The Nigeria Customs Service has revealed that the suspension of customs duties and taxes on imported food items will be implemented as soon as the service receives the list of beneficiaries from the Ministry of Finance.
Bashir Adeniyi, the Comptroller-General of Customs stated that the implementation of the policy would kickstart once the guidelines are ready. The initiative was said to be part of measures to combat rising food inflation across the country.
The delay of the implementation of the policy was to ensure that the interests of all the stakeholders including the farmers were met
Abdullahi Maiwada, the spokesperson for the NCS, explained during a joint press briefing organized by the Strategic Communications Inter-agency Policy Committee Office of the National Security Adviser that the implementation of the guideline has been delayed because the Ministry of Finance has not yet provided the list of individuals eligible for tax exemptions.
According to Maiwada, the policy announced by the President clearly stated that an individual must be a miller, a taxpayer and must have been into operations for a certain number of years to benefit from those exemptions and there will be a quota issued by the Federal Ministry of Finance.
He further added that the directives will be implemented once the service gets the list from the Federal Ministry of Finance
