Consumers to pay more as CBN raises the exchange rate for cargo imports

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has increased the exchange rate for goods imported through the Nigerian ports from N326 to N361 per dollar

CBN headquarter, Abuja

Against this background, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has effected an increase in duty payable on cargoes imported through the ports, in a development that has caused much anxiety at the ports as importers and freight forwarders lamented that they are being forced to pay duty far above what they initially ought to pay.

Vice President of Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Dr. Kayode Farinto, who confirmed the development to newsmen, stated that the Customs effected the changes without due consultations with relevant stakeholders.

According to him, the implication of the increment is that the cost of cargo clearance would be increased in line with the duty increase, and this would affect the cost of products in the market.

Farinto lamented that clearing agents who have completed their transactions based on the old rate of N326 per dollar are no longer able to take delivery of their consignment because it could not be imputed into the system.

“We woke up this morning to find out that the rate has been changed on the Customs system without any consultation or sensitisation. The government is behaving as if we are in a military era, not even in the face of this COVID-19 when every country is trying to lessen the hardship on its citizenry. There should have been a minimum of three months notice so that whatever transaction we are making anywhere in the world, we would adjust it. The increase in the rate of the international price of the dollar is not an excuse, most of the importers are sourcing their dollars from the black market. The government ought to have latched on to this small window, knowing that a barrel of oil is just $10 now. If you kill the maritime industry, our economy is finished,” he said.

In a related development, the managing director of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman, has appealed to freight forwarders and owners of goods at the nation’s seaports to remove their cargoes.

She disclosed that leading terminal operator, AP Moeller had used up 90% of its space to store up goods.

Bala-Usman made the appeal in Lagos recently while fielding questions on the sidelines of the inauguration of two mobile harbour cranes recently acquired by APM terminal.