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Tag: customs

  • Comptroller advises Customs operatives to be effective

    Comptroller advises Customs operatives to be effective

    The Customs Area Comptroller of Seme Area Command, Comptroller Willy Egbudin, has advised Customs operatives at the Owode Border Station and Gbaji Check Point to be more serious with the job.

    Seme Area Command’s Public Relations Officer, Ernest Olottah, said Egbudin’s visit was in continuation of his operational tour of Customs posts under his command.

    The visit, he said, was also to get a first hand view of the officers’operational environment to and effective planning to prevent loss of revenue.

    Addressing officers and men at the Owode Border Station, Egbudin reiterated the zero tolerance of Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC) to smuggling. He said it would no longer be business as usual for anyone, urging Customs operatives at the border post to embrace change and keep abreast the ongoing Customs modernisation process.

    He reiterated the command’s resolve to suppress smuggling, adding: “We are determined to offer the best of Customs preventive operation by making sure that the importation/exportation of prohibited items through the border are seized and the suspects arraigned to face the full weight of the law.”

    The Officers in Charge (O/Cs) of Owode and Gbaji stations thanked the Controller for the visit reassuring him of their commitment to duty.

    Assistant Comptroller Audu Ado of Owode Station said: “We have been here maintaining seamless shifts all through. We didn’t go for any Christmas or New Year break in line with directives from above and we shall keep this tempo all through the year to avoid being taken unawares by smugglers who attempt to use this route.’’

    At Gbaji Checkpoint, Abdulkadir Umar, the O/C, said aside the watch on vehicular movements and routine search, his men also had the keep close eyes on the adjoining bush paths and the marine environment under their control.

  • Customs intercept cartons of poultry

    As the Christmas season approaches, the Customs Area Controller (CAC) in-charge of South Western Marine Command (WMC), Comptroller Audu Zaka has advised Nigerians against consuming poultry products smuggled into the country.

    He said the warning became necessary because of the renewed efforts of smugglers to flood the country with these poisonous products not minding the health implications to the people. He said these expired smuggled food products: rice and poultry are laced with acid that serve as preservatives.

    “These things are not good for human consumption, they are dangerous to human health, so Nigerians should avoid them in order to save their lives and family members from dangerous sicknesses that are so rampant today in our society”, he said.

    The Controller assisted by a representative of NAFDAC, Mr Adamu Isiaku and some other senior officers of the Command, supervised the destruction of 1,225 cartons of frozen poultry intercepted by officers and men of the command in just three days. The destruction took place at the Command’s headquarters at Ibafon, Apapa, Lagos.

    According to him, the total seizures done in three days include 55 bags of rice and 1,225 cartons of frozen poultry. Comptroller Audu said the total Duty Paid Value (DPV) of the intercepted items stood at N8,576,844.50

    Addressing the press at the destruction site, the WMC Controller said the consignments were smuggled into the country from Benin Republic. He said the items were moved in through Awode-Apa on the Nigerian side to Kese where the smugglers wanted to cross the Novo Creek to Ilasa in Ogun State from where they were to continue the journey to the hinterland. He said the seizures were made possible because of the synergy with the Central Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the Command and the Comptroller General’s Task Force.

    “The excellent information sharing between the command and the CIU is helping the command in its anti-smuggling functions. We monitored this consignment right from the border up to the point of interception at Kese through such synergy”, he said.

    The Controller said on October 31, the Command had intercepted and destroyed 950 cartons of frozen poultry products with DPV put at N6.175 million while on November 4, it intercepted and destroyed 210 cartons of the same products smuggled into the country with DPV of N1.365 million.

    He requested for the support of the press to inform smugglers that smuggling does not pay because they will continue to perform their duties in line with the provisions of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) as well as the vision of the Customs management led by Dr Abdullahi Dikko Inde.

    Apart from the health hazards to the citizens, the CAC said the economic implications to the nation’s economy is serious as their activities stifle the economy thereby causing unemployment and impediment to local production.

