The House of Representatives Committee on Governmental Affairs and Customs and Excise have been mandated to investigate the decision of the Nigerian Customs Service to prohibit the importation of vehicles through land borders. While leading the debate on the Motion titled “Need to Suspend the Ban on Importation of Vehicles through Land Borders”, at the plenary session on Thursday 8th December, 2016, Hon. A.B Salame(APC: Sokoto) stated that the ban would lead to an increase in vehicle smuggling, inflation, and criminal activities at the border points.
Hon. Salame also expressed concerns the Federal Government’s failure to put in place alternative measures that ensure that Nigerians have easy access to purchase vehicles if the ban is implemented. He also argued that the adoption of the policy would further create untold hardship to citizens with particular regard to those whose sources of income are derived from vehicle importation.
Speaking against the motion, Hon. Linus Okorie (PDP: Ebonyi) stated that action of the Nigerian Customs Service was in accordance with the provisions of Section 18(1) of the Customs and Excise Management Act, which provides that “The Minister may make regulations‐ (a) restricting the importation or exportation by land or inland waters of all goods or of any class or description of goods to such hours and such routes (in this Act referred to as “approved routes”) as may be prescribed by the regulations;”. Therefore, the motion presented by Hon. Salame was against the aforementioned provisions.
However, the House unanimously disagreed with the view of Hon. Okorie and resolved to:
- Urge the Federal Government to immediately suspend the ban on importation of Vehicles through land borders;
- Urge the Federal Government to ensure that law enforcement agencies, especially those working at the borders ensure import charges through land borders are paid and remitted to the government.
- Urge the Federal Government to install border security and surveillance equipment for effective monitoring to address the recurring menace of smuggling and ensure maximum revenue generation on legally imported goods;
- Urge the Federal Government to recruit more personnel into border security agencies.
It could be recalled that the Nigerian Customs Service on Monday December 5 2016 issued a statement prohibiting the importation of new and used vehicles through land borders with effect from January 1, 2016, thereby restricting vehicle importation to sea ports.
The Committee is expected to report back its findings to the House within six (6) weeks for further legislative input.
