The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adeniyi, has stated that NCS will within a week start implementing the duty waiver on imported specific food crops.
This was disclosed by the Adeniyi during a joint press conference with heads of security agencies and Service Chiefs, convened by the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, at the Defence Headquarters on Tuesday in Abuja, according to Nairametrics.
He explained that the ministry of finance is currently fine tuning the modalities to ensure careful implementation and strike a balance between the needs to control inflation and the interests of local farmers.
“One of the things that the President has done is to reduce the cost, to push on the effects of the cost inflation by suspending customs duties and taxes on imported food items for a period of time.
“We believe that when this is implemented, it will help to bring down the price of food items in the market,” the Comptroller-General said.
He noted “But I also like to remind Nigerians that we need to be very, very careful in implementation of this and this is why the guidelines for implementation is being meticulously worked out at the Ministry of Finance.
“There is the issue of striking a balance between the long term interest of Nigerian farmers and stakeholders who are involved in the production of these items and the short term interest of addressing food inflation.”
“So the guidelines are being worked out at the Ministry of Finance and I can assure you that within the next one week these guidelines will be ready and Nigeria customs will begin implementation of these particular fiscal policies,” he added.
Adeniyi underlined that this is a crucial attempt to reduce food costs and easing the financial strain on Nigerian consumers.
The federal government in July approved a 150-day duty-free window for the importation of wheat, husked brown rice, and maize in order to curb rising food inflation.
In addition, 250,000 metric tonnes of wheat and maize will be imported in order to replenish the strategic grain reserve.
