The Federal Government’s decision not to approve a fixed or pegged exchange rate for calculating Customs import duties was to encourage market-driven exchange rate.

The Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy, Taiwo Oyedele has said.

In a statement on Tuesday, Oyedele explained that the president cannot simply sign an executive order to implement a fixed exchange rate for Customs duties, as the recently repealed and reenacted 2023 Customs Act mandates a market-driven exchange rate.

Oyedele noted that his committee is working to ensure that the law is modified in the near future to allow for exchange rate adjustments.

He emphasized that this modification will need to pass through the National Assembly and highlighted the government’s recognition of the importance of such interventions in improving the ease of doing business in the country.

“The other point that my brother raised that our recommendation that the custom service should use a fixed exchange rate that is much lower than the actual rate hasn’t been implemented. And it’s a number of factors.”

“The biggest one being that the Nigeria Custom Service was repealed and reenacted in 2023, which is last year. And in that law, it says that the exchange rate to use for Custom must be the official exchange rate, which means even though we drafted an executive order, the president cannot just sign to override the law.