• Comptroller-General urged to push for duty benchmark on used vehicles
TO achieve his aim of higher revenue, Customs Comptroller-General (CCG) Col. Hameed Ali must curb the excesses of his men and ensure the adoption of a duty benchmark on fairly used vehicles, (Tokunbo)
For years, the customs has operated without a benchmarty for used vehicles. The agency fixes duty as will, depending on who is importing.
It was learnt that Nigeria loses cargoes to ports of neighbouring countries because many importers don’t know the actual duty on used vehicles.
Some officers are exploiting the absence of a clearcut policy on benchmark to extort importers and their agents despite Ali’s warnings against corruption.
A senior Federal Ministry of Finance (FMoF) official claimed that some Customs officers were working against making the ports unattractive for business.
The official urged the Minister of Transport Rotimi Amaechi, his counterpart in Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun and Ali to design anti-corruption policies that will stem the loss of cargoes from Nigeria to neighbouring countries ports.
The absence of a benchmark has created opportunities for Customs officials to take bribes from importers and their clearing agents, he said.
“Despite the age limit imposed on imported Tokunbo vehicles, it is sad that no Nigerian bringing any type of the approved vehicle into the country knows the actual amount he or she is going to pay as Customs duty. But the situation is not so in our neighbouring ports. At Apapa and Tin-Can ports, direct interaction between clearing agents and Customs officials is on the high side since most clearing documentation on used vehicles are not processed online’’.
Clearance documentations, according to the source, are submitted in person.
He continued:”This high level of corruption in our ports is affecting the efforts of the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to reposition the ports for better efficiency and the hub in the sub-region. Corrupt practices are also jeopardising the ability of the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) to secure commercial opportunities in cargo transport to nearby landlocked countries.
“Despite the successful ports concession programme of the Federal Government, the concession benefit is hampered by corruption, poor infrastructure and the high cost of doing business.”
The source blamed the ports’ bureaucracy for the problem, sahying: “The bribery takes two forms: Collusive corruption, where the clearing agents and Customs officials benefit from an illicit deal, such as paying to evade duty, and coercive bribery or extortion, which benefit only corrupt Customs official.”
He added: “Apart from the fact that the government is losing revenue from the ports, the loss of trade also meants that the nation’s sea ports are missing out on the wider benefits that come from imported goods, such as technology, and their potential to help encourage economic growth and port development.”
Amaechi, Mrs Adeosun and Ali, they said, must design policies to reduce corrupt officials, contact with companies at the ports.
“Other ports are now using online system to submit clearance documentation, which has resulted in significant reduction in corruption. All government agencies and terminal operators at ports must be compelled to key into the “electronic single window introduced recently by NPA,” the official said.
Contacted, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) President Prince Olayiwola Shittu urged Ali to collaborate with agents to win his anti-corruption crusade
“It is sad to say that while Col Ali is making efforts to get the grasp of Customs, he has neglected his immediate constituency which are Licensed Customs Agents. Who today, are the key to his achieving the zero tolerance for corruption. It takes two to tangle.
“Customs officers are paid and remunerated to ensure that nobody short-change the system, but there are people who also offer them opportunities to short change the government and you find them among Customs officers, importers and some clearing agents.
“There are immediate steps the CG needs to take now to nip corruption in the bud. One of the first things he needs to do is to ensure that there is a bench mark on used vehicles. The bench mark being used by Customs gives room for corruption because it is not publicised. For instance, if you want to buy a vehicle from abroad and you already know how much you are paying, it is better you pay everything to government without giving anybody bribe to get the vehicle out of the ports,” he said.
He added: “The situation at the port now is that those who are ready to do things in the right way are being frustrated so that they will abandon the right way and join the bad gang in order to intimidate you to part with some money.”
According to him, the is the major problem confronting importers and clearing agents at the ports. “When you pay your correct duty you suffer for it. And the CG needs to look into it and ask why it happened that way?
“If everybody knows the amount is going to pay, there wouldn’t be the need to bribe any Customs officer before moving your vehicle out of the ports. The reason why it is not done, no importer or clearing agent can explain,” Shittu said.
