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Licensed Customs Agents Seek Clarification on Commencement Date of Zero Duty

We noticed a serious conflict between the date of the implementation of the Presidential Order, and the Ministers of Finance’s Circular

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Wale Edun, Minister of Finance

The National Council of Managing Directors Of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) says that the Presidential Order on  Inflation Reduction and Price Stability conflicts with the Minister of Finance Circular on zero duty rate on basic food items.

” We request that the conflict of Presidential Order on Inflation Reduction and Price stability (Fiscal policy measures, etc) Order 1st May 2024 and the Minister of Finance  Circular F17417/VI/T/6 of 8th August that was backdated to 15th of July, should be clarified,” said Lucky Eyis Amiwero, National President of NCMDLCA.

NCMDLCA in a letter to President Bola Tinubu,  dated September 4,  said: ” We hereby bring to the attention of the Federal Government of the two circulating instruments of the Federal Government with conflicting date of implementation and description of Fiscal Policy content.

We noticed a serious conflict between the date of the implementation of the Presidential Order, and the Ministers of Finance’s Circular, while the Presidential Order gave the date of commencement as 1st of May 2024,  the Minister of Finance’s Letter was backdated to 15th July 2024 as the Commencement date, while the Finance  Circular was dated 8th of August which was received by the Nigeria Customs Service on the 13th  August and  issued to the Trading public on 14th August by service

The area of concern to  the Trading public is whether the  Minister of Finance drew its strength from  the Presidential Order,  approved by the President that is, the Inflation Reduction and Price Stability (Fiscal policy measure, etc) order, 2024, which is supposed to commence on the 1st  May 2024, or the President issued a fresh order and suspend the Order that has been signed because nothing is said on the Presidential Order that has been in circulation before the Minister’s Circular and Customs implementing circular

Furthermore, the date of the Minister’s Circular was backdated by almost one(1) month, which is not in line with the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) Nigeria being a contracting party to the Agreement, which states, in Article 2:  opportunities and appropriate time period shall be provided to traders and other interested parties on new or amendment laws and regulations of general application.

Related to the movement, release, and clearance of goods, including goods in transit, are published or Information on then, giving enough time to be made otherwise publicly available, as early as possible before they entered into force, to enable traders and other interested parties to become acquainted with them.

Amiwero said that the clarification is very important to eliminate the use of dollarizing the domestic market and to stabilize it for consistent, predictable, and transparent transactions.▪︎

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Dangote refinery gets new CEO

David Bird is the former head of Oman’s Duqm Refinery

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The Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals has appointed David Bird, the former head of Oman’s Duqm Refinery, as its new Chief Executive Officer.

A report by S&P global on Friday said, Bird heads the refinery’s petroleum and petrochemicals division in a strategic move to overcome production challenges and advance its next wave of expansion.

Effective from July 2025, the former Shell head of operations at its Balau Pokom refinery stepped in as CEO of the Dangote Group’s fuels and petrochemicals business, which commissioned the world’s largest single-train refinery last year.

The CEO participated at the just concluded Dangote Leadership Development Program Graduation Ceremony.

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Trump Imposes 15% tariff on Nigerian Imports

Under the revised tariff schedule:15% tariffs now apply to Nigeria, Angola, Ghana, South Korea, Turkey, Japan, Israel, Norway, and several others.10% tariffs target countries such as the Falkland Islands, the United Kingdom, and others not explicitly listed.

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US President Donald Trump has approved a 15 percent import tariff on Nigeria and dozens of other countries.

The White House announced the implementation of the new reciprocal tariff rates on Thursday.

In April, Trump imposed a 14% tariff on Nigerian imports, citing the need for fairer trade terms.

That move was followed by a 90 – day grace period to allow time for bilateral trade negotiations, pushing the final decision deadline to August 1.

However, the majority of talks failed to result in new trade agreements.

As a result, the new tariff rates are now being implemented, with Nigeria among dozens of countries facing increased duties under the revised plan.

African countries, including Nigeria, were unable to secure individual trade deals with the United States despite urgent efforts from both sides.

During the negotiation window, Trump also reintroduced travel restrictions targeting several African nations. Though Nigeria was initially exempt, it was later added to the list as the policy evolved.

Under the revised tariff schedule:15% tariffs now apply to Nigeria, Angola, Ghana, South Korea, Turkey, Japan, Israel, Norway, and several others.10% tariffs target countries such as the Falkland Islands, the United Kingdom, and others not explicitly listed.

Tariffs climb to 18% for Nicaragua, 19% for countries like Indonesia and Pakistan, and 20% for countries like Indonesia and Pakistan, and 20% for Bangladesh, Vietnam, and others.

10% tariffs target countries such as the Falkland Islands, the United Kingdom, and others not explicitly listed.Tariffs climb to 18% for Nicaragua, 19% for countries like Indonesia and Pakistan, and 20% for Bangladesh, Vietnam, and others.

More severe penalties include 25–41% tariffs for countries like India, South Africa, Iraq, and Syria.

Switzerland faces a steep 39% duty, while Laos and Myanmar are hit with 40%.Syria tops the list at 41%.

Meanwhile, negotiations are still ongoing with China, Washington’s main trade rival.

Canada is facing a 35% tariff, while Mexico was hit with a trio of levies, including a 50% duty on metals. Brazil, previously under a 10% tariff, was slapped with an additional 40% charge on Thursday, bringing its total to 50%.

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EU accuses online giant Temu of selling ‘illegal’ products

EU regulators believe Temu is not doing enough to protect European consumers from dangerous products and that it may not be acting sufficiently to mitigate risks to users.

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The European Union accused Chinese-founded online shopping giant Temu on Monday of breaking the bloc’s digital rules by not “properly” assessing the risks of illegal products.

AFP reports that TEMU, wildly popular in the European Union despite only having entered the continent’s market in 2023, Temu has 93.7 million average monthly active users in the 27- country bloc.

EU regulators believe Temu is not doing enough to protect European consumers from dangerous products and that it may not be acting sufficiently to mitigate risks to users.

Evidence showed that there is a high risk for consumers in the EU to encounter illegal products on the platform,” the European Commission said in its preliminary finding.

It pointed to a mystery shopping exercise that found consumers were “very likely to find non-compliant products among the offer, such as baby toys and small electronics.”

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