The Importers’ Association of Nigeria (IMAN) has described as unjustified the call by the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN) on President Muhammadu Buhari to jettison the implementation of the Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) recently reintroduced by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC).
MAN had on the 3rd of November, 2016 published an advertorial on the Vanguard Newspaper calling for the suspension of the CTN as reintroduced by the NCS on the premise that it would add to the cost of doing business at the ports which it said would in turn affect the living conditions of Nigerians negatively.
Also the National President of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Mr. Lucky Amiwero in an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari harped on the overriding function of the Pre Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) above CTN thereby calling for its suspension.
However, in a letter addressed to President Buhari and copied the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and 19 others and signed by the association’s National President, Chief Dr. Osita Okereke also faulted the position of Mr. Amiwero on the CTN arguing that while Customs operations were limited to the entry points of Nigeria and did not go beyond the borders of Nigeria with another country, whereas CTN under a consultant as approved by the Government was global in operation.
Chief Okereke also pointed out that the Americans take war to their enemies instead of allowing them into their territories adding that Nigeria should not be an exception.
According to Okereke, the implementation of the ISPS Code required that ships, persons, port
facilities and cargo should be guarded and protected through a developed strategic security plan; and the CTN was expected to provide relevant information that would help check maritime security threats caused by carriage of cargo through the sea, air and land borders.
“Your Excellency, it is common knowledge that issues of security to life and properties of citizens and the state cannot be compromised by any responsible Government. The International Maritime Organization endorsed the fixing of tracking fees to Agencies or bodies implementing security measures as may be determined by implementing Nations of the ISPS Code, which shall be a mere administrative token already integrated into the payable ocean freight.
“We must also state here that from our informed position that overtime, apart from the tracking fee, certain unreasonable charges such as war risk, terrorism and Boko Haram, congestion, Ebola, etc are listed in the components of ocean freight for Nigeria bound Cargo, which the Nigeria Shippers’ Council is aggressively pursuing to reverse.
“Your Excellency, judging from the above sir, without prejudice, it is also a fact that except natural air, nothing is free in life, hence the implementation of international cargo tracking in Nigeria is expected to attract a token fee to be borne by the carrier, which basically is an administrative cost for cargo tracking processes. However, additional revenue generated from the scheme is expected to be used in beefing up security plans at the ports and other approved entry points.
“It must be stated that the Nigerian international Trade peculiarities are not the same with that of Ghanaian international trade environment. The CTN Implementation in Ghana (just like it happened in Nigeria in 2012) was recently suspended by Ghana Shippers Council due to noticeable flaws in the originating contract agreement, especially in protecting Government revenue interest. Unlike the Nigerian Shippers Council that meticulously crafted an originating contract agreement protecting Government revenue interest and shippers interest, thereby adding value to our international trade supply chain”, he said.
He maintained that the Nigeria Shippers’ Council should be commended for its timely intervention towards the recovery of funds being raked in by carriers from unjustifiable charges.
He continued,” Your Excellency, it appears that the kernel of the grouse of the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria seems to be that with the introduction of the CTN into our maritime lexicon, the cost of doing business would go up. This is not so because CTN implementation has no economic cost in the first instance. Our informed standing has shown that cargo consolidators had since taken advantage of CTN implementation in other nations without our shippers knowing. It is important to note here
that, the consolidators collude with the carriers to collect the said tracking fee (embedded in the ocean freight) from the shippers. It is therefore necessary that the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and their cargo consolidators should exhibit due diligence and compliance to ensure genuine declaration of their imports.
“The assertion by the antagonists of the implementation of the CTN that the Bill of lading used by other agencies of the government and captures the relevant information to be supplied by the CTN is unfounded, because the Bill of lading is a mere receipt of contract of carriage which is private
to the originator and others concerned. Governments of nations do not have control over bill of ladings and as such it cannot be used as a strategic security document.
