The NLC’s position is in reaction to a statement dated Tuesday, 2nd of March, and signed by the Acting Public Relations Officer of the Nigerian Customs Service, JOSEPH ATTAH, on behalf of the Comptroller-General of Customs, HAMEED ALI.
NLC President, AYUBA WABBA, disclosed in a statement that while the labour union supports the Customs Service on it statutory functions of collecting tax on behalf of the government, in the form of duty on vehicles, it believes that the new policy was logistically-callous and will create unimaginable chaos and suffering for innocent vehicle end-users.
WABBA said it was self-serving for the Customs to decide to go after vehicle owners who may unwittingly have bought smuggled vehicles.
It is also of the opinion of the Labour Leader that the policy may end up enriching unscrupulous Customs personnel who contributed in no small to the present situation through acts of commission or omission.
The NLC advised that the Nigeria Customs Service should shelve the plan, stressing that it should already have learnt some lessons from the violent outcome of the brutal raids of Ota Rice market and the ambush and extortion of vehicle-owners on the high way during the yuletide seasons.
It said the porous borders, as the Customs claim, are not enough justification for the proposed policy action.
The NLC suggested that the Nigeria Customs Service should devise a coherent response that will deal with challenges of the porous border by way of capacity building, modernization of operations, use of technology and elimination of massive corruption in the system.
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