No fewer than 500,000 Nigerians will lose their jobs across the various border communities if the ban on importation of vehicles through land borders comes into full effect on Monday.
The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) disclosed this
in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari which was made available to newsmen at a press briefing in Lagos.
The Chairman, ANCLA, Seme Border, Bisiriyu Fanu, said, “The decision by the Federal Government of Nigeria to ban importation of used and new vehicles through the Land Borders on 5th Dec 2016, will adversely affect the well being of about 500,000.00 Nigerians and millions of other nationals that are involved in legitimate businesses and trade facilitation along Lagos – Abidjan Corridor.
“Importation of vehicles through this route has indeed created employment opportunities like driving, small-scale trading, food vending, freight forwarding, Customs licensed brokerage-related businesses, insurance and allied bBusinesses.
“ANLCA urges the Federal Government of Nigeria to re-consider the ban on importation of vehicles through the Land Borders with the following empirical reasons: Vehicle importation through the Land Borders has provided employment to over Five Hundred thousand Nigeria graduates, who would have ordinarily been roaming the streets due to massive unemployment in the land.
Nigerians have so easily forgotten that such policy in the past had led to serious revenue leakages and massive smuggling along the border areas and there was concomitant wastage of both human and material resources in that regard. President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 immediately after his election reversed and changed that policy by opening the Land Borders for duty payment which has consistently improved the revenue collections on vehicles.
“Not only that we wasted material resources, we also lost Human Capital; Men and Officers of the Nigeria Customs Service, Immigration service, Nigeria Police and other Services lost their Personnel in the hands of smugglers while the policy lasted. “Now these smugglers are more sophisticated than the services that were entrusted with the responsibility of enforcing this policy.
“Remember that rice importation was banned through the Land Borders sometimes in March 2016, yet we still have assorted imported and smuggled rice in Nigeria markets including the obnoxious plastic rice. How these products that would have enhanced our revenue base, through appropriate duty payment get into the country are yet to be imagined. Preliminary investigations showed that these products are being concealed in Fuel Tanks, Cement Trucks, and Vehicles Engine etc, to evade the law and even contaminate the products before they get to the final consumers.
There are thousands of unapproved access routes through which these Consignments including Vehicles enter Nigeria. At present there is a measure of compliance that one can go to the designated Customs Vehicle Seats or Revenue Office of the Nigeria Customs at the border areas and pay his or her duties on Vehicles. Once this policy is enforced all unapproved access routes will be activated by smugglers and smuggling will increase tremendously,” he said.