The founder of the National Association of Government Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Boniface Aniebonam has said that the current Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC), Col. Hameed Ali (rtd.) cannot do so much to tackle the corruption in the service.
Aniebonam who stated this while exchanging views with the Maritime Online Newspaper Publishers in Lagos said that the Comptroller-General could be looking while he is seated and the officers working under him would be collecting money fraudulently without his knowing it.
He maintained that that was possible as a result of absence of standard, process or data adding that value question in customs operations was a sore area, a terrible place that before one could block the corruption inherent in the Valuation unit, one would need to have somebody that had made up his mind like that CGC to be fair and God fearing.
According to him,” The criteria for value question in customs is known, transaction value which is the first, how much did you buy this? But because people are fraudulent, they don’t declare actual amount, in other words, the onus is on customs now to have an average of what should be the value of an item from the country of origin.
“But this quest of meeting target has created a lot of problems in the customs that you don’t know where to start, you don’t know where to stop. Now, how does the corruption go on value? Supposing that the owner of an item declared N200, 000 and the rate of duty is 5%, somebody who is in authority in customs will tell you that instead of that N200, 000, it is N1 million. Then you don’t understand why it is N1 million and he is not ready to tell you why and you cannot continue staying there, the owner of the container may be harassing you, bring out the cargo.
“He will now say okay, let’s see how we can help you, between N200,000 which is your value and the N1 million they are saying, there is a difference of N800,000, you see how the money will start now, then the rate of duty of 20%. If you work the 20% of N800, 000 what will it give? N160, 000 is what you are supposed to pay and you are not ready to pay, how do we go about it? Is it not to pay and go? Maybe out of N160, 000, you can say okay, give us N60, 000 and you go and you want to go, you give them N60, 000 and he goes back and maintain that your value saying that the value is within range.
“So, that is why I am saying that the Comptroller-General of Customs cannot do much. The Comptroller-General can be looking, he will not see. He will even sit like this and they will collect the money. If you don’t know, I can tell you. Let this man invite NAGAFF, ANLCA and the other associations, sit down with them in a room, lock themselves and he will hear what he will never hear and he will know how to tackle the issues. This is what he will do if he wants to stop corruption in the service.
“And to confirm what I am telling you, I spoke with the Comptroller himself, I called him and I told him this is what you should do. We cannot continue this way and that is the fact”.
Reacting, the Command’s Public Relations Officer, PTML Area Command, Mr. Steve Okonmah described the allegation as untrue arguing that if an agent knew that what he was asked to pay was not the correct duty that he was supposed to pay, he should not go as far as negotiating with the officer as to bribe his way out.
Okonmah recalled that one supposed to have the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) before the arrival of his goods adding that there could be no examination without PAAR.
He disclosed that most of the agents give forged document for PAAR where they undervalue their consignment even as he said that the officers issuing PAAR were not involved in physical examination but the officers at the command level do saying if they discover any discrepancies in what was declared by the agents, they would have no option than to refer it to the Valuation unit and that if it happened to be issue relating to the HS Code, they would refer it to the Error and Resolution desk.
“So, the idea of saying that the person is to pay N10.00 and we say it is N100.00 and when you now start negotiating, it will eventually come down to the original value, by doing that, you have accepted that it is not N10.00. But if know that it is N10.00 you are supposed to pay, you stand your ground that it is N10.00.
People have written protests. A serious minded agent will not say this kind of thing that you are saying. All these agents that you see loitering around here, how many of them are really working? Common sense demands that before you collect a job, you have charged the job based on the fact that you understand what you have to do. If you are not sure, that is when you start negotiating”, he said.
He informed that the command went as far as setting up a committee at the instance of the agents headed by the Deputy Comptroller in charge of Administration and comprising of Valuation officers, APM, some terminal heads and agents who handles complains arising from value question, all in a bid to ensure a seamless clearing.
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