• Hundreds of dealers, and agents to be thrown out of business
• Used cars from China, and Europe not captured on the VIN system
• Dealers fear only Nigerian-used vehicles will be on market soon
• Lexus, and Mercedes-Benz are not included in the new valuation system
• Importers abandon older cars due to unreasonable duties

Hiccups in the vehicle valuation system of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) may hamper the importation of used cars just as thousands of dealers and agents are on the verge of losing their livelihoods, investigations by The Guardian have revealed.

It was learnt that the controversial electronic Vehicle Identity Number (VIN) valuation system, despite having undergone review, is being sabotaged, causing pain to importers who face hurdles in the process of clearing their vehicles.

As the challenges linger, many importers have been forced to abandon their vehicles at the terminals, accumulating demurrages – a situation that has increased the costs of vehicle clearing and purchase.

Recall that the Customs service introduced the VIN Valuation policy in January 2022 to aid trade facilitation and enhance the cargo delivery process. The platform was intended to reduce human intervention and make clearing more seamless.

This was greeted with controversy as agents protested outrageous increases in tariffs due to inaccurate data and the valuation process.

Subsequently, NCS suspended its implementation to review the complaints, triggering a backlog of vehicles awaiting clearing and extreme port congestion.

Two months after the policy was re-introduced, the old complaints remained. Customs had disclosed that the valuation template has been designed with the base model (2013) being used for the new pricing.

Findings revealed that the reviewed VIN valuation policy is discriminatory, as it only works with standard chassis vehicles, while it excludes the non-standard chassis (damaged) vehicles.

It was also learnt that for a 2007 or 2009 vehicle under the non-standard chassis vehicles, the duties are different and not uniform.

Still, vehicles from Europe and Asia have not been captured in the new valuation system, forcing importers to do under-table dealing with clearing officials, compelling them to pay more than required.

Apart from vehicles from Europe and Asia, Mercedes Benz (ML and X-Class), Lexus and Range Rover are excluded from the valuation.

The National Publicity Secretary of the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria, (ARFFN), Taiwo Fatomilola, told The Guardian, “only American vehicles are computed in the VIN valuation platform, although Mercedes Benz and other high-powered vehicles like Lexus, Range Rover are not on the VIN system.”

According to clearing agents, once they apply for duty on such vehicles on the VIN system, it gives an error outcome, which means they have to apply to the Customs Area Controller (CAC) of the command for value identification.

Sources said such applications are processed at discretionary costs with customs officials turning the process into a money-making venture.

To get the valuation done on time, agents and importers pay special fees for fast-track. Otherwise, their vehicles would be delayed unnecessarily while accumulating demurrages. The Guardian learnt that the least amount paid for fast-track is N10,000. Agents also disclosed that they are extorted when vehicles go through physical inspection.

“If you bring N2,000, you wait for three days, but when you bring N5,000, they will take it immediately. Your cash determines when the CAC is available to sign the documents, which will join other documents on the table waiting before the approval will be given. For the processes through the CAC office, it will take you not less than N5,000.

“If you want to go for valuation assessment, cars go for around N7,000 to N10,000, it depends on the value you are bringing forth. If you want a lesser value, you have to pay more than that,” Fatomilola said.

The abrupt reduction of the age limit of vehicles from 12 to nine years has also been blamed for the sudden rise in the cost of vehicle clearance. Older cars already brought into the country are being abandoned, worsening congestion at the port.

This has also reduced the importation of used cars, as findings revealed that many importers have had their money trapped in abandoned vehicles.

Recently, the House of Representatives Committee on Customs and Excise said that even though the VIN Valuation policy is aimed at improving revenue generation and fast-tracking the process of clearing imported goods at the nation’s ports, the workings are illegal.

The Chairman of the Committee, Leke Abejide, during a tour of customs formations in Lagos last week said the ‘Standard VIN and the non-standard VIN’ as being operated by the service is illegal and that the lawmakers might scrap the platform.

A freight forwarder, George Okafor, said the major hitch in the policy was the assessment of non-standard vehicles, whose data had not been inputted into the Customs portal, saying their duty rate is outrageous.

He said brands of vehicles like Mercedes Benz 2003 M model and BMW with 17 digits were yet to be inputted into the system, thereby, making their clearance a herculean task.

Okafor said, on the other hand, in vehicles with 17 digits, which data had been captured in Customs’ portal, there were no issues in their duty assessment.

“This high valuation of vehicles is a result of NCS trying to meet the target given it, also it is trying to plug the gap left by the 20 per cent duty drop.

“The value of Mercedes and Corolla are very outrageous, if you are on 846, they use the new template, from 2003 – 2013 the cost is about N2.8 million, as against the N390,000 – N400,000 and most owners now abandon these vehicles, even though consultations and meetings are ongoing to find a solution to this anomaly.

