DAILY TRUST
Authorities of the Nigerian Customs Services, on Tuesday, asked protesters to expect drastic reduction in prices of food items as soon as possible.
Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Services, Bashir Adeniyi, stated this at Defence Headquarters, Abuja, on Tuesday.
Adeniyi was among heads of agencies who attended a closed-door strategic meeting convened by the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa.
Daily Trust reports that thousands of Nigerians had on August 1 embarked on a nationwide protest with various demands among which is for the government to address the high cost foods and growing inflation.
Speaking to journalists after the strategic meeting, Customs boss said some of the imported food items are already in the country, and they would be cleared without duties and taxes so as to have price reduction on them.
He said, “The protest was premised on a number of things, one of them being to end hunger. We discovered that a significant amount of food consumed in Nigeria is imported.
“Importation takes some time. So one of the things the president has done to cushion the effect of the cost of importation is to suspend 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 prices of food items in the markets. Nigerian Customs is committed to the implementation of this particular fiscal policy as enunciated by the government.
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