Economic Crisis: Peter Obi Issues A Warning To FG About The Increasing Customs Duties

Former Presidential candidate, Peter Obi 

All arbitrary and inconsistent customs duty charges must be discontinued by the Nigerian government, according to Peter Obi 

President Tinubu has been urged to halt “arbitrary, ever-increasing and inconsistent” customs duty charges by Peter Obi.

Obi stated that the general business climate in Nigeria was being negatively impacted by the inconsistent customs duty charges in a series of posts on his X (previously Twitter) handle on Wednesday.

“Then suddenly when the goods arrive in Nigeria, and duties are calculated at different rates, say N1400 to $1, it becomes a serious business challenge that results in business losses.

“Worse still, it directly fuels the inflationary spike which is the basis of increasing cost of goods and living. Such arbitrary charges will obviously lead to further closure of businesses, and attendant job losses.

“This is because at the time of the initiation of the business, calculations, including duties, have been made based on the prevailing exchange rate, and the prevailing market prices.” 

Obi noted that if the situation was not resolved, Nigerian importers might turn to using the ports of neighboring nations. In his opinion, this would make Nigerian ports less productive and worsen the nation's economic situation due to lost revenue.

He observed that “businesses are dying and manufacturers are shutting down because of the poor and inconsistent economic policies of the government.” He said that the Nigerian government should also be consistent in its policies as this will help with economic forecasting and business planning.