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Nigeria Customs sensitises stakeholders on CET model

By Tina Agosi Todo (Calabar)
01 October 2015   |   12:13 am
IN a bid to boast the country’s economy through trade, the Nigeria Custom Service in partnership with ECOWAS and German Cooperation, GIZ, has sensitized stakeholders on the Common External Tariff (CET) model.

Nigerian-CustomsIN a bid to boast the country’s economy through trade, the Nigeria Custom Service in partnership with ECOWAS and German Cooperation, GIZ, has sensitized stakeholders on the Common External Tariff (CET) model.

The new system of tariff was introduced by ECOWAS in January this year and was also approved by the federal government of Nigeria in April.

The Comptroller General of Custom’s, Col. Hammed Ibrahim who was represented by Cross River, Calabar Free Trade Zone (CFTZ) and Akwa Ibom Command, Area Comptroller, Nicholas Oshomah at the sensitization workshop in Calabar said there was need to enlighten the public and relevant stakeholders on what it was all about.

Stressing on the theme of the workshop, ‘Implementation of ECOWAS CET, Oshomah explained that it would educate the stakeholders on the new system of tariff and would reduce barriers in international and regional trade and import tariffs.

He said, “the ECOWAS Common External Tariff is a multi-lateral document outlining the duty or tax to be paid on a particular class of imports or exports designed for the West African sub-region or Economic Community.
“Its major intention apart from keying into the global system of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is to reduce barriers in international/regional trade and import tariffs”.

Explaining the importance of tariff, the Comptroller General said, “it serves as a higher purpose of not only proving a source of government revenue to build infrastructure and run social services but also protects local industries and control dumping of non-essential goods in a customer’s territory

“The aim of this advocacy and public sensitization is to enlighten the public and stakeholders in particular the advantages to traders of CET as it reduces differences in tariff regimes in countries involved in international trade and operate on a seamless platform for the smooth and speedy facilitation of trade documentation and taxation”.

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