Business

Commercial Airlines Entitled To Duty-free Importation – Customs

Published

2 years ago

March 23, 2021

NewTimes

Commercial Airlines Entitled To Duty-free Importation - Customs

Airlines registered in Nigeria and providing commercial air transport services are entitled to duty-free importation of their aircraft, engines, spare parts and components, purchased or leased, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has declared.

Mr Joseph Attah, Public Relations Officer of the service, made the clarification in a statement issued to newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja.

Attah explained that Section 39 of the Second Schedule of the Finance Act as amended, did not grant concession on ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) and Comprehensive Imports Supervision Scheme (CISS).

According to him, the act grants exemptions to Customs duty and VAT only.

He said such imports were, therefore, still required to pay appropriate charges on ETLS and CISS.

“The attention of Nigeria Customs Service has been drawn to deliberate misinformation of the public, regarding payments of Customs duty, VAT and other charges like ETLS and CISS, on imported commercial aircraft and spare parts.

“Some sections of the media quoted the Chairman of Air Peace Airline to have stated that NCS is still collecting duty and VAT in defiance of the Federal Government’s Executive Order, on commercial airplanes and spare parts.

“It was therefore in line with the extant regulations that NCS did not collect duty and VAT on Air Peace’s recent import of E195-E2, with registration No. 5N-BYE, but restricted itself to the collection of ETLS and CISS which amounted to the sum of N189,000,000.

“NCS, therefore, is surprised to read from some national dailies quoting the Chairman of Air Peace, accusing it of defying the Federal Government ordering, thereby destroying airline business in the country.

“This attempt at guilt-tripping and threatening to shut down as a result of the presumed ‘Service defiance’ of the Federal Government Executive Order, is most unfortunate and does not show proper understanding of the extant regulations governing one’s industry.

”This could also be construed as a deliberate attempt to blackmail the Service,” he explained.

The spokesperson said the thinking that NCS could act in defiance of Federal Government Order, was far-fetched, as the statutory function of NCS was to implement the fiscal policies of the government in totality.

Attah however advised airlines and other industry operators to always engage the appropriate authority for proper clarification and necessary action, rather than resort to self-help.
(NAN)

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Business

BREAKING: FCMB Founder Olasubomi Balogun Dies

Published

2 weeks ago

May 19, 2023

NewTimes

Olasubomi Balogun

Theo Founderf First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun, is dead.

According to reports, family sources revealed that Balogun died in London Friday morning at the age of 89.

He was Otunba Tunwase of Ijebuland before his death.

As a ranking Ijebu Chief, his death will, however, only be officially announced in line with tradition.

Business

BVN Valid For Life, Has No Expiry Date- CBN

Published

3 weeks ago

May 11, 2023

NewTimes

CBN Appoints Officials, Confirms Nwanisobi As Communications Director

CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that the Bank Verification Number (BVN) has no expiry date.

According to the CBN, once a customer’s biometrics have been captured and enrolled in the database of NIBSS, the BVN remains for life.

The regulatory Framework for BVN issued by the CBN in 2021 stipulates that customers can only change their records due to certain conditions.

The CBN therefore urged Nigerians to disregard news on the expiration date for the BVN.

The bank stated that the BVN remains for life, as it has no expiry date.

This was disclosed in a statement by the Acting-Director, Corporate Communications, Alhaji Isa Abdulmumin, reacting to claims of expiration by a national newspaper.

Alhaji Isa Abdulmumin said the Bank Verification Number (BVN) issued in Nigeria remains for life and has no expiry date, citing that the claim was completely false, and urged advised bank customers to ignore it, he added:

“The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria has been drawn to reports suggesting that the Bank Verification Number issued by the Bank in collaboration with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) expires after a ten-year period.

“Contrary to these claims, we wish to clarify that the BVN issued in Nigeria has no expiry date.

“Once a customer’s biometrics have been captured and enrolled in the database of NIBSS, the BVN remains for life”.

He added that the Regulatory Framework for BVN issued by the CBN in 2021 stipulates that customers can only change their records due to certain conditions spelt out in the document and after being cleared by relevant authorities.

“Therefore, we urge bank customers in the country, especially those whose biometrics have been captured by the system, to continue using their unique identifiers as they last their entire lifetime.”

The number of bank account owners in Nigeria with Bank Verification Number (BVN) increased to 57 million as of April 9, 2023.

This was revealed in the latest BVN registration data released by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS).

However, the data showed that registration for the BVN has slowed since the beginning of this year despite the recent moves by the Central Bank of Nigeria to close all bank accounts not linked.

At the end of 2022, the BVN database stood at 56.5 million. This shows that banks had recorded only about 500,000 new BVN registrations in the first three months of this year plus nine days in April. This is far lower than the average of 400,000 registrations per month recorded last year.

Business

NLC Directs Officials To Monitor Banks Over Cash Scarcity

Published

2 months ago

March 28, 2023

NewTimes

BREAKING: Old Naira Notes Deadline Stays - Emefiele

CBN Governor Emefiele

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has directed its officials across the country to go round and monitor cash dispensing situations at the commercial banks.

This is coming ahead of today’s National Executive Council, NEC meeting, leaders of orfficials of state councils of NLC and industrial union affiliates are to take pictorial evidence of the actual situations at the banks, “whether the banks are dispensing cash or not, and report same to the NLC headquarters.”

The monitoring which ends by 12.30 pm will enable the NEC meeting that will commence by 1:00 p.m.at the Labour House, Abuja, takes a final decision on tomorrow’s planned nationwide strike over the cash crunch in the country.

The National leadership of NLC gave the directive yesterday (Monday, March 27).

An official of NLC who spokelsaid, “Yes, the directive was given yesterday. Union leaders are to go around their areas to monitor commercial banks this Morning before 12.30pm and show pictorial evidence of the situation at the banks.

“Whether they are dispensing cash or not. The pictorial evidencesl are to be forwarded to Congress headquarters to be us assess the activities of Commercial banks before the NEC meeting by 1pm to enable us take a final decision on tomorrow’s planned industrial action.”