“We also wish to highlight the relevance or otherwise of Pre-Arrival Assessment Notice of the Customs under Destination Inspection regime together with Form M documentation therein, they are local documents limited for Nigerian use and does not add any value in warding off external aggression. This puts a big hole in the argument by a fractional President of National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) Mr. Lucky Amiwero in an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari on the overriding function of the Pre Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) above Cargo Tracking Note (CTN). (Copy of Mr. Lucky Amiwero’s letter to the President dated 16th November, 2015 attached). Customs operations are limited to the entry points of Nigeria and do not go beyond the border of Nigeria with another country. The cargo tracking device as contained in the Customs law is localized whereas CTN under a consultant as approved by the Government is global in operation. The Americas take war to their enemies instead of allowing them into territories and Nigeria should not be an exception.
“Finally, the carrier cross-checks the information on the EIR and then issues a bill of lading, after which an electronic device/seals is tagged to the container for tracking purposes. Therefore, sincere documentation and proper cross-checking of documentations reports and observing stuffing activities are the essence of cargo tracking anywhere in the world; else, the integrity of the cargo can be compromised if tracking is only dependent on the sealing device.
“Your Excellency, for once it is important that we draw your attention to the activities of this organized private sector in the Nigerian economy. There is no doubt that the relevance of the manufacturing sector cannot be over-emphasized in terms of employment opportunities, transfer of technology and generation of statistical data for trade policies and formulations”.
“There is now a divide between the informal sector group and some of the formal sector group and MAN. The informal and some formal sector groups are in the greater number and MAN is a minority. Among others, CTN is in force in Europe, Asia, Americas and Africa including countries in the
sub-region such as Benin, Cameroun, Togo, Angola, Cote d’Ivorie and Burkina Faso, as such it is not limited to Nigeria alone. It is also on record that in the past, the Federal Government may have been misled by this same group through the alleged falsification of trade data and statistics that led to the banning of certain trade goods like vegetable oil, jeans trousers and brief cases for instance, giving the government the assurance that they could produce enough for the country. At the end of the day they embarrassed the government to make policy reversals on some of these banned goods.
“It is our candid advice that the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) should embrace the principle of genuine cargo declaration and encourage their cargo consolidators to comply with the CTN guidelines. CTN does not attract cost in its implementation. On the part of the government, we sincerely advise that issues of energy should be further accelerated with vigor, so that investors, manufacturers and other concerned stakeholders will not hide under epileptic power supply to
blackmail or intimidate anybody. The world is about free market enterprises and operations. Your Excellency, for God’s sake, may we know what Manufacturer Association of Nigeria (MAN) has been able to do in helping these agencies of the government to achieve set objectives? We shall begin to take them serious only when we see them contribute to the welfare and logistics needs of agencies of the government rather than what they will get at all times.
“To show the insincerity in the statement of MAN, in the Vanguard Newspaper under reference, we may want to draw your Excellency’s attention to a paid advert on page 46 of the Punch Newspaper of 2nd March 2010, a honest Nigeria, then, the National Vice President of NACCIMA, Alhaji Sulaiman
Hameen-: which stated inter alia; “A lot of people will go abroad, they will shop for raw materials or spare parts and they will collude with their suppliers to put other things in the container; things that are not declared, things that are even expensive than the so called manufacturers. When a cargo arrive in Nigeria, they will use what we call fast track system to fast track the cargo into their warehouses in their factories… without paying duty to government on the extra in the container. With the Cargo Tracking Note (CTN), that will be virtually removed”.
“One would begin to wonder where the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria really belongs. The Importers Association of Nigeria and a host of the informal sector groups are worried over their trade set back’s occasioned by the deceit and pampering of this so-called organized private sector. Government needs to address this and create a level playing field for all the bonafide stakeholders. The informal sector groups create over 60% of employment opportunities in Nigeria and yet government seems not to appreciate this because of the falsehood of this so called organized private group. For the last time, we want to state categorically, that cargo tracking note is good for Nigeria in terms of safety of cargo and security of the Nigeria state. Its implementation has no additional economic cost to the shippers and end-users. It will help government to collect appropriate customs duty for development projects. The policy of cargo tracking note implementation should be allowed and sustained”.
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