“A situation where the duty of common automobiles such as Golf, Toyota Corolla and Matrix has gone up from N500,000, to between N1 million to N1.3 million now, is unacceptable as it has made vehicles unaffordable for ordinary Nigerians,” he said.

The Public Relations Officer of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria, Chinedun Ogoke, said the practice where vehicles of the same model, but manufactured in different countries are charged separately frightens importers. He said due to the e-valuation, a vehicle imported at N1 million attracts as much as N2 million to N2.5 million clearing fee.

“We have a situation where two different types of evaluations are used on the same type of vehicle and you find a situation where, for example, you import a vehicle of N1 million and you are supposed to clear it with N500,000. But because of valuation, you are now clearing the vehicle with N2.5 million.

“The age limit for vehicles to be imported into Nigeria is 15 years. But Customs are not allowing that 15 years. They are giving us 10 years and this is also affecting importation. Government needs to look into this,” he said.

The Secretary, Lagos State Motor Dealer Association, Olaniran Adelana, stressed that the introduction of evaluation policies and hike in duty is increasing the price of automobiles in the country coupled with the rise in the cost of spare parts.

He said to clear a Toyota, depending on the model and age, one spends up N1.3 million to N1.4 million, saying: “If you clear these vehicles at such high cost, the selling prices will increase.

“The Corolla we used to sell N1.6 million is now N2.7 million. Same with other vehicles. Everything has escalated. And since vehicles depreciate, dealers decide to sell and get their money and stop car business to go look for other businesses to invest in.”

He said many car dealers have begun to source locally-used cars in the country just to remain in business, instead of waiting for a vehicle bought from America, which takes about two to three months before it arrives and gets stuck at the nation’s seaport.

Acting President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Dr. Kayode Farinto, lamented that older vehicles have become more expensive in Nigeria because vehicles above 12 years old now pay about a million naira as Customs duty.

“VIN Valuation doesn’t have values for vehicle models older than 12 years and most 2008 and 2009 vehicles are largely used by Nigerian youths for Uber and other e-hailing services. The implication is that older vehicles will be more expensive in Nigeria. We want the government to review the 12-year policy on used vehicles to 15 years.

“There is also a need to review the levies on used vehicles. While we understand the government’s zeal to realise all possible earnings, it will be appropriate to reduce the levy on used vehicles from 15 per cent to five per cent in a bid to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians,” he stated.

Farinto also called on the Ministry of Finance to address the challenge of persistent breakdown in the operations of the National Vehicle Registry (VREG), at the seaports, which average 48 hours every week.

The ANLCA acting president noted that the VREG delays hinder the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) Valuation system for cargo evacuation, leaving freight forwarders and their importers to suffer demurrage and additional storage charges as a result of the delays.

He warned that, if the system failures with VREG continue, ANLCA would be forced to collate the fiscal losses occasioned by the delays and institute a legal process to get compensation from the finance ministry and the technical partners responsible for VREG.

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I’m often asked if there is a good way to work out whether your idea is a good one, so I’ve put together a quick guide for those wondering whether to make the plunge.

1. Evaluate your idea

OK, you have an idea. Now what? Good business ideas are a dime a dozen, and they are not all are worth pursuing.

Ask yourself: Have I done the due diligence necessary to take my idea to the next level? Does my idea solve a problem? Meet a need? Touch a nerve? Is it unique? Has it been done before?

Write down your answers, then critique them as thoroughly as you can. The best ideas are those that can withstand heavy critical analysis. If you can’t do this alone — which is almost always the case — then take your idea to someone you trust and ask for their perspective.

Still standing? Good. Let’s move on.

2. Plan for the future

Let’s assume that you have come up with an amazing new product or service that meets all the criteria outlined above. Good for you. Now it’s time to plan.

Ask yourself: What do I need to do to make this idea a reality? Have I developed a business plan? What are my capital needs? How far away am I from having a working prototype? Have I looked for potential partners and investors? What’s my distribution strategy?

At this point, you may want to look for a mentor if you don’t have one already — a seasoned business veteran who can push you in the right direction, point out potential pitfalls and help you to navigate around them. I still rely heavily on others’ advice, though I’ve been an entrepreneur for more than five decades. After all, without the advice I received from some great mentors, Virgin might still just be a little record store somewhere in London.

3. Weigh the risks 

You had an idea, and now you have a plan. Great. Let’s talk about you now.

If you are feeling stuck and uncertain on your next steps, ask yourself: Would I rather keep paying my bills or am I ready to live on my savings for a while? Is maintaining my current lifestyle more important than having a fresh start in life?

