Customs uses depreciation value of 50% on vehicle duty payment -Official

Mr Umar Abubakar, the Deputy Comptroller-General of Customs on Tariff and Trade, says the customs uses depreciation value method of up to 50 per cent to calculate duties on vehicles.

Abubakar told our reporter on Thursday in Abuja that when calculating duty on vehicle, the value and age of such vehicle was taken into consideration.

“We are using depreciation value method, as the vehicle gets older, the value depreciates; and the depreciation value we use is up to 50 per cent,’’ he said.

He said that customs clearance document was valid for seven years, adding that the seven years would start counting from the date of importation not the manufacturing date.

According to him, law empowers customs to backdate any customs offence to seven years and after that, no customs officials can intercept the vehicle.

On the compliance rate since the implementation of restriction on rice through the land border, Abubakar said that there had been high level of compliance.

He said that although many importers had already imported rice and they were trying to smuggle them into the country, adding that the more they tried, the more customs was arresting them.

“You can see the load of rice customs usually sent out to the IDPs and if you go to our warehouses they are all filled up with different types and sizes of rice.

“That is why we are calling for modern technology to help us solve the problem of smuggling; see the number of officers we are losing to these smugglers,’’ he added.

Abubakar said that in smuggling activities, lives were always being lost, either that of the customs officers or the smugglers, adding that all those lives were Nigerians that needed to be alive to contribute to the economy.