    Comptroller Audu Zaka assures the nation that the officers and men of the Western Marine Command of the Nigerian Customs Service are equal to the task as they are highly motivated and are ready at all times to enforce the visions of the Customs management to the letter.

     

  • Customs gets bew lease of life

    Customs gets bew lease of life

    For the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko inde (CFR), his management team, and indeed, the entire workforce of the nation’s second largest revenue generating agency, 1st December 2013 was a watershed. It was the day the NCS got a new lease of life.

    The epochal takeover of concessioned services which symbolically came to pass on that day, grinding haltingly on the slow wheel of a presidential reform process initiated during the first coming of the self-styled coordinating minister of the economy, and her then minister of state(of same finance ministry, who chaired the presidential committee whose brief was to draw the road map that will culminate in the eventual ability of the customs to wholly drive all facets of its operations autonomously), was set in motion way back in 2004.

    Having closely followed events since those hazy days of the Nenadi Usman-led presidential reform committee on customs, painstakingly noting all turns and stops on the route, this journalist cannot but share in the elation of the officers and men of the NCS on the turn of events.

    The management of NCS formally took over the concessioned aspects of customs operations from the service providers: Messrs Globalscan Services, Cotecna, and SGS. These service providers had been retained, to, among others, specialised functions, put in place frameworks for infrastructure, training and human capacity development, operate, train operators of scanning systems on a build, own, operate and transfer(BOOT) basis.

    Perhaps as a pre-emptory measure to drive across the determination of the management of customs to take the destiny of the service in their own hands, Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko Inde on assumption of office rolled out a transformation agenda, the fulcrum of which is training, human capacity development, sustained re-orientation and motivation of all cadre of officers and men of the department.

    It must also be said for the service that at no other time in the hundred-and-ten-plus years of existence has it been this good, in terms of work environment, infrastructure, training, conditions of service, motivation of officer and men, etc. A clinically coordinated agenda of transformation and re-engineering of public perception index for the entire service is being implemented. It is, therefore, germane to draw the attention of the service to the following, which may, if glossed over, be ominous landmines that can bring to naught the sterling transformational processes set in motion in the last ten years, but which very obviously have been in overdrive since August 2009.

    Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko Inde, had in a response to inquiries at a town hall meeting with stakeholders at the BBA Market Trade Fair Complex Lagos last week on the state of preparedness of the customs to seamlessly take over from the service providers, reaffirmed that “We have striven in the last several months to ensure that every ground is covered as can be attested to by the level of trainings in all the aspects of our work. Well over 14,000 personnel have been exposed to specialised trainings across the globe. No less than three hundred personnel are extensively trained and primed to man our scanners, we have trained people in forensics, we have designed backups in Lagos and at the headquarters, we believe our personnel are highly motivated, however as every new innovation we know there may be some teething challenges, this is where we want to appeal for understanding and cooperation from all of you stakeholders.

    The need for vigilance on the part of the customs service is further underscored by the harsh reality that several hundred employees of the service providers have been thrown out of employment. What is more, the owners of Cotecna, SGS, and Global scan systems have just lost a multimillion dollar brief. The gladiators behind these service firms are not likely to let go of free funds the magnitude of which we are talking about here. This, in the humble opinion of this journalist, represents by far the most ominous landmine the service must bear in mind as it commences navigation of the predator-parasite infested terrain of Nigerian imports sector.

    Deputy Comptroller of Customs and NCS spokesman, Wale Adeniyi, had explained during a media parley in the course of the sensitisation tour of customs management to Lagos that ‘basically, the services remain the same, only the hands have changed. So whereas we all (customs, importers, agents, banks, etc) depended on Globalscan, Cotecna, SGS for the issuance of risk assessment reports(RAR), the NCs is now responsible for its operational imports input. Our officers will now issue pre arrival assessment reports (PAAR).

     

  • Customs revenue drops to N304b, says Okonjo-Iweala

    Customs revenue drops to N304b, says Okonjo-Iweala

    • Excess Crude Account stands at $3.3b

    Revenues from Customs have declined to N304.6 billion as a result of the Federal Government’s fiscal incentives, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said.

