From April, vehicles without customs duty will be seized

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says from April 12, it will begin to seize all vehicles of which duty have not been paid.

Joseph Attah, customs acting spokesman, said this in a statement on Thursday.

He also said that owners of such vehicles would also be prosecuted, urging them to pay duty on their cars before the deadline.

“The comptroller-general of customs, Col Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd) has approved a grace period of one month, between Monday 13th March to Wednesday 12th April 2017 for owners of all vehicles within the country whose customs duty has not been paid to do so,” he said.

“Consequently, all motor dealers and private owners of such vehicles are advised to visit the nearest customs zonal office to pay the appropriate customs duty on them.

“The four zonal offices of the Nigeria Customs Service are: zone A headquarters, No 1 Harvey Road, Yaba, Lagos; zone B headquarters, Kabala Doki, Kaduna; zone C headquarters, Nigeria Ports Authority, Port Harcourt and zone D headquarters, Yelwa Tudu road, Bauchi state.

“The CGC therefore calls on all persons in possession of such vehicles to take advantage of the grace period to pay appropriate duties on them, as there will be an aggressive anti-smuggling operation to seize as well as prosecute owners of such smuggled vehicles after the deadline of Wednesday 12th April, 2017.”

Attah added that all private car owners who are not sure of the authenticity of the customs documents of their vehicles should also approach the zonal offices to verify with “a view to complying with the provision of the law”.