Following the ouster of the former service providers and the subsequent takeover of the Destination Inspection Scheme by the Nigeria customs Service, stakeholders in the Maritime industry are now divided over the sustenance or otherwise of the 1 Percent Comprehensive Import Supervision Scheme (CISS) earlier collected by the former service providers.
A cross section of port operators interviewed on the matter by Primetime Reporters was divided in their opinion as some were of the opinion that the money should be jettisoned now that the service providers for whom the money was meant were gone while others were of the opinion that it should be sustained for other developmental purposes.
According to the former Public Relations Officer, Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders Importers and Exporters Coalition (SNIFFIEC), Mr. David Pius, the federal government should issue a directive gearing towards putting a stop to the collection of the 1 percent CISS.
Pius was of the opinion that that was the right thing to do now moreso as the money was not going to the federal government coffers but to the coffers of the Nigeria Customs Service.
He noted that one of the reasons for which the federal government had to allow the Nigeria Customs Service to take over the Destination Inspection Scheme was that the 1 percent CISS, which amounted to billions of naira, could be saved.
While recalling the fact that the Nigeria Customs Service keeps between 10 and 12 percent of the total revenue it collected annually for itself, he wondered why it should also collect the 1 percent CISS as a Service charge for each of the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) it generated.
“I am of the opinion that the federal government should issue a directive gearing towards putting a stop to that collection because I am sure that that money is not going to the coffers of the federal government, it is going to the coffers of the Nigeria Customs Service and therefore they should discontinue the collection of that CISS”, he said.
He further recalled that the reason why the federal government had to allow the 1 percent CISS in the first place was to enable the former service providers to pay the staff in their employ then who were mostly Nigerians.
Pius contended that since the government paid the salaries of the customs, there was no need for the continued collection of the said money.
He therefore called for the refund of the total sum the Nigeria Customs collected in the past six months that it took over the Destination Inspection Scheme back to the importers and agents.
On his part, the Chairman, NAGAFF Electoral Commission (NECOM), Mr. Okey Nereus Uchegbu observed that the collection of the 1 percent CISS should be sustained but was quick to add that the Nigeria Customs Service and the Freight Forwarders as the major players in the industry should share the proceed from such collection.
According to him,” you can’t get paid for the services not rendered, the CISS is a percentage of the fraction they collected in that regime. Now that the PAAR regime is on ground and the Nigeria Customs Service provides such service, therefore, I am of the opinion that the Nigeria customs Service and the Freight forwarders who are the major drivers in this industry should enjoy that benefit. That percentage should be shared between them. It should be sustained”.
Also speaking, the Chairman, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Apapa Chapter, Dr. Fred Ajuzie supported the continuous collection of the 1 percent CISS on the ground that the government was doing a lot and needed money to get them done.
Ajuzie insisted that since the money, which was being collected at the point of payment of duty for imports in the ports, was not affecting them, there was no need stopping the collection.
He said,” if the foreigners were collecting it before and now it is indigenous, we should collect it and use it for the betterment of the country. I support the collection of the CISS to improve the economy. Government is doing a lot of renovation and training people to grow so that they can go and be our representatives abroad. So let them collect it, it not affecting us at all”, Ajuzie said.
Speaking on the matter, the National Public Relations Officer, Nigeria Customs Service, Mr. Wale Adeniyi confirmed that the service still collects the 1 percent CISS during clearing at the ports.
Adeniyi described the clamour in some quarters for the removal of the 1 percent CISS as a process which according to him, they would have to take to the appropriate authorities for appropriate decision on the matter.
He further noted that some of the decisions to be taken on the matter might also require a legislative backing, which the service was hoping, would be done as according to him, “we also have a stake in it”.
The Customs spokesman went on to say that the service believed that as the money was being collected, some percentage of the money should come to the service since it was now doing the job those service providers were being paid for.
He said,” we believed that if this thing is being collected, some part of it will revert to customs because we are doing the job of the former service providers were doing for which they were being paid and nothing is coming to us in that direction”.
“So we are also stakeholders in this and we believe that stakeholders should articulate their positions well to enable the government take an enlightened position”.
When asked to speak on the argument by the stakeholders that customs already have some percentage it takes from its total collection annually therefore does not need any more percentage from the CISS thus it should be stopped, he said,” that is their opinion, they are entitled to their opinion and we are also entitled to our opinion that this money was being paid for performance of certain jobs before, that job is now being done by the customs, so we believe we should be paid for it”.
“To maintain scanners, you need to know what it takes to maintain a scanner in a week or in a month, to get all the serviceable, to get all you need to operate and maintain scanners, to issue PAAR, we operate a rulling centre, we keep officers there 24/7 and these are things we are paying them fantastically for”.
“So, we are saying that the customs should be paid the same way those people were being paid”, Adeniyi stated.
