Ever since the age of industrialization till date, importation has played a major role in the economy of many nations around the world. And as such, Nigeria is no exception. Importation in Nigeria has become the backbone of her economy through foreign exchange and international trade deal.
Building materials has in history become something of a huge importance to the infrastructural growth and development of Nigeria. Since majority of the building materials are not locally produced, this situation paved way for the importation of building materials into Nigeria. The importance of these building materials in Nigeria cannot be over emphasized as Nigeria has spent approximately 3 billion Naira on average every single year on imports of building materials according to Sun News.
Despite the fact that a lot of Nigerians are aware of Nigeria’s dependence on importation of building materials, most people do not know how it is done. Through this article, we will give you an overview of how to import building materials into Nigeria and every other processes involved. So relax and read on, as we enlighten and satisfy your curiosity.
Register Your Company
This is the first and vital step required of you or your company before you can be authorized and enable to import building materials into Nigeria. You can register your company in Nigeria with the Corporate Affairs Commission and after successful registration, you will receive a Certificate of Incorporation.
It is also necessary for your company in Nigeria to be registered with Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). This will help your company execute transactions easily and will also remove any form of hindrance concerning any future form submission concerning imports and exports to the Nigeria Customs Service or the Central Bank of Nigeria.
You can choose any financial institution (Authorized dealer bank) in Nigeria to help you with any form processing and also act as an information provider between your company and the Nigeria Customs Service.
Obtain Trade Insurance and Regulatory Certificates
Since you will be importing building materials into Nigeria, it is necessary that your company have a trade insurance (which you might already have). This insurance policy will protect you and your business from losses by providing cover for any potential damage which may affect the building materials during storage or transport by sea, Land or air.
Regulatory certificates are required for imports of building materials in Nigeria, as well as many other products in Nigeria like electronics, machineries, safety equipment and many others. The Standard Organization of Nigeria regulates building materials and other related products. This is to maintain and ensure the standard of the imported building materials into Nigeria are of good quality and not fake.
Register on the Trade Portal
The next step is to register your company on the trade portal on the Federal Inland Revenue Service website. This will allow your company to be recognized as an importer and user of the Nigeria Single Window Trade Portal.
This trade portal help make trade process easier between both parties involved in the business, the Nigerian and the international party. Aside that, many other processes can be done through the portal such as: Tracking your goods, Information about other parties involved in the transaction, access help desk and so on.
Since you have already registered on the FIRS website, you can register on the trade portal through the website by using your Tax identification number and the provided email address. You will provide a username and password of your own choice and after then, you will be able to freely utilize the trade portal.
Fill the e-Form “M”
After successful registration on the trade portal, you can proceed to fill the e-Form ‘M’ on your computer. This form is a requirement for any importing company by the Nigerian government and enforced by the Ministry of Finance under which the Central Bank of Nigeria operates. The major function of this form is to ensure the government has a record of goods like construction materials being imported into the country. It also ensures that import duties are remitted to the government.
After filling out the form, it will be submitted to the Authorized dealer bank of your choosing, as noted in step 1 earlier in this article. This submission has to be finalized through the Nigeria Single Window Trade Portal.
After all these are done, you can log into the trade portal with all the necessary scanned documents such as TIN, insurance certificates, Regulatory certificates, and so on. Your e-Form M will then be approved by your Authorized dealer bank and then sent to the Nigeria Customs Service for registration. Once approved by the Nigeria Customs Service, you can then proceed with the importation of the building materials.
It is important to state that you can get the services of clearing and forwarding companies for your imported building materials. Not just any clearing and forwarding company to avoid headache and stress. For popular, reliable and experienced clearing and forwarding company in Nigeria use Vagmon e-Grup & Logistics Ltd.
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