Following the recent outcry by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) over its exclusion from the rules of origin in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement which came into effect on 1st January, 2021, the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has advised the Service to wait until it is assigned role to play in the AfCFTA.
It will be recalled that the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd.), during a press conference to mark this year’s International Customs Day in Abuja on Tuesday, expressed concern over non-inclussion of the Service in the rules of origin in AfCFTA.
Ali noted that while the Service was excluded in the rules of origin in verification and certification of goods, Chambers of Commerce were certified to carry out such obligations.
He disclosed that Chambers of Commerce were not experts in the process hence the need to properly include customs to perform its roles.
However, in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos on Wednesday, the National President of the NAGAFF, Chief Increase Uche pointed out that the Service rather than feeling threatened should be looking at what the customs roles are in the continent in the present circumstances as well as what other customs administrations in other African countries are doing.
He said, “They (customs) should wait until they are assigned roles to play. This is not a Nigerian thing, it is a continental thing. Whatever thing they want to suggest, they should go to the NAC (National Action Committee) secretariat. And again, they should wait until the Federal Ministry of Finance gives them directive because they take directives from the Federal Ministry of Finance. So, why should they start pushing ahead in order to take responsibility that is not theirs?
“They have been assigned roles. Under the trade facilitation arrangement, customs role is there, what they are required to do. It is very clear. Under the rules of origin, what customs is required to do is very clear. Under the legal provisions, what they are required to do is very clear. I don’t think there should be any difficulty in what is going on.
“What I will advise the Nigeria Customs Service to do is to go back first and put their house in order. They should go back and do the proper modernization of the Service, get the necessary structures especially technology wise, put the necessary digitization in place, fight and see that government takes the issue of the National Single Window serious because this is the area where all the templates that is agreed upon by the parties in AfCFTA arrangement will bring in whatever that has been agreed because under Single Window arrangement, all the procedures for cargo handling, rules of origin among others will be spelt out and know who is doing what. So, where we are not getting it right, it can be corrected.”
Speaking on designation of the certification of Chambers of Commerce to carry out verification and certification of goods under AfCFTA, the NAGAFF boss said, “To me, there are two things we should not mix up here. We have the International Chamber of Commerce, it is an NGO. The one here is known as NACCIMA (Nigerian Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture), it is a NGO. They are not established by decrees but the services they render is all encompassing.
“So, if at all a government agency like the Nigeria Customs Service or NPA or call it Shippers’ Council wants to be included or to be equated with an NGO, that is a misnomer. Their roles are quite distinct from each other in trade. We have the INCOTERMS, that is the International Chamber of Commerce Terms, those that provide the trade terms that we use. They are not government agencies, so, there should be an independent arrangement whereby your role should not interfere with the role of any other government agency but there should be consultations, there should be a meeting point. This is because once you make any government agency to play dominant role, you will not allow that very institution to be strong as it is required.
“So, they are supposed to be independent because they are not providing services only for the customs, they are providing service for merchants, for the manufacturers, for farmers and others. In essence, what I am saying is that customs must not reduce their status, they are government agency, those people are referees in their own right, services they render do not interfere with the enforcement of government regulations. What customs does is to enforce fiscal policies, they are tax collectors, they don’t make policies. What they are just going to do is simplification and harmonization, setting a standard not that they don’t have powers. Customs still have their powers because the laws are still there even under the free trade arrangement because there are legal provisions that must be abided by.”
On the proposition by the NCS that it be included in the rules of origin to enable it perform its proper roles, he argued, “I wouldn’t understand the area they want the government to include them, but for me, I know that there is no need. What they needed is to have interface, if there are areas they need to make their own position known to guide the process. But for Nigerian Chamber of Commerce, I think they have the residual power to handle the rules of origin guided by what the AfCFTA Secretariat will provide for entire players in the chain.
“I think normally there should be a customs union; it should be an arrangement between the customs in Nigeria and other customs in Africa. They have their interface because virtually what the customs in Nigeria should be doing should be in tandem with what the customs in Cotonou, in Ghana, Senegal, South Africa and Egypt should be doing. There shouldn’t be any different.
“But we have been meeting and customs have been coming to our meeting, I don’t think they have been raising those issues. That is the problem because customs have been involved in all the seminars going on. If they now discover some lapses or areas where they want to be fine-tuned, it is not late, we have not gone into the trade proper, we are still preparing. So, I will just advise finally that they should get in touch with NAC secretariat, make their proposal because they are still receiving proposals up till now. They have not gotten it right, it is a gradual process, as the trade progresses, so also every arrangement is being fine-tuned and will be carried on.”
Photo: NAGAFF National President, Chief Increase Uche.
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