Dons Eze
PRESIDENT TINUBU FAILS TO IMPLEMENT TARIFF WAIVER AS FOOD PRICES REMAIN HIGH
Despite the National Bureau of Statistics inflation data for July and August which showed food inflation eased to 39.53 and 37.52 percent, market realities showed that the prices of food and goods remained high.
A market survey shows that a 50-kilogram bag of local or foreign rice is sold between N87,000 and N106,000.
This is as a 50kg bag of beans goes for between N65,000 and N100,000. For the majority of Nigerians, access to staple food has become a nightmare, a situation that would have been reduced with the implementation of the zero-tariff waiver on selected food items.
Speaking on the development in an interview on Monday, the Executive Director of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Muda Yusuf said the major problem was the slow pace with which the government was implementing the zero tariff policy.
According to him, there was a big lag between the announcement of the policy by the government and the preparation of the guidelines for its implementation.
He stressed that the tariff waiver had not been fully activated as the impact was yet to be felt in the country’s economy.
Yusuf urged the government to work on the speed of implementation of the policy.
“The customs must implement the policy. The customs need to be advised by the ministry of finance, and until that is done, implementation cannot start.
“I think it has to do with the speed of the implementation of the policy. When the Government announces a policy, the ministry ought to work on the guidelines, which are transmitted by the ministry of finance to the customs. I think there is a lag between the announcement of the policy and the production of the guidelines.
“The policy has not been fully activated which is why the impact is not felt. This is because all the processes in terms of guidelines are a bit slow. The government needs to work on the speed of implementation”, he said
On his part, Olufemi Kayode, a member, Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, and Special Assistant to Prince Adewusi Bamigbala, the Chairman of ANLCA, Murtala Muhammed International Airport Command Chapter, faulted Customs, noting that there was yet to be a clear-cut and proper guideline for the implementation of the zero tariff policy.
He stated that there was the possibility of internal sabotage and frustration within the Customs that may be undermining the implementation of the tariff for the good of the generality of Nigerians.
“Generally speaking, from the circular available there are no clear-cut directives apart from the fact that some of the tariffs were mentioned.
“There are no proper guidelines for its implementation. The Customs must put it into proper perspective.
“There is the possibility of internal sabotage or frustration in getting the implementation right.
“Customs may be having internal challenges about the proper classification or coding of the tariff waiver into its portal”, he said.
Meanwhile reacting to the development, in an exclusive chat, NCS spokesperson, Abdullahi Maiwada said it was untrue that the service was sabotaging the implementation of the zero-tariff waiver policy on selected food items.
According to him, the Service had told Nigerians the procedures for accessing the tariff waiver.
He added that the NCS was committed to all policies formulated by the government to ease the economic hardship Nigerians faced.
“Well, we have issued a statement earlier and we told Nigerians procedures of accessing the tariff waiver.
“It is malicious to say Customs is sabotaging the implementation of the policy.
“We are a responsible government agency. We are out to implement all policies formulated by the government.