You see, entrepreneurship is all about taking risks — potentially disruptive and frightening life risks. If your family depends on your income, it is your responsibility to think things through very carefully.

If your answer is still a resounding and emphatic “Yes” after you have weighed all the risks, then you are ready to leap.

4. Take the plunge

If you’re still with me at this point, the next stage should be a simple one: Take the plunge and give it a go. You can start small — but make sure you think big. Many businesses start off in people’s spare time as a side project while they are being developed.

5. Don’t stop believing

The key to success is unwavering commitment and focus. You will make mistakes as you launch your product or service — a ton of them. But keep your eye on the prize and never blink. If you stop believing, your entire enterprise will be called into question.

In my case, when our team started Virgin Atlantic with just one plane and little knowledge of the airline business, we stood alone against established players who were ready to bury us. No one would have faulted us for throwing in the towel and going back to the music business. Yet we saw the enormous potential in disrupting and reinventing airline travel through superior service and innovation. So we kept going, and we are still going strong after three decades. It’s all about drive.

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The building which will be handed over to the university management formally next month is a state of the art edifice and will effectively mark the commencement of study of business in the institution and the first in the Northern part of Nigeria.

It would be recalled that Dangote is also building a similar business school in the University of Ibadan and would be commissioned anytime soon.

The Business Schools being undertaken by the Aliko Dangote Foundation, according to the President of Dangote Group is part of the efforts to build entrepreneurship in the sub-consciousness of Nigerians through education at the highest level.

He explained that the situation Nigeria has found itself necessitates revisiting school curriculums to reflect the new consciousness of entrepreneurship and manufacturing and efforts made to encourage study of business especially at the second level in the university.

When visited, the building which has been completed and awaiting commissioning, is a modern Business School within the premises of Bayero University, Kano. It comprises of auditoriums, lecture theatres, offices, classes, library, and complete electrical fittings and cooling system, among others.

Speaking on the gesture by Africa’s richest man, the BUK Dean of Faculty of Dangote Business School, Professor Murtala Sagagi said that there was no Business School in Bayero University, Kano (BUK) until Dangote started the project.

“We have an ambition to have a business school and we could not go ahead with the project because there was no befitting structure to accommodate the kind of dream we had but with Dangote coming in about five years ago and that was when the University decided to say this is the time to have the business school,” he said.

He noted that Kano is the second most vibrant commercial city in the country after Lagos, saying “we have industries, banks, different type of businesses, micro, small, medium and large enterprises.”

“We are having large scale investors from China, Spain and all over the world coming to Kano to make investment and this means the State needs an institution, a kind of faculty, school that can able to develop the capacity not only the management of those organisation but those people who are working in different units or department within the organisation.”

“Looking at the public sector, we have limited capacity in budget, project management, which has led to things not moving well in the country. With our unique disadvantage here in Northern Nigeria, the South is far ahead in terms of capacity level, for example there are about 20 universities in Ogun State, while in Kano State we have only three Universities and all of them owned either by the state government or federal government. It is just of recent we are getting private investors coming in.”

Sagagi pointed out that all these show that there is a need for massive capacity building in Management, Finance, Marketing, E-Business, and particularly entrepreneurship and innovation in this part of the country and also for the entire country.

He noted further that “Bayero University has a unique reputation in the whole country and this explains why in the last National Institution Accreditation exercise, BUK became the best University in the Country, not because we have the best of everything but because of the quality of our curriculum, faculty and most importantly the quality of the students.”

The dean added that “the Dangote Business School is a great development and we hope that this business school will not only be seen as a Kano business school or Northern business school because I can tell you about 40 per cent of our students are not from Kano and more than 22 per cent of our student are from Southern part of the country.”

He urged other eminent Nigerians with wealth to emulate Dangote and contribute to the education advancement of the nation as a way of boosting the country’s economic development pointing out that “if Nigeria is blessed with two of Alhaji Dangote, Nigeria will witness unprecedented economic boost in terms of job creation, employment and poverty reduction.”

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With Neymar’s absence weighing heavy in their 3-1 defeat in the Supercopa de Espana first leg, the Spaniard claimed that their need for urgency is a no-brainer.

“I do not believe so because of this result, but it has to be thought about,” the midfielder said during post-match conference.

“We must sign someone: yes or yes,” He added.

The Blaugrana must now travel to Madrid and overturn their two-goal deficit after a typically controversial Clasico, although Busquets wouldn’t be drawn on the penalty incidents.

Busquets said, “A 1-3 loss at home is very difficult, it is dark for us now but we will try, it has become almost impossible.

“The team who scores the first goal in these matches have a lot of the advantage. Madrid have done very well in the circumstances.

“On the pitch I do not have the advantage [of replays] that you have, sometimes you have to see it from different points of view,” the Spaniard concluded.

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