Bottlenecks worsen vehicles clearance, ease of business

Bottlenecks worsen vehicles clearance, ease of business

• Hundreds of dealers, and agents to be thrown out of business
• Used cars from China, and Europe not captured on the VIN system
• Dealers fear only Nigerian-used vehicles will be on market soon
• Lexus, and Mercedes-Benz are not included in the new valuation system
• Importers abandon older cars due to unreasonable duties

Hiccups in the vehicle valuation system of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) may hamper the importation of used cars just as thousands of dealers and agents are on the verge of losing their livelihoods, investigations by The Guardian have revealed.

It was learnt that the controversial electronic Vehicle Identity Number (VIN) valuation system, despite having undergone review, is being sabotaged, causing pain to importers who face hurdles in the process of clearing their vehicles.

As the challenges linger, many importers have been forced to abandon their vehicles at the terminals, accumulating demurrages – a situation that has increased the costs of vehicle clearing and purchase.

Recall that the Customs service introduced the VIN Valuation policy in January 2022 to aid trade facilitation and enhance the cargo delivery process. The platform was intended to reduce human intervention and make clearing more seamless.

This was greeted with controversy as agents protested outrageous increases in tariffs due to inaccurate data and the valuation process.

Subsequently, NCS suspended its implementation to review the complaints, triggering a backlog of vehicles awaiting clearing and extreme port congestion.

Two months after the policy was re-introduced, the old complaints remained. Customs had disclosed that the valuation template has been designed with the base model (2013) being used for the new pricing.

Findings revealed that the reviewed VIN valuation policy is discriminatory, as it only works with standard chassis vehicles, while it excludes the non-standard chassis (damaged) vehicles.

It was also learnt that for a 2007 or 2009 vehicle under the non-standard chassis vehicles, the duties are different and not uniform.

Read the full story in The Guardian

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