IF the Senate President, Bukola Saraki feels frustrated today, he should come to the nation’s port and witness what the average Customs broker is facing. And if Bukola Saraki thinks a unit of the Government has hijacked some aspects of institutional platform, from President Muhammadu Buhari today, he should take a visit to port industry and witness what the Customs agents think of cargo facilitation!
A man who needs no introduction, the National President, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, Prince Shittu sat down for 80 minutes, took a hard look at what his members are currently undergoing in the course of cargo facilitation and declared that: ONLY THE DUBIOUS AGENTS NOW FIND THINGS EASY!
Excerpt please:-
If you take a hard look now at the industry now, how would you describe what is presently happening?
What is happening in the port now, is what I will call the perfection of the ‘blame game’. That is what is going on in the ports. The headship of the Security agencies are always playing the Ostrich: See no evil; hear no evil and know no evil!
That is why I said, what is happening now is the blame game!
President Muhammadu Buhari
When an agent is intimidated, and frustrated to the level of parting away with something, in order to get out of the systemic web, and the headship turns round and say the agent is not ‘compliant’; and that the officer would not have been corrupted if not because of the ‘corrupter’ which is the agent…. You can only imagine the experience.
I should believe that ‘to whom much is given, is much expected of’. The Federal Government today employs all these people for the purpose of revenue protection, or prevention of leaks. That is why today in the Customs, the Customs have the enforcement arm and you have the revenue arm.
But, they are all the same now! They are all both ‘preventing’ and revenue ‘generating’ now. Sadly however, most of the people in the port are more interested in generating the revenue into their pockets, than generating the revenue outside of it! It has gone so bad … it is now worse to the extent that the Nigerian police has taken over the functions of the Nigeria Customs Service.
Even where the Customs cargoes are released, the police still turn round, taking the containers to their places; and in one way or the other, ‘uncustoms’ items are found inside. Me also think, that it is the responsibility of the Security agencies and by these I mean, the Customs, police, all of them in the ports, including even those who are presently clamouring to be here, and that includes the NESRA, so as to protect the nation’s ‘Environmental’ from the dumping of e-waste; the Quarantine, which wants to be in the ports, so as to prevent the smuggling of woods out of Nigeria; as well as because, the pallets by which you packaged your imported cargo was not treated abroad before being used to bring in your goods; etc, etc. everybody has ‘valid’, varying excuses for wanting to be in the ports, yet the infractions continue.
The truth is that nobody is genuinely thinking of stopping those infractions over there. It is in their best interest that the infractions are not prevented over there! Sometimes, it may even seem as if those infractions are even encouraged to occur over there.
However, the issue has always been: ‘it’s the agent that is corrupting!’ that was why I started by describing the situation presently on ground as the ‘blame game’.
But come to look at it the other way too: even if the agents want to ‘corrupt’; is it not the duty and responsibility of the officer, earning Government salaries and other allowances to say: ‘No?’
And when the agents are denied of straight forward service delivery; and those who are not ‘compliant’ are dealt with according to the law, provisions are there in the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA); then the tendency to corrupt will reduce.
But why would an agent want to be corrupt?
It is because, there is no amount of declaration you do in the port that would satisfy the expectation of the average officer!
We came up with the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR), it was supposed to be the final document. Now, if I bought this, from abroad, and my declaration is that, in all honesty, it is $5. On the submission of that document, the Bank is supposed to do its verification; and from their side, let’s say an official says ‘Yes, it is $5’.
However, by the time they receive it in PAAR Office, they are also supposed to do their own due diligence; and they now confirm it is $5; they should issue a PAAR, as good facilitator of trade; the importer should thereafter, simply pay up his duty and carry his cargo and go. A beautiful scenario?
But is that what obtains today in the ports?
No! Because there are other units of Customs that are going to lay land mines ahead of you. So, some people would now start querying the file; beginning with the value. ‘No. No. this item was not $5’. And once you are stopped there, and you are able to succumb to the subtle extortion, the ‘news’ would go down the line; that ‘there is chop’ on this cargo! And thereafter, the new value could become $7; a DN would be raised; and before you know it, the agent is already being made to look like a mediocre!
Of course at the peak of frustration, and because the file has been referred back to the Valuation Officer, he re-values it to a new price, the importer would say, ‘okay, okay, what is the new value, let us pay, let me carry my load!’. The Valuation Officer may not be happy, but he knows he cannot afford to stand his ground and be accused of working against the overall goal of boosting revenue; and so he jacks it up to $7.
Now, after doing that, on your way with your cargo, the Customs Intelligence Unit (CIU) would now intercept you, saying: ‘you must have done something with the value, because this is supposed to be $9’. Now, while these are all going on, you are not moving anywhere! You are stuck! Your demurrages are mounting. And at the end of the day, even if you were the one begging the importer, please let us again pay the new demand; the importer by now would be hollering: ‘How can I buy an item for $5 and you are asking me to agree to a value of $9!
A frustrated importer would bring more money and ask you to pay; so you pay. Yet, for even daring to stand your ground against the officers, you have without knowing it, committed an abomination! You have frustrated some ‘gentlemen’; and you must pay for it. So, when you get to the gate; your penalty is to task you again, to ‘come and re-examine’ what they have earlier examined at the terminal!
Never mind the fact that the representatives of the gate were all fully there at the terminal, when the goods were earlier thoroughly examined!
Is the new process frustrating? Is the new regime frustrating? But that is exactly what the average agent today faces at the port!
TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW….