IMPORTERS UNIMPRESSED WITH CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been enjoined to hasten the implementation of the electronic version of the Form M, to boost the attainment of the 48hours target for the clearance of goods into the country.
The demand is part of the resolutions adopted by participants at a sensitization seminar organised by the Federal Ministry of Finance for importers and other stakeholders in the South-South Zone of the country on 4th and 5th May 2010, at Hotel Presidential in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Participants at the well attended seminar were drawn from the Federal Ministry of Finance, Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Customs Service, importers, freight forwarders, oil companies, shipping companies, commercial banks and SGS Scanning Nigeria Limited, the DI service provider for air and seaports in the State.

Under the current Destination Inspection (DI) scheme which governs the importation of good into the country, any person intending to import goods into Nigeria shall in the first instance process Form 'M' through any Authorised Dealer Bank (ADB) irrespective of the value and whether or not payment is involved. Whilst the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) had come up with innovations in the trade facilitation process such as e-payment, e-remittance and e-manifest, the processing of the Form M is still done manually despite the repeated assurances by CBN officials that the electronic version (e-Form M) would soon be introduced.

Participants also called on the Federal Government to initiate measures that would address the disparity in the freight charges between ports in Lagos and those in the Niger Delta region of the country, to encourage shipping lines to patronise ports in the South-South Zone thereby improving the economy of the region.

They equally sought for a reversal of a provision in the ECOWAS Common External Tariff Policy banning the exportation of imported goods, as it poses a challenge to operations of companies in the oil and gas industry. Importers advocated for more consultation with the Federal Ministry of Finance and other government agencies in the formulation and implementation of policies related to import trade.