    Speaking yesterday in Lagos at a breakfast meeting with the Organised Private Sector (OPS) on the performance of the economy and projection for 2014, she said the figure which is for the third quarter, represents a 14 per cent decline from the N356.01 billion recorded for same period in 2012.

    Mrs. Okonjo-Iwaela said Federal Government’s revenues in 2014 are estimated at N3.58 trillion, indicating a 13 per cent decline from the 2013 budget estimates. She said the expenditure in 2014 is projected at N4.5 trillion, repreenting a 9.9 per cent decline from the 2013 figure .

    She said addressing revenue shortfalls in 2014 would require eliminating inefficiencies in government expenditure through fighting corruption in the public service, reducing the cost of governance and rationalisation of agencies in line with recommendations of the Orosanye Report, among other processes.

    She said systems such as the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) which enhances efficient personnel cost planning have been put in place to curb wasteful spending.

    The Minister said 260 Ministries, Departments and Agencies are on IPPIS as at June 2013, adding that work is on-going to bring in other 321 MDAs not yet on IPPIS.

    She said government savings on payroll cost to date, is N139.6 billion and that about 46,821 ghost workers have been identified through the introduction of the Government Integrated Financial Management and Information System (GIFMIS) in April 2012.

    She said the GIFMIS is aimed at improving the acquisition, allocation, utilisation and conservation of public financial resources using automated and integrated, effective, efficient and economic information systems, adding that 58 per cent of the budget is now executed through GIFMIS and that the figure would rise to 79 per cent by end of 2013

    On the economy, she said: “Growth continues to be driven by the non-oil sector. Inflation has gone down in 2013. Inflation was 7.8 per cent at the end of October, showing a continual downward trend for the 10th consecutive month, down from 12.3 per cent in December 2012.”

    She said the Excess Crude Account (ECA) stood at $3.3 billion as at November and may even decline further, adding that Foreign Reserves now stand at $44.7 billion. She 1.6 million jobs were created in the past 12 months.

  • Ports service providers left old scanners, Customs chief alleges

    Ports service providers left old scanners, Customs chief alleges

    • It’s not true

    Over 14,000 Customs officers have been trained to take over the scanning jobs of the former service providers at the ports, The Nation has learnt.

    It was gathered that most of the scanners that were handed over to the Customs by the three suspended service providers are obsolete.

    It was learnt that the Customs is planning to import 50 brand new high powered scanners to ensure success and efficiency in container scanning by its officers under the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) at the ports.

    Addressing reporters at the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone ‘A’ in Ikeja, Lagos, the Comptroller General of Customs (CGC) Alhaji Dikko Abdullahi, said: “In the last seven years, the service providers were only able to provide 21 scanners.

    “During the transition process, we hired a consultant to help us ascertain the condition of these scanners, we also went to the manufacturers again to verify the status of these scanners, we discovered that the scanners are actually obsolete as at today. They are not scanners that will deliver the vision of the Comptroller-General, but we still have to take over what we met on ground,” he said.

    Contacted, the SGS spokesman, Mr Lanre Badmus, denied the story.

    He said the mobile and the fixed scanners they left at the ports are new and working well.

    Abdullahi said of the 21 scanners inherited from the Cotecna, SGS, and Global Scan Systems, only few are working.

    While lamenting that those functional are not working well, he assured importers and clearing agents that new ones would soon be provided by the Customs.

    To ensure efficiency in containers scanning under PAAR, the Customs has expressed its readiness to import 50 modern scanners that will be deployed in the ports nationwide.

    The scanners, Dikko said, would be imported over the next five years to complement the inherited scanners that would be repaired.

    He criticised the service providers for always trying to trivialise the efforts and capacity of the Customs officers in handling the DI scheme.

    According to him, at the end of every contract, while lobbying for contract extensions, the service providers always lied Federal Government that Customs was not ready to take over the job.

