The Federal Government through the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Bashir Adeniyi has announced that the guidelines for the suspension of customs duty and taxes on rice and other imported food items will commence next week.

Speaking at a meeting of heads of security agencies in Abuja, Adeniyi said the implementation of the policy would begin once the guidelines are finalized.

The Customs boss while explaining the reasons for the delay in the policy implementation noted the delay in the process was to carefully take care of the interests of all stakeholders, including farmers.

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Urging Nigerians to be patient, he assured them that some imported items already in the country would be cleared without duty and taxes.

He further emphasized the need to balance the long-term interests of Nigerian farmers with the short-term goal of addressing food inflation.
“There is the issue of striking a balance between the long-term interests of Nigerian farmers and stakeholders involved in production, and the short-term interest of curbing food inflation.

“The guidelines are being worked out at the Ministry of Finance and will be ready within the next week. The Nigerian Customs will then begin the implementation of these fiscal policies,” Adeniyi said.

He expressed optimism that food prices would crash once the suspension of duty and taxes on imported food items takes effect.

“We believe that this implementation will help lower food prices in the market. The Nigerian Customs is dedicated to the execution of this fiscal policy as directed by the government,” he added.

Adeniyi also highlighted the government’s awareness of hunger ravaging the country and its commitment to addressing the challenge noting that the ongoing protests have focused on themes including ending hunger.

In order to ameliorate hunger issues, he mentioned the distribution of strategic food items from the national grain reserves to all states about a month ago as part of these efforts.

The Comptroller-General pointed out that many food items consumed in Nigeria are imported, and the suspension of customs duty and taxes on these items is aimed at cushioning the impact of cost inflation.

“The President has acted to mitigate the effects of cost inflation by suspending customs duty and taxes on imported food items for a period. This is one of the measures being implemented to address hunger and food inflation in the country,” Adeniyi concluded.

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FG To Implement Import Duty Waiver – Customs