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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

Published

2 years ago

September 12, 2024

OCHEFA

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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.▪︎

Related Topics:Inflation Licensed Customs Agents Wale Edun

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Cardoso Urges Banks To Lend Out Idle Funds With CBN * Retains MPR at 26.5%

Cardoso made the call on Tuesday after the 306th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held in Abuja from July 20 to July 21.

Published

3 hours ago

July 21, 2026

OCHEFA

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Olayemi Cardoso , urged banks from keeping idle funds with the apex bank and encouraging increased lending into the economy.

Cardoso made the call on Tuesday after the 306th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held in Abuja from July 20 to July 21.

The apex bank retained the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), also known as benchmark interest rate, at 26. 5 percent.

This decision marks the second consecutive retention of the MPR at 26.5 per cent, following a 50-basis-point reduction in February from 27 per cent.

“The committee’s decision to maintain the current policy stand follows a thorough assessment of the balance of risk,” said Cardoso.

He emphasised that although headline inflation moderated marginally in June 2026, global uncertainties have heightened due mainly to the renewed hostilities in the Middle East.

The MPC also adjusted the asymmetric facilities corridor around the MPR to +50/-450 basis points—a move aimed at discouraging banks from keeping idle fund with CBN.

Furthermore, the committee maintained the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for commercial banks at 45 per cent, retained the rate for merchant banks at 16 per cent, and kept the CRR on non-TSA public-sector deposits at 75 per cent for liquidity management considerations.

Cardoso said despite the global uncertainties, the Nigerian economy has “remained largely resilient to the external shocks”.

Business

CBN admits it opened domiciliary accounts for PFIPC agency

Represented by the Director of its Banking Services Department, Hamisu Ibrahim, the CBN said that the accounts are one in US dollars, the other in British pounds sterling, were opened following a mandate received from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

Published

12 hours ago

July 21, 2026

OCHEFA

20 Views

File photo : PFIPC agency DG, Adeniyi Adeyemi

The Central Bank of Nigeria had admitted that it opened two foreign-currency domiciliary accounts for the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC).

The apex bank made the confirmation, yesterday, during the public hearing convened at the National Assembly Complex by the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the existence and operations of the PFIPC, chaired by Yusuf Gagdi and inaugurated by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas.

He explained that on July 30, 2025, CBN received a mandate dated July 29, 2025 from the Office of the Accountant-General.

“We received the mandate to authorise two accounts, one a US dollar domiciliary account, the other a pound domiciliary account, for the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council,” Ibrahim told the committee.

He explained the CBN’s verification process, “The process of opening an account requires a mandate from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

“Once we receive that mandate, we perform all the necessary verifications to confirm that this mandate is actually coming from that office.

The department that handles the mandate is different from the department that actually does the account opening,” he said.

Nevertheless, he noted that no one came to activate the accounts after they were opened.“We did not receive any correspondence, mandate, signature or mandate cards. We were not introduced to the authorising or approving officers.“Based on that, those accounts remain inactive, with zero balance. There have been no foreign exchange allocations.