    Dikko however, said that as part of the efforts and strategy to make Customs independent; the service had trained more than 14, 000 officers in readiness for the take-over.

    He said out of the trained numbers, 350 young, ICT-savvy officers were deployed in issuing the PAAR, while additional 300 officers were deployed in the handling of the scanning machines.

    “But these service providers have been in and around us for over 30 years, and at the end of every contract, they come out with statements that Customs are not ready,” he regretted.

    “You are very much aware this is a long battle fought and we must succeed. It is a fight from top to bottom and I want to thank Mr. President and also the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy for being behind us to take over.”

    The visibly elated Comptroller- General, who commended the officers for generating all-time high revenue in August, urged them to be of good behaviour, even as he admonished them to be up and doing in order to surpass their target.

    “You are very much aware that our funding is hinged on the collection of the seven per cent. The more revenue we collect, the more revenue we have. We are hanging on intervention fund and it is not forthcoming, but if we work hard, I can assure you that the seven percent will be ok for us and the one per cent the service providers are collecting will also come to us,” he said.

    Dikko assured that with the taking over of the DI scheme and the use of PAAR, the one per cent revenue on import, which was hitherto collected by service providers, will accrue to the Federal Government.

    While allaying the fears of importers and clearing agents on PAAR, he said the service would embark on classroom teachings and further sensitisation of freight forwarders, importers and the trading community on PAAR.

    Dikko said the PAAR campaign would also get to the Eastern zone where it would be hosted by the Governor of Anambra State, as well as those in the Northern Zone.

  • Customs intercepts 1,074 contraband

    The Nigerian Customs Service, Federal Operations Unit Zone ‘A’ Ikeja-Lagos, has intercepted a DAF truck laden with 1, 074 cartons of assorted smuggled frozen poultry products, valued at N4, 833, 000million with a duty of N966, 600 and a duty paid value of N5, 799, 600 million.

    The Unit Comptroller, Nuhu Isa Mahmoud made this disclosure in a statement made available to The Nation by the Public Relations Office of the Unit, shortly after the examination of the truck at the workshop area of the Unit.

    According to him, “a Patrol Team led by Assistant Comptroller Abdullahi Kirawa, comprising other officers and men of the Unit intercepted the truck with the driver named Mike Abram and one Mr. Richard Ikhabuzor who was escorting the truck during the arrest.”

    He further hinted “that the DAF truck with registration number DELTA XB 434 DSZ was intercepted based on an intelligence report. It was trailed to Alaba International Creeks – via Mile 2, before the interception.”

    He pointed out that the remarkable thing about the seizure was the fact that the smuggled poultry products were concealed with 190 cartons of Viju and bobo milk; the act which he said clearly showed their intent to mislead security operatives.

  • Customs cancels leave to fight smuggling

    Customs cancels leave to fight smuggling

    As part of measures to curb smuggling during the Yuletide, the Customs has cancelled leave for its officials at borders till February next year.

    The officials, it was learnt, are not to apply for leave until next year.

    The Nation learnt that the action was taken because smuggling is known to rise during the Yuletide.

    To buttress this claim, over 4,500 bags of rice were said to have been seized at Seme Border in the last few weeks.

    Worried by the development, the area command has resolved to henceforth arrest and prosecute smugglers.

    A source said Customs took the decision because imports and transit activities around the borders are rising as the Yuletide approaches.

    The patrol vehicles, logistics and personnel have also been deployed in smuggling routes.

    In a November 5 circular, the Seme Area Controller, Comptroller Abdu Saleh said: ”Leave, passes and permits for absence to all personnel of this command have been cancelled with a view to ensuring that all our operatives are fully on ground during the Yuletide.”

    He said the command could not afford to disappoint the Federal Government and the Comptroller-General of Customs, Dr Abdullahi Dikko whose commitment to the realisation of the full potential of the Service has been unparalleled.

    He also reiterated the Customs zero tolerance for smuggling to officers and men of the command, urging them to strictly keep to the roaster for  rotational shift duties aimed at ensuring round-the-clock presence of personnel.

