The Lagos State Motor Dealers Association has disclosed its intention to protest the ‘improper’ implementation of the electronic valuation and e-invoicing policy of the Federal Government via the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The car dealers, according to a statement addressed to members of the public, would join the freight forwarders operating at the Ports & Terminal Multipurpose Limited and the Tin-Can Island ports in protesting, by shutting down all car lots in Lagos on Friday, February 25, 2022.
In a solidarity move, the car dealers association promised to shut their marts in Lagos for business purposes by 12:00 noon on Friday, as it threatened to mete sanction on any of its members that fails to comply.
A statement, in which this was disclosed, read: “At the general meeting held on February 24, 2022, the association decided that all members should shut down car lots on Friday, February 25, 2022, from the morning till 12noon, in solidarity with the current strike action embarked upon by the Nigerian Association of Freight Forwarders (clearing agents) against the sharp increase in the cost of clearing vehicles at the nation’s ports.”
“Auto dealers should understand that these body is fighting our cause because the higher the cost of clearing a car, the more unaffordable it becomes.
“It was also decided in the meeting that any auto dealer that fails to abide by this decision will have his/her showroom chained by our taskforce till Monday, February 28, 2022, as the penalty for disobedience.”
What you should know
The CBN had in early February, disclosed its plan to achieve accurate value from export and import to and from Nigeria. Therefore, it introduced the E-invoice, and E-valuator, which replaces the hard copy final invoices as part of the documentation required for all transactions that take place.
Operating on a Global Price Verification Mechanism guided by a benchmark price, all imports and exports operations will require the submission of an E-invoice authenticated by the authorised dealers’ bank on the Nigerian Single Window portal- Trade Monitoring System (TRMS).
However, even though the new CBN policy that took effect in February has spurred negative reaction as workers at the port authorities embarked on an indefinite strike, it is poised to give the apex bank a cleaner database of trade requests and consequently improves trade forecast, planning, and management of foreign reserve positions.
