The Nigeria Customs Service has pegged import duty rate at N282 to a dollar with effect from July 1 following the release of the new foreign exchange policy.

This may result in higher duty for imports made before the new policy was introduced. The implication of the increment is that more cargoes may be abandoned at the ports.

The Customs service had earlier in the year attempted to adopt exchange rate of N285 for the purpose of calculating payable duty and rates, but the move was truncated.

The Customs Public Relations Officer; Mr. Wale Adeniyi, had, at the time, denied the report, stressing that the extant rate issued by Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, which was N197, remains the basis for duty calculation.

However, the Public Relation Officer of the Tin Can Island Port Customs Command, Mr. Chris Osunkwo, confirmed that the Customs rate for duty calculations had finally been changed at commands across the country to N282 per dollar.

He said: “From our system, the exchange rate has been changed to N282.”