    Saleh implored officers to discharge their duties at the border without compromise and rededicate themselves to making the national interest paramount.

    The circular added: “We must not be taken unawares at our duty posts either at this period or at any other time as management expects us to be very much at alert, discharging our duties with utmost vigilance and uncompromising tenacity.

    ‘’Our core functions of preventing and  suppressing smuggling; collecting and accounting for all revenue due to the government; facilitating genuine import and export businesses at the border and promoting national security must be discharged without fear or favour not minding whose ox is gored.

    ‘’We should, through our words and conduct, assure legitimate business people of our support and cooperation at all times while warning them that the command will not condone any attempt to evade duty payments through concealment, under valuation, insincere declaration and other sharp practices aimed at compromising our revenue collection efforts.

    ‘’Nobody should treat our warnings with levity as not only will we make seizures of prohibited or smuggled items, we will ensure the arrests and prosecution of all persons behind these unlawful acts.

    “Do not forget to put national interest high and above every other interests while discharging your duties,’’ the Comptroller said.

    When The Nation contacted the Public Relations Officer of the command, Mr Ernest Olottah, he said tough times are indeed awaiting smugglers.

    He said despite the down turn in the volume of trade at the border, the command collected N6,681,323,252.36, as revenue between January and October this year, while it made 914 seizures with a duty paid value of N438,302,399.00 in the same period.

    The 26 people arrested during the period, he said, were at various stages of prosecution. The items seized included rice, vehicles, textile, vegetable oil, second hand clothes , shoes, bags, artifacts, and other prohibited items.

     

  • Why Tin Can Port is congested, by Customs

    Why Tin Can Port is congested, by Customs

    The congestion at the Ashaye Terminal of the Tin Can Island Port in Lagos in the past few weeks was caused by cargo build-up, the Customs has said. The problem, it said, would be addressed soon.

    The Customs Area Comptroller, Zakari Jibrin, attributed the build-up to inadequate logistics supply by terminal operator.

    The Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, during his tour of the facility, confirmed that the congestion was caused by the inefficiency in cargo transfer mechanism from the terminal to the scanning bay.

    The terminal operator of Tin Can Island Container Terminal (TICT), takes delivery of imported cargoes, which it transfers to the scanning site of the service provider, Cotecna Destination Inspection company.

    While touring the port, the minister, who bemoaned the slow process of cargo transfer, expressed worry at the incessant server breakdown, which compounds the goods clearing process.

    The minister and top officials of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), who accompanied him during the fact-finding tour, agreed that the congestion could have largely been avoided if the delays associated with feeding the scanning facilities with containers had been observed.

    They found out that an average of 150-200 containers were being transferred daily, even though the service provider had said that its facilities had the capacity to scan a minimum of 400 boxes per day.

    Umar, who was also informed that the situation was being compounded due to space constraint caused by many empty containers at the terminal, ordered the immediate constitution of a solution-finding committee to be headed by an Executive Director Port and Marine Operations of NPA with representatives from Customs, TICT, NPA, shipping companies, Cotecna, APM terminal, and clearing agents’ bodies.

    Customs Area Comptroller, Zakari Jibrin, said: “We went round the terminal with the minister and the representatives of the service provider and the terminal operators, and we can all see the problem. TICT has a lot of cargo, no space because empty containers have taken over most of the available spaces. Cotecna is waiting to scan, no cargo transfer from TICT because of transportation problem.

    “Cotecna has told us that they can scan up to 400 containers in a day, but they (terminal operator) only make 200 available, sometimes less because the trucks are inadequate.They have not allowed us to test the true capacity of Cotecna by supplying them with that 400 containers so that everybody can see.

    “I can assure you that the problem with TICT is being addressed. They are now to transfer excess containers to off-dock facilities, and we do hope that this will take care of most of the problem.”

