Headlines

Maritime lawyers advocate legal option to tackle 15 percent NAC levy on Vehicles

Eyewitness reporter

Maritime lawyers in the country have described the 15 percent introduction of the National Automobile Council levy on imported vehicles as illegal and advised freight forwarders to seek legal redress of the matter.

The lawyers, under the umbrella of Nigeria Maritime Law Association (NMLA), however, said that if approached by the agitating freight forwarders, they will challenge the levy at the law court.

It could be recalled that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) had recently introduced a 15 percent NAC levy on used imported vehicles, a decision that has sparked outrage among customs brokers in the country.

The agents have argued that the NAC levy is mostly meant for new vehicles, questioning the rationale behind the introduction of the duty on used vehicles.

The Customs authority, through its spokesman, Timi Bomodi, has said the move was in compliance with the Economic Community of West Africa Common External Tariff.

But a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Jean-Chiazor Anishere, said that the imposition of the 15 percent levy on imported vehicles was wrong.

Anishere, who is also an ex-officer member of the Nigerian Maritime Law Association, said the imposition of the levy should be restrained by a court order.

“To me, the act of the Nigerian Customs Service is inimical to ‘having a second bite of an apple.’

“It is wrong and irregular and such act should be restrained by a court order.”

On whether there are plans by the group to file a court case against the service, she said, “No plans because the NMLA needs to be approached formally.”

Also speaking, another maritime lawyer, Alban Igwe, said although the move was geared towards supporting local vehicle manufacturers, the government was not even giving enough support to local vehicle manufacturers.

He also said that Nigerians patronised more fairly used vehicles than new ones.

“The government would want to promote the local car manufacturing.

“I guess they have started by stopping the rival which is the newly manufactured vehicles, but I think it looks like Nigerians are acquiring more fairly used vehicles than the new ones.

” So, they knew that the competitor is not the newly manufactured vehicles, but now the fairly used vehicles, which is why they want to extend the jurisdiction to fairly used vehicles.

“Well, the implication is that if the government really wants to protect the local industry first, the government will have to support those local manufacturers so that they can manufacture at very good costs.

“It is the market forces that determine where you buy. If I can buy new vehicles in Nigeria from Innoson at N5m and I can buy a fairly used one at the same N5m, then I rather buy a new vehicle with a guarantee.”

He called for more support for local vehicle manufacturers from the government, adding that by so doing, the manufacturers of new vehicles would survive.

“The government will have to support the local manufacturing industry so that they will manufacture at good costs. It should be a business model and the manufacturers will now have the means to market their products very well so that people will know what they have.

” And, of course, the quality of the products should meet international standards because people are not just buying to drive, they also want products that will meet the international standards.”

Igwe said that by slamming the 15 percent NAC levy, the government was simply forcing people to tilt towards patronising local manufacturers.

“The moment you call something a levy, it has an implication. A market model, which is the best, means that the government should promote their local manufacturing industry so that they can manufacture at very competitive rates, and there won’t be any need for the levy.

“When you begin to slam a levy, it means you have removed the issue of options. So they are forcing people to tilt towards patronising local manufacturers.

“The propensity to buy vehicles in Nigeria is increasing. Those who are importing are lamenting that the government is not subsidising their import, which means the cost of importation is very high.

” If it is like that, it is going to affect the end-users. It will affect even public transport, but that market must be open. The government has not supported the transport sector.

” Globally, when the transport is inefficient, it affects other sectors,” he concluded.

Related Topics:featured Maritime lawyers to tackle NAC levy

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Headlines

MWUN threatens to picket shipping companies, terminal operators over manipulation of pension remittances of seafarers, dockworkers

Gloria Odion

The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria(MWUN) has accused terminal operators, shipping companies and ship owners of shortchanging dockworkers and seafarers in their employment in the remittance of their pensions to the appropriate authorities.

In a statement by the union led by Comrade Francis Bunu Abi, the erring service providers were allegedly either holding back the deductions made from the salaries of their staff into the pension funds scheme or under- remitting the deductions.

The union warned of dire consequences for such act which it regarded as unethical and illegal and threatened to shut down any service provider found culpable in this illegal act.

“The leadership of the Union recently got the wind of these employers of labour and terminal operators over their acts of irregular remittance of their employees pensions to its appropriate quarters.

“Thus shortchanging the Seafarers and the Dockworkers, both categories of workers from the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria.

“It was also learnt that some Ship Owners and Terminal Operators have allegedly stopped the remittance of Dockworkers and Seafarers’ PSA in their employ, which is a gross violation of labour laws.

” As a result, the President -General of the Union, Comrade Bunu, stated that the Union will have no other option than to descend heavily and bring to book all the earring managements of these companies working against the ethics and practices of labour rules in their various companies.

