adminAccording to the Nigerian Customs Service, importation of cars dropped by an alarming 45 percent.
This is due to the economic hardship plaguing the country, particularly with its foreign exchange rate. Adewale Adeniyi, Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, provided this information in an interview with Arise Television.
An interview conducted by the TV station; Arise with Adewale Adeniyi, revealed that Q1 for Nigerian businesses was detrimental, given the country’s weak currency.
“It affected car dealers. We had as much as a 45 percent decrease in the volume of cars that were brought into Nigeria in that period.
And they were not the kind of cars that fetched optimum revenue for the customs.
Not only cars, but even regular imports were also affected because people could no longer import raw materials as they wanted and the volatility did not allow them to plan for tomorrow,” Adewale Adeniyi disclosed.
However, he noted that the second quarter might be better, as there are already signs of initiatives being put in place to combat these issues.
“But we see some relative degree of stability in the second quarter because there are lots of discussions going on. Some at the level of the National Assembly, most of them spearheaded by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, bring on the stakeholders that are involved together, to ensure that we achieve stability,” the CGC added.
During the interview, the Comptroller General spoke about the recent debacle with the verification directive given to private jet owners.
In June, the Federal Government, through the Nigerian Customs Service, initiated a new campaign to clamp down on operators of illegally imported private planes entering the country. To this effect, they launched a verification exercise, with the expectation that no less than 80 operators of private jets would appear at the headquarters of the NCS in Abuja with their aircraft import documents. – Business Insider Africa
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