Story by Dili Utomi.
As at today reports have it that the official exchange rate against foreign currencies in the clearance of goods by the Nigeria Customs Service has been increased again making it about five times that this is being done this year alone.
As at the end of last December, the official exchange rate of the Naira against the Dollar set by the Nigerian Ministry of Finance was ₦952/$, but as at this evening, the rate is ₦1,481.5/$ and this is creating so much negative reaction as the constant and sudden increase do have immediate and total effect on the overall costs of moving imported goods from the Ports to the warehouse.
We sampled the opinion of the chairman of the Tin Can Island Command chapter of the Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON), one of the pressure groups that engage in the welfare of freight forwarders and that also try to see to it that there is a smooth operational environment for practitioners to do their businesses.
The chairman is Akeem Ayobiojo, a man with decades of experience in the industry. He said “first and foremost, I want to align my thoughts with that of my president, Chief Frank Ogunojemite on who should be blamed for the increase. The Nigeria Customs Service does not set the exchange rate for goods clearing purposes, it is the Federal Ministry of Finance that does that. That being said, I think that the incessant increase is not needed as it causes some level of nervousness and the consequent increase in the total costs of good clearance. Importers and freight forwarders alike are already agitated and of course we all know what the resultant effect on prices of imported goods will be in the market”.
One anonymous freight forwarder had also loudly complained that “it seems that this particular federal government of Nigeria is only interested in the big rush to grab as much cash from the people as possible without caring about the resultant effects of their actions and this is not the way any government should go”.
There is still a great amount of optimism that with increase in the amount of exports, the exchange rate will start coming down as more foreign currencies would have been earned in such businesses.
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