VIN crisis: Licensed agents call off strike, secure waivers on vehicles

By CHIAZO OGBOLU

The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) on Monday called off its two-week old strike embarked upon over the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) Valuation policy.

The Task Force Chairman of ANLCA,  Alhaji Rilwan Amuni, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the strike was called off due to a month grace given by Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to clear backlog of vehicles manually.

NAN reports that the clearing agents, since Feb. 21, crippled economic activities at the Lagos ports, with protests at the Tin Can Island Port and Port and Terminal Multi-services Ltd (PTML) Terminal.

Their protest had to do with what they described as anomalies in the VIN valuation system policy introduced by the NCS for imported vehicles.

“We have called off the strike and work is starting tomorrow because customs have given us one month grace to clear backlogs.

“On the issue of demurrage in Ports and Terminal Multiservice Limited (PTML), they gave us 70 per cent waiver and Five Stars logistics Terminal, 50 per cent.

“We are expecting others to follow suit,” he said.

Amuni said that the waiver given was fine because it was not something they did normally.

The NCS, through its National Public Relations Officer, Deputy Comptroller Timi Bomodi, in a statement, had announced the one month window given to enable clearance of vehicles at the port.

Bomodi said that uniform application of rebates would be used for all vehicles using correct values for assessment during the exercise.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the VIN-Valuation protocol is still in operation, as reviews and updates are being captured in our systems to reflect the genuine concerns of stakeholders,” he said. (NAN)