By Steve Agbota
The National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) has petitioned President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, urging a comprehensive review of the 4 percent Free-on-Board (FOB) levy and other charges imposed on imports as part of Customs funding.
The council argued that the current framework places an excessive burden on importers, stifles trade competitiveness and makes Nigeria’s operating environment less attractive compared to its regional peers.
As an alternative, NCMDLCA recommended that Nigeria adopt Ghana’s funding model, which it described as more transparent, cost-effective, and aligned with global best practices for financing Customs operations.
In a letter addressed to Tinubu and signed by the National President, NCMDLCA, Lucky Amiwero, he identified the need to urgently set up a committee to review the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Act 2023 and its financing framework, which he said is significantly raising the cost of doing business at the nation’s ports and is in violation of international trade facilitation standards.
Amiwero explained that the financial framework, embedded in Sections 18, 24, and 44 of the Act—particularly the 4 per cent Free-on-Board (FOB) levy on imports, cost-based user fees, advance ruling fees, special service charges, and other multilayered charges tagged as “financing of Customs operations”—is problematic.
He expressed concern for escalating port costs that undermine trade competitiveness. The letter was also copied to the Vice President, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Ministers of Finance and Budget, and the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).
However, he pointed out the comparison between Nigeria’s model and Ghana’s, which adopted a more transparent, cost-efficient, and internationally compliant approach to funding Customs operations.
“Under Ghana’s Export and Import (Amendment) Act 585 of 2000, importers pay an inspection fee capped at one per cent of the total dutiable Cost, Insurance, and Freight (CIF) value, as prescribed by the Minister through legislative instruments.
“Ghana’s Customs operations are funded from an allocated share of three per cent of total import duty and value-added tax (VAT) collections, while 0.4 per cent is assigned to the customs technology platform.
“This structure ensures that charges are tied directly to service delivery, simplifies accountability, and prevents arbitrary cost escalation. Ghana’s model demonstrates how a capped, transparent, and proportionate cost structure, coupled with government-managed inspection infrastructure, supports compliance with global standards,” he explained.
He said that Nigeria’s current approach is a clear contravention of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement, the World Customs Organisation (WCO) Revised Kyoto Convention, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), and the Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (FAL) Conventions.
He lamented that this risks inflating port charges, discouraging investment, and eroding the country’s competitive position in regional trade, while also increasing the financial burden on importers, manufacturers, and licensed customs agents.
Amiwero also highlighted Section 59(30) of the Act, which transfers the responsibility for providing and maintaining non-intrusive inspection (NII) scanners from Customs to terminal and warehouse operators.
Therefore, he warned that without clear operational guidelines, this shift could create uneven scanner deployment across ports, exacerbate inspection delays, and further inflate costs, contradicting the very principles of trade facilitation.
He called on the President to establish an expert committee to align Nigeria’s Customs funding and inspection systems with international best practice, harmonise overlapping agency mandates, and reduce port costs, which are already perceived as the highest in the West and Central Africa sub-regions.
“The committee should look at the NCS Act 2023 to review the duplication, contradiction, and usurping of powers of the Minister and other agencies overlapping, that will conflict and affect the process of clearance with others, to harmonise, simplify, and minimise port cost,” he added.
Leave a comment