“The Delta State- born labour leader made this point known, stressing that it’s unlawful to deny workers their pensions rights either by crook or hook,; and may not hesitate to call out these Concessionaires and Shipping Companies that have defaulted in the payment of the statutory pensions of the Union Members.

“Comrade Bunu also said that these erring companies in the Maritime sector would be shut down if this ugly trend is not reversed to status quo.” the statement concluded.

Headlines

Tantita Security to bankroll 2025 OTC in USA

Gloria Odion

The foremost security provider in Nigeria, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited (TSSNL) has been confirmed as the official sponsor of the 2025 Offshore Technology conference scheduled to hold in Houston Texas, United States on 5-8 May , 2025 .

Executive Director, Technical and operations , Tantita security services Limited, Captain Wareddi Enisuoh in an interview with journalists on Friday, said the company attracted the OTC conference lucrative sponsorship deal in recognition of its capacity to deliver on the conference.

Founded in 1969 , Offshore Technology conference is a series of conferences and exhibitions, focused on exchanging technical knowledge relevant to the development of offshore energy resources , primarily Oil and Natural Gas.

The conference also serves as the meeting place for the brightest minds to share ideas , discuss, debate and build consensus around the most pressing challenges and innovations in the offshore energy sector.

This year’s exhibitors , speakers and attendees represent some of the highest calibre professionals from more than 100 countries .

Customs

Customs shuns N12 trillion inflated revenue target imposed by National Assembly

— focuses on realising N6.5 trillion 2025 target

Funso OLOJO

The Nigeria Customs Service may have tactically shrugged off the imposition of the N12 trillion revenue target by the National Assembly.

It could be recalled that government gave the NCS ₦6.5 trillion revenue target for 2025.

This followed the impressive revenue performance of the service in 2024 when it surpassed that year’s target of N5.07 trillion by 20.2 percent.

However , in January, 2025, the National Assembly joint committee on Finance led by its chairmen, Senator Sani Musa and Hon. James Faleke, believed that the projection of N6.5 trillion revenue target given to the customs was conservative and encouraged the NCS to aim higher.

Consequently, the joint committee slammed a whooping sum of N12 trillion as revenue target, doubling the initial N6.5 trillion projected revenue.

This humongous target sparked off an outrage among perplexed stakeholders who felt the target imposed by the law makers was outrageous and unrealistic which they feared may stretch the capacity of the customs to a breaking point and put unnecessary pressure on the men and officers of the agency.

Indication that the Customs authority may not be well disposed to the imposed target of N12 trillion by the National Assembly emerged recently when the Comptroller -General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, was giving account of the activities of the service in the first quarter of 2025.

While giving the analysis of the revenue performance of the service during the period under review, Adeniyi benchmarked the revenue generated by the service during the first quarter of 2025 by N6.5 trillion revenue target given by the Federal Ministry of Finance, thus jettisoning the N12 trillion imposed by the National Assembly.

“ Against our annual target of ₦6,580,000,000,000.00, the first quarter’s proportional benchmark stood at ₦1,645,000,000,000.00.

“I’m proud to announce we’ve exceeded this target by ₦106.5 billion, achieving 106.47% of our quarterly projection.

” This outstanding performance represents a substantial 29.96% increase compared to the same period in 2024, where we collected

₦1,347,705,251,658.31″ Adewale stated, while giving the analysis of the performance of the service in the first three months of the year.

Analysts believed that from the analysis of the revenue performance of the NCS in the first quarter of the year which was predicated on the N6.5 trillion revenue target, it was obvious that the service was not paying much attention to the imposed N12 trillion, but rather focusing on how to meet the more realistic target of N 6 .5 trillion.

” You can see that the CGC did not make mention of the N12 trillion imposed by the National Assembly which presupposes that the unrealistic amount is not in the reckoning of the Customs” a customs broker who plies his trade at Apapa port, said, pleading for anonymity.

” Where on earth do they want the Customs to realize such an humongous amount of money in a depressed economy, in a country where importation has plummeted due to the unfriendly policies of government?

“It is unfortunate that these people (the law makers) have lost touch with the current economic realities in the country.

” All what they are after is to witch hunt government agencies to go and hunt for money for them to share.

” If not, how could they sit down in the comfort of their air conditioned offices and imposed such amount of revenue for customs to realize.

” Of course, the pressure would be on the men and officers of the service who will in turn go after the hapless importers and their agents in the most brutal way to raise the imposed target.

” It is unfortunate that the lawmakers, who are expected to make laws that will encourage export drive of the Federal government, are those asking the customs to focus more on the import goods where such money could be realized” another freight forwarder, who did not want his name in print but based at Tin Can Island port, declared.