Carbonated drinks manufacturers under the auspices of the Nigerian Association of Small & Medium Enterprises (NASME), have accused the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) of extortion.
The drinks producers made this accusation on the backdrop of the recently-introduced N10 per litre duty by the Customs.
Fuming at the newly-introduced tax, the immediate past president of the Nigeria Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI), Segun Kuti-George, faulted the decision of the Federal Government to impose the N10 per litre tax on carbonated drinks for manufacturers across board.
According to him, while the large-scale industries might be able to survive the consequences of the excise charge, virtually all MSMEs in the production of carbonated drinks would go out of business under the current excise regime and the demands being levelled by the NCS.
Kuti-George said, “It is going to cost a small business an additional N4.8 million naira every year. That is an additional cost apart from the N10 and I will explain to you. The Customs people are now saying that they will attach a Customs officer to you. In fact, they have already attached themselves to every small business.
“You register with Customs with N2m. You will provide an office for the Customs guy that is attached to you. You will provide accommodation, room and sitting room with a toilet and a kitchen for the Customs official. That is N1.2 million per annum. You provide furniture and fitting for the rooms, estimated at about N1 million. Transport and feeding cost N1500 per day for 26 days in a month, that is N468,000 per annum.
“Then, you will sign a N220,000 bond with the Nigeria Customs, which costs nearly N5 million. If they sustain that thing for the next two months, you won’t find any micro business in production of sweetened items again.
“When my men were complaining to me, I was like, were they employing new people for you? Were they not working before? Are they not collecting salaries at their base where they are working? So, when we factor all these together, we are looking at N4.8 million in a year. My people don’t have the financial capacity.”
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