The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has two core functions. One is the collection of revenue, that is, import and excise duties and accounting for same. The other is the prevention and suppression of smuggling. These two functions taken together mean that the customs is critical in the socio-economic re-engineering of the nation. A corollary to this is that the NCS is key to President Muhammadu Buhari’s policy of economic diversification in the face of dwindling fortunes from crude oil.
But the NCS has had a long-running history of corruption. It is one of the notoriously corrupt agencies that make up the Nigeria public sector. The mere mention of the word customs conjures images of sleaze, bribery and under-hand dealings. Perhaps, this may be why the President appointed a no-nonsense retired Colonel Hameed Ali as the Comptroller –General of the all-important service.
President Buhari is widely regarded by Nigerians as upright, frugal and a man of unimpeachable character. The same strain of attributes also goes for Col. Ali, known among his peers as brutally frank, ramrod straight and one not given to sleight of hand in his dealings with humanity. Upon assumption of office, the CG left no one in doubt as to his mission and brief. While addressing the management of the service, he said: “The mandate he (Buhari) has given me are three basic things: go to customs, reform customs, restructure customs and increase revenue generation, simple. I don’t think that is ambiguous, I don’t think that is cumbersome”.
Ever since, the CG has meticulously commenced the restructuring of the service, retiring some, promoting some and re-working the operational processes to engender efficiency. This is already paying dividends, given the new thrust of morale among the service personnel. But there is yet another assignment the CG must carry out. There is an ‘import and export’ racket thriving among some unscrupulous customs officers and some Asians, especially Indians. It is a drain on the nation’s foreign exchange reserve and a sure booster of capital flight.
Here is how it works. These Asians import into Nigeria computers and allied products including phones. Their stock is a rich mix of Samsung, Lenovo and Huawei, all of them internationally certified computer brands. As soon as the goods arrive in Nigeria, they are exported to Dubai. On the surface, it looks innocuous but a critical analysis of this will reveal an inherent evil motive by the importers. First, the foreign exchange they use to import the products are largely sourced from Nigeria at the official rate but the goods never make it to Nigerian market. They are repackaged and shipped to Dubai leaving Nigeria to bleed at both ends.
Recent media reports said the perpetrators of this act collude with some customs officials at the airport who give them cover to do the unlawful. For specifics, it is unlawful to export any finished product imported into the country. You can export made-in Nigeria products or raw materials sourced in Nigeria but certainly not products imported into the country. To do so is to cause double drain on the economy. Three companies, according to media investigations, are in the forefront of this unholy alliance with some customs officials to short-change the nation of scarce foreign exchange.
In most economies, it is illegal to export what is imported into a country. The reason is simple. Placing all imported goods in the export prohibition list is a way of arresting capital flight and straining the local currency. Nigeria is not an exception. It therefore smacks of blatant disregard for extant laws and regulations in the land when corporate bodies for reasons bordering on economic sabotage consciously import goods with the sole objective of exporting same just to make big money. This racket must stop.
The CG may need to audit the operations of his men at the airports and seaports. This syndicate, it has been said, is very powerful and has strong ties with senior persons in the customs and across the country; but Col. Ali must not allow their profile to intimidate him. He arrived at the customs with a clear mandate to make it more efficient and its operations more transparent. The instant case presents the CG an opportunity to cleanse the Augean stable and make the customs more responsive and responsible.
Allowing companies operating in Nigeria to turn the country into one huge dumpsite of imported ICT goods is a sure way of killing the efforts of indigenous companies playing in the ICT sector. Nigeria is a big market, the biggest single market in Africa. She has bragging rights on account of this. There is therefore the need to encourage local manufacture or assembly of these products. The very least these global brands should do to help the Nigerian economy is to set up assembly plants in the country. This way, they will help in creating jobs, transfer of technology and in capacity building. They do no service to Nigeria economy by allowing companies to import their products into the country and export same in the most dubious and despicable manner.
The CG being a man of integrity is hereby alerted to this on-going economic sabotage that robs the nation of foreign exchange. Why should customs officers permit the export of imported goods, an action that clearly violates the provisions of the Customs & Excise Management Act? At a time the Federal Government is working night and day to refloat the nation’s economy, encourage local manufacture and seek alternative sources of income, it is immoral for agents of the state in cahoots with dubious importers to frustrate such effort.
It is imperative here to remind the CG of his mandate: ‘reform customs, restructure customs and increase revenue generation’. He cannot achieve this when his men give leeway to importers to manipulate the system. The naira is already in bad shape, battered and broken in the foreign exchange market. This is not the time to add more pressure on the local currency which is what the action of the import racketeers does. This is the time to help the naira and by extension the nation’s economy. The CG has started brilliantly by restructuring the service; this time he should beam his searchlight on this import and export scam perpetrated by these Indians.
- Umukoro, an ICT blogger, writes from Abuja.
