As Nigeria’s economic woes continue to worsen, President Bola Tinubu’s government through the Central Bank of Nigeria has raised the exchange rate for cargo clearance from N952/$ to N1,356 per dollar.
The government in December 2023 raised the rate for the cargo clearance from N783/$ to N952/$. According to The PUNCH, the Tinubu government in November 2023 later,, raised the exchange rate for cargo clearance from N757 per dollar to N783 per dollar, representing a 3.4 per cent increase. Barely one month later, it raised it from N783/$ to N952/$ in December.
The Nigeria Customs Service has started using the new rate in its dealings.
A member of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, Remilekun Sikiru, in a chat with the newspaper decried the increase.Sikiru said, “How do we explain this? From N952/$ to N1.4/$ as of Friday morning with about N404 increase?
“It’s quite unfortunate that the prices of goods and commodities will automatically increase. Importation would further decrease and depreciate, vehicle prices would skyrocket again. Since this unification of a thing, the government has refused to look inward and critically into the maritime industry as regards importation and exportation.”
He lamented that the sector had been neglected and things were getting worse by the day. “The question now is, how would freight forwarders and customs brokers agents cope with this new rate?”
Other agents who spoke to the PUNCH revealed that cost of clearing will increase.
