contributed in no small way to the present situation through acts of commission or omission. It will amount to rewarding their complicity.
“It is common knowledge that duties on imported vehicles are payable at the point of entry. Subjecting vehicle end-users to this kind of trauma is unfair and unacceptable.
“There is no information on the vehicles to be excluded from this exercise. This presupposes that the owner of a Morris Minor or a Peugeot 404 brought into this country in the 1970s is similarly affected.
“Beyond this, a state of mental siege is being created by all manner of endless verification and recertification exercises in the country. It is thus morally wrong to inflict on the citizenry this kind of discomfort.
“In view of the aforementioned reasons, we strongly advise that the Nigeria Customs Service shelves this plan. Lessons ought to have been learnt from the violent outcome of the brutal raids of the Ota market and the ambushing and extortion of vehicle owners on the highway at yuletide seasons. Porous borders, as the Customs claim, are no justification for these actions or the proposed policy action.”
Wabba advised the NCS to devise a coherent response to tackle the observed challenges in place of the unpopular policy, which had received widespread condemnation.
He advised the leadership of the NCS to focus on capacity building, modernisation of operations, incentives and the use of technology to tackle the massive corruption in the system to make the service deliver on its mandate.
Recall that the Acting Public Relations Officer, NCS, Joseph Attah, had in a statement issued on behalf of the Comptroller General of Customs on March 2, 2017, directed all motor dealers and private owners of vehicles to pay their customs duties between March 13, 2013 and April 12, 2017.
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