Ernest Chinwo
8 October 2008
Calabar — To remove bottlenecks in the operation of Free Trade Zones (FTZs) in the country, the Nigeria Customs Service said banned goods produced in the zones can now be sold in the local market.
The Comptroller General of Customs, Alhaji Hamman Ahmed, said this at an interactive session with investors and management of the Calabar Free Trade Zone and Tinapa Business Resort that the goods could be sold in Nigerian Customs territory provided the manufacturers added 35 percent value to the products.
He, however, said the importers of the goods into the Nigerian territory would have to pay necessary duties, adding that the highest duty to be paid stands at 35 per cent.
Ahmed said the measures were contained in the new fiscal policy of the Federal Government aimed at making the free trade zones in the country operational.
Ahmed lamented that out of the 23 free trade zones in the country, only about six are operational, and said Government was interested in removing the bottlenecks.
He, however, said the concessions did not cover prohibited items like fire arms and ammunitions as well as explosives.
He directed customs area comptrollers to refrain from the inspection and examination of goods going into the free trade zones and restrict themselves to the ones coming into the Nigerian Customs territory, stressing that men of the customs should only escort goods into the FTZs to ensure that they are not diverted.
Ahmed said the Nigeria Customs Service is now ready to partner with investors to improve the economy of the nation but warned that all aspects of the laws must be adhered to.
"We will work within the ambits of the law. We are not here to terrorise any investor. But the fraudulent ones, we will hit them hard. The laws are there and we will implement them to the letter. Importers who under-declare their imports will be prosecuted and their goods forfeited to government. Customs will apply full weight of the law. The days of concealment and false declaration are over," he said
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