The Stakeholders’ engagement on the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) review held in Lagos yesterday witnessed a low turnout of stakeholders at the Customs Training College, Ikeja, venue of the event.
The event which was mapped out for stakeholders in Lagos and the South West region witnessed the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd.) entering the hall at about 9.59 am with less than fifty participants aside from customs officers in the hall.
The event which ended with a scanty hall by some minutes past one o’clock in the afternoon witnessed presentations from the representatives of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN), Lagos Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (LCCIMA) and the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN).
Others are; the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Association of Registered Freight Forwarders Nigeria (AREFFN), National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) and the National Association of Air Freight Forwarders and Consolidators (NAFFAC).
The Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), the terminal operators, Nigerian Breweries amongst other individuals made contributions in relations to sections to be amended in the draft amendment to the CEMA law.
In his opening remarks, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd.) observed that over the years, stakeholders had clamoured for the review of CEMA first enacted in 1958 and have not undergone any major review for over half a century.
Ali stated that the review represented a collective resolve to update their laws and realign its provision with the modern realities adding that they needed to take a second look at the provisions for sanctions that were neither positive nor deterrent enough to promote compliance.
“As you possibly know, this process was originally initiated under the last administration. However, after undergoing the legislative processes at the National Assembly, the end product did not get a presidential ascent until the end of that administration. The process therefore lapsed and we are back at the starting block once again.
“As the primary users of this law, we have subjected the draft document to another round of review, asking ourselves hard questions, learning from other climes and general coming out with a draft that we believe will enhance the performance of our job”, he said.
While expressing their intention to consider all inputs from all sectors listed at the event, he however promised that the service would consolidate all the inputs sourced at that stage while the review committee would consider them before the new Act commenced its long legislative journey.
He therefore assured that if the lawmakers cooperate with them, Stakeholders would have a new CEMA if not by the end of the year then it could be early next year.
While different interests took turn to point out their areas of concern in the proposed amendment, all the contributors except NAGAFF were unanimous in their position that the Chairman of the Board of Customs should not be the Comptroller-General of Customs as contained in the proposed amendment as many argued that customs cannot be the judge in its own case.
They maintained that the old order where the Minister of Finance continues to sit as the Chairman of the Board of Customs to allow for transparency and fair play.
NAGAFF not only want the new proposal where the Comptroller-General of Customs doubles as the Chairman of the Board of Customs as it wanted Customs to be removed from the supervision of the Ministry of Finance.
Responding, the customs boss explained that having agreed that the service becomes semi-autonomous or autonomous, it would be wrong to subject the service to the bureaucracy of the government which he said would slow down business at the ports.
According to him,” If we now say for me to take a position, I must write a memo to the Minister, wait for the Minister to sit, decide what should be done and get back to me, by the time your ship is at the port, your goods are there, if they are perishable, I am sure that by the time I will get back to you, they must have rottened.
“Secondly, the other agencies who are fiscal in nature, we have the Chief Executive being the Chairman. Up till now, I have not seen any conflict at the FIRS, I have not seen any conflict at the Central Bank, they make policies, we abide by them and if we have reasons to raise issues, we raise issues where necessary. It does not stop them from functioning.
“So, what you think that if a customs officer by the grace of God becomes the CG will now become the monster that will now begin to level everybody, I think it is wrong”.
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