The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) have agreed to join forces to close loopholes in the Temporary Importation Permit (TIP) system that importers often exploit to avoid paying levies due to the government.
Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, disclosed this in Abuja when he visited the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (Retd).
Jamoh said the temporary import permit issue was one of the biggest challenges faced by the maritime sector, stressing that it has denied the Federal Government huge revenues.
Ali spoke in a similar vein, saying it was important for the NCS and NIMASA to develop a common platform for dealing with problems arising from the permit.
Jamoh said: “The biggest issue we have has to do with temporary importation. What we observed is that people capitalise on the good gesture of government policies.
“Those that are benefiting from this temporary importation bring in their own ship and after one year they will take it back to their country and import back with a different name.
“They do it constantly and this is to the disadvantage of our Nigerian ship owners.”
He said cabotage trade was suffering as a result of the abuse of the temporary import permit, and, “At the end of the day, it is indigenous ship owners that bear the brunt.”
