BY JOHNMARK UKOKO
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has berated the membership of the Freight Forwarders for the protests the VIN valuation on vehicles imported into the country has generated.
It said whenever the Customs management invite the Freight Forwarders for sensitisation and training on the new policy, they usually do not attend, but only send their ‘boys.’
“Whenever NIS calls freight forwarders for sensitisation and training programmes, the chief executives stay in their offices and send their boys to the training,” it said
This was disclosed at a meeting between the customs and freight forwarders to address the controversies surrounding the newly introduced Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) valuation at the Customs Training College, Ikeja, Lagos, recently.
Speaking at the occasion Customs Coordinator of Zone A, Assistant Comptroller General, Modupe Aremu expressed shock that the freight forwarders were protesting against the VIN valuation policy at this point, even though several sensitisation and trainings have been held for them on the workability of the new system.
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According to her, when trainings were organised, the chief executive officers of the freight forward firms do not usually show up, they would send their boys from their offices, who do not understand the rudiments of the system or ask relevant questions.
“After we have been inundated by numerous complaints from the freight forwarders, Customs would look inwards and modify the controversial VIN valuation,” she said.
On whether the VIN valuation would be suspended to clear the backlog of trapped cargoes at the ports, she said the platform could not be suspended and that the policy had come to stay.
Aremu promised that the NCS would communicate its position to the agents soon, adding that the Service would be holding its management meeting soon to determine its next line of action.
“We have decided to take their grievances and complaints back to management for a peaceful resolution. We are going to modify the system and it would take care of all their issues. The VIN has come to stay, we
are not suspending it, we would just modify it,” she stressed.
Chairman of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) at Tin Can Island Port chapter, Alhaji Muhammed Mojeed, lamented that a vehicle that hitherto pays N400,000, as surface value has now been hiked up to N1.7 million.
“It is not that we are against the VIN valuation system, but we want the Customs to understand that there is a way we normally obtain the value before now. So, why can’t they input what they give us before into the system?
“If we had not embarked on the protest, this meeting would not have taken place,” he stated.
Mojeed appealed to the NCS for grace period of three months for the freight forwarders to evacuate most of the vehicles trapped in the ports due to the VIN valuation system.
