Nigeria Debt Profile, Govt. Policies Have Reduced Access To Funds

…Customs, FIRS income can't fund servicing ration

Harboursandport.com: Lagos - Maritime expert and Managing Director of Chiogo Nigeria Limited, Chinedu Christain Ogbonna, has said that the rising debt profile of the nation and the various policies of the federal government will reduce access to funds for maritime operators as well as impact negatively the volume of imports into the country.

Ogbonna disclosed this while responding to the recent National Bureau of Statistics, NBS report which states that the nation's debt profile has risen to 42.8% in the second quarter of 2022 to about N33.5 trillion from N28.4 trillion in the first quarter of 2021.

The Chiogo Nigeria Limited boss also noted that it is important to know the ratio of the nation's debt service to ascertain whether the income from the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS will be able enough to service the current debt.

He said the reduction in access to funds and the policies have resulted in a sharp drop in the volume of imports into the country, especially for vehicles imported between the period June to December 2021 and June to October this year.

He explained that in the above period last year; the vehicle import duty stood at about 2,000 while it has reduced to about 1,000 this year which is a reduction of between 30 to 40 percent.

According to him, “The portfolio of every nation must have an impact on their economy, generally speaking, they have not even given us the debt servicing ratio. Because to service a debt of about N42 trillion, you will be shocked that what we make is not enough to service it. Even if they put it at five percent you will be shocked to know that what we get from Customs and the Federal Inland Revenue Service is not enough to service the debt.

“You have to ask what is the ratio of the importation of vehicles from June to December 2021 and June this year to October. You will discover that last year they received about 5,000 -10,000 units of vehicles and right now you do not get up to 2,000 units of vehicles on a monthly basis.

“The present Nigerian government does not have a policy and you know that before this government began, there is what we call transaction value. If you buy 2,000 units of vehicles from Europe or America as they give wholesale prices for vehicles and their prices are verifiable online. But Customs and agents in Nigeria unilaterally and arbitrarily charge. In essence, what the Customs say is what stands not the global market value. You will discover that the flow of traffic of imports have been dropped as much as 30 percent - 40 percent yet revenue has increased because they do not even follow the flow of traffic. The Customs revenue target is now arbitrary and not based on global market value,” he noted.