The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) would start implementing the directive by President Bola Tinubu for waiver of taxes on food and drug imports within one week.
This was made known by the Comptroller-General of NCS, Bashir Adeniyi, on Tuesday, August 6, at a joint press briefing by service chiefs and heads of security agencies at the Defence Headquarters, Abuja.
Adeniyi added that the delay in the implementation was due to the need to work out details by the Ministry of Finance.
The Customs boss expressed the belief that the implementation of the tax waivers would reduce the cost of food in the market and urged Nigerians to exercise a little patience for the policy implementation to take off.
He said: “One of the things that the President has done is to reduce the cost of food to reduce the effects of inflation by suspending customs duties and taxes on imported food items for a period of time. We believe that when this is implemented it will help to reduce prices of food items in the market.
“The Nigeria Customs is committed to the implementation of this particular fiscal policy as enunciated by the government. But we need to be very careful in implementation of this policy, and this is why the guidelines for implementation are being meticulously worked out at the Ministry of Finance.
“We must address the interest of all the stakeholders, because most of these food items are going to enjoy duty waivers and concessions are also being cultivated locally. And so there is the interest to strike.
“There is the issue of striking a balance between the interest, the long term interest of nigerian farmers, nigerian stakeholders who are involved in the production of these items and the short term interest of addressing food inflation.
“So the guidelines are being worked out at the Ministry of Finance and I can assure you that within the next one week these guidelines will be ready and Nigeria customs would begin implementation of these particular fiscal policies.”
