23rd September, 2011
Going by the increase in the number of prohibited items imported into the country, a prominent freight forwarder, Mr. David Chuks Kanikwu, has appealed to the Federal Government to review items under its import prohibition list or impose high levy on such items rather than impounding them.
Kanikwu, who is a leading member of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), pointed out that one of the measures to curb the alarming rate of smuggling in the country is to place higher tariffs on prohibited goods, which, according to him, will discourage importers from bringing them into the country. “The economy of Nigeria is importation-based, and you don’t protect local industries only by banning.
You can also protect them by placing higher tariffs on the prohibited items which will make the imported goods not competitive with the local markets. Even with the ban of these items, you still see them in the markets,†he said.
According to him, it does not add value to the nation’s economy when goods worth billions of naira are destroyed or auctioned as claimed by Customs officers. He described the Federal Government’s action in lacing some items on the import prohibition list as a policy somersault.