The Central Bank of Nigeria has raised the Naira exchange rate for cargo clearance from N381/US$1 to N404.97/US$1.
This was confirmed by Uche Ejesieme, the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Tin Can Island Customs Command.
The PRO explained that it was not the customs job description to raise the foreign exchange rate but that of the central bank.
The N24 difference has been implemented on the customs system managed by Web Fontaine.
Commenting on the situation, Kayode Farinto, the Vice President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, said the increase would further escalate inflation on import goods and hurt consumers’ buying power given the present economic situation.
An importer, Gboyega Adebari, who was shocked at the decision said stakeholders will be greatly affected by the decision.
According to him, “When we went to assess a job this morning, we were told that the exchange rate has been increased, though we have been expecting it, but we don’t expect that it would be so sudden. The implication of this on cargo clearance is that cost of clearance would increase by N24 difference.
“The cargoes that already enroute Nigeria would also be affected, the jobs that we want to clear this morning were affected.
“When you go back to the importer and request for money, they will tell you there is no notification of increase from customs, so the freight forwarders are the ones that would bear the additional cost.”
Naira plunged to N502 against the United States Dollar at the parallel market on Wednesday and traded at N715 to a British Pound and N605 against the European common currency, Euro.