The subject matter appeared in the Punch newspaper of Tuesday, 20th October 2015 on Page 36 and Ships and Ports newspaper of 21st October 2015.
I was alarmed, as a field-wise Customs Broker-practitioner, to note that the various reforms witnessed over the years, in cargo clearance, has not been appreciated yet by some segments of the Nigerian Public. It is sad to also note that the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) especially, being members of Customs Board and a strong voice at the Presidency, could make such assertion, zeroing in on Tin Can Island Port and Apapa Port.
In these two Ports, I have had cause to clear cargo there, and I can say without any fear of contradiction that none of these seaports’ terminals where examination is being conducted, has more than between 5 to 7 spaces maximum, on their examination forms for signatures of relevant Customs units, government/security agencies, after witnessing physical examination performed, for signatures.
I must debunk this notion that as much as “110 signatures are required to clear just one cargo in Apapa and Tin Can Ports”. It is simply not true that as much as that number of Signatures are required.
The question to ask is: which units or agencies of government are required to witness Customs physical examination? Simple answer is, a maximum of 5 – which arose from the sacking of majority of some government/security agencies from the Ports in 2012 by then ministers of Finance and Transport, authorized by the then Federal Executive Council.
Ever since then, there has been a continuous clamour for the return of these agencies, back to the Port. One of the agencies, Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) – as important as SON is, monitoring quality of goods and Safety of lives and property of Nigerians, has joined NAFDAC to integrate their services into the platform of Nigeria Customs Service’s NICIS.
Similarly, other governmental organizations like NESREA, QUARANTINE, etc should endeavor to integrate their services into the Customs platform. The reason for this is to avoid situations in the Ports where an importer or his/her clearing agent will have to part with some money, in order to get the signature of one government Agency or the other.
Importantly, Customs is at liberty to invite relevant agencies to witness examination, if they feel the necessity for such.
Specifically speaking, in Apapa Port at the examination bay, to clear a cargo, you don’t need more than 3 signatures, before cargo is exited – from the customs system.
Unfortunately, at the final exit gate, officers in charge, in spite of their access to customs platform/system/network, that clearly informs of goods examined and properly exited, deliberately create various desks (about 4 at the last count) to perform various functions of registering, confirming, etc of a cargo that has been duly exited by a superior officer, acting on actions/endorsements by his subordinates.
Otherwise, on confirmation of an exited cargo, except it is flagged, the least expected of a gate officer is to facilitate its exit. Furthermore, all signatures, or the various tables, are created to extort Agents/importers.
For whatever reasons that may be, for senior and management officers to continue to condone these excesses, inspite of their knowledge of it, continue to beat my imagination. A stop must be put to this, by streamlining all of these operations, without compromising security.
One fact that has not been told in that piece by MAN, is quantifying those signatures in terms of Naira and Kobo. How much, were they told, is paid for every signature appended to documents for cargo clearance? And, how many documents are we looking at? In Tin Can Port, two documents are issued before examination. Both are issued by the terminal operator. One of the documents – which is a Customs examination form, is signed by the Terminal operator (the issuer) and the Customs examination officer. Just before then, during allocation of Single Goods Declaration (SGDs) form to groups, proper recording of the SGD is done by its registration and acknowledged by the D/C Terminal. Another form is the Agencies examination form, which is duly signed by the Chief examiner/Releasing officer, before examination is conducted. After examination, witnesses to the examination – anti Bomb Squad, NDLEA, SSS, Police, Quarantine, etc also sign to say they have found nothing incriminating in the Cargo. This is the point at which time and money wasted.
It must be noted that, it is the Nigeria Customs Service that have gone out of their way, to condone the excesses of these agencies, by insisting on the signing of the examination form spaces provided by the herein listed Agencies, before releases could be effected.
This is inspite of the fact such agencies have nothing particularly, to do with such cargoes.
While the Customs Intelligence Units have since ceased signing the examination forms, their role now, in my informed view, is counter trade facilitation. Rather than make clear reports on life threatening imports, or investigate those, or systems hampering trade facilitation, they join in examining cargoes, and thereafter making a final definitive submissions, in writing and circulated to releasing officers, Terminal heads, the gate officers, their headquarters in Abuja, the CAC’s office, etc, warning against releasing cargoes, until clearance is obtained from them. By the time examination officers, the Terminal head group turn in their reports, which in most cases tallies with what they have examined, they cannot release such cargo, because a younger officer from CIU, turned in a different report. They are hamstrunged.
And, until that CIU issue is cleared, nothing can be done about releasing that cargo. It is to be noted that the Valuation Unit and Query/Amendment unit depends on the CIU reports to make their decisions or raise an inappropriate Demand Notice (DN). This is simply because those units do not witness examination.
The role of CIU in customs examinations is too over-bearing and, they flagrantly usurp the function of Resident examination officers, releasing officers and the Deputy Comptroller in charge of the Terminal, who in most cases are not encouraged to deploy their wealth of experience, in taking initiatives that will sustain trade facilitation that has been improving since the Dikko reforms that started in 2009, with the enhancement of the Welfare of Customs officers and building of their capacities and infrastructure in the Ports.
One thing that will ensure that trade is facilitated in Nigeria is the introduction of Pictures of imported items, as part of the documents to be submitted to the banks, for the issuance of PAAR.
Another is to ensure that the PAAR issuing/ruling centre should be fully equipped with top-of-the-line ICT infrastructure, and all officers who work there must be trained and retrained, to the highest level. Their integrity must be tested and assured. Over and above all these, sanction must be metted out to defaulting officers, who, either out of negligence or compromise, issues or cause to be issued a defective PAAR. The profiling of importers, exporters, Customs Agents, and other stakeholders, must be a continuous process, in order to reliably conclude on those likely to, or those shortchanging the processes/system.
In the like manner, it has been advocated that robust scanners be installed at the seaside to scan all Cargoes, as they are being discharged, and images stored for further analysis and, decisions on further examination or immediate releases taken.
Customs must not continuously be portrayed as an organization that is impervious to improvement, and anti-trade facilitation.
Put necessary structures in place and all officers will have no choice than to do what is right. If any one must castigate the operations of Nigeria Customs Service, let them do so on the basis of subsisting facts, and with an unassailable view of improving service delivery and blocking revenue leakages.
I have decided to make this intervention, because I am a practical Customs Broker and always wished for a day that I have maximum benefit of my professional fees, without having to part with as much as 40-50% of it to those who will be paid their monthly salary intact. This is an area that I expect Agents’ associations to champion, with a view to ensuring that Licensed Customs Agents do not aid and abet corruptive tendencies in the Ports. I hope one day, an Association leadership will wake up to this responsibility.
Joe Sanni
Member, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents-Apapa Chapter
Member, Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport
Member, Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria
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