    The spokesman of Cotecna, Aminu Mohammed said the capacity of installed scanners at Tin Can Port is grossly underutilised. He explained that the daily capacity of the 9.0 MeV fixed scanner at Tin Can Ashaye is 400 boxes and the mobile scanner at Tin Can RoRo is 360 boxes. The company has only accomplished a daily average of 185 and 108 for the two sites in September.

    As a short term solution to the cargo build-up, Cotecna has commenced collaboration plans with Ports and Cargo terminal company by granting the latter space at the Cotecna Tincan RoRo scanner sites to stack containers close to the equipment with a view to facilitating scanning activities. This step will boost trade facilitation as the terminal is expected to accommodate over 250 TEUs per day positioned and ready for scanning.

  • ‘Customs officers shouldn’t grumble over redeployment’

    Officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NSC) have been urged to embrace redeployment whenever it arises as such transfers are carried out in the overall interest of the agency and the country.

    The spokesman of the Customs, Tin Can Command Mr Chris Osunkwo, gave the advice while responding to the alleged protest by some officers of the agency at Tin Can Island Port.

    The Nation gathered that a group of Customs officers protested against the undue transfers of officers of the command. Besides the alleged arbitrary redeployment, the protesting officers said such transfers were done without payment of their allowances.

    The protesting officers said the transfers amounted to punishment, alleging that some officers that have just spent only one year in the Command were transferred without payment of the 28 days allowance, that was to enable them settle down in their new postings.

    One of the protesting officers said the transfers were baseless because the Command didn’t only meet its target, but clearly exceeded it,adding that it is unfortunate that before an officer would be able to settle down, he is separated from his family again in the name of transfer.

    “In August 2013, more than 212 officers and 364 officers were moved from Apapa and Tin Can Island ports, while other commands were not affected in any way,” the officers said.

    When contacted, Osunkwo said: “We have heard that some officers protested, but such officers were faceless, the truth is that there is nothing any knowledgeable officer can say or do about redeployment. The fact is that transfer or movement of officers is a routine exercise usually determined by management.

    “The management does have information at its disposal, which calls for who goes where, when and how. So for any officer to challenge, or grudge over a transfer is not advisable because the best an officer can do about deployment or redeployment is to grudge and that would not change anything because the management knows the reason for the redeployment, and it is always in the overall interest of the Service.”

    He said for, instance, if an Area Controller in Niger State writes to the management that he lacks certain cadres of officers who play very vital role in anti-smuggling operation, what the management will do, is to look for where it has excess of such officers, mop them up and redeploy them. But the officers being redeployed may not be privileged to the information those at the management level have. The officers will grumble only because they don’t know why. The management will not be happy to have any problem anywhere when it can be prevented, he added.

     

  • Customs generates N151.02b in eight months

    Customs generates N151.02b in eight months

    The Nigeria Customs Service, Tin Can Island Port, Lagos recorded significant revenue for the Federal Government in the first eight months of the year (January-August).

    The Customs Area Comptroller of Tin Can Island Port, Zakari Jibrin, told reporters during a news briefing that the Tin Can Customs generated N151,020,258,220.00 at the end of last month, an increase of N11,617,002,182.00 over N139,403,256,038.000 generated between January and August.

    A breakdown of the revenue shows that N16,343,958,630.00 was made in January, while in February and March N16,273,205,622.00 and N17,560,472,142.00 were generated.

    In April, May and June, the command made N19,184,570,458.00, N19,904,250,113.00 and N17637,678,159.00, while in July and August, it raked in N20,433,467,818.00 and N23,682,655,278.00.

    Jibrin also said within the period, goods worth N481,356,000.00 were seized. The seizures include 92 containers of 40 feet size, 47 containers of 20 feet size and three unpacked vehicles as well as 17 other items.

    He said the seized items include tissue paper, furniture, soaps, vegetable oil, soft drinks, used cloths and generators.

    Others are used tyres, lace materials, television stand, automotive batteries, mosquito coil, expired frozen fish, used shoes, glass, television sets, printed wax, cartons of whisky, bales of second-hand clothing and bags of basmati rice, among others.

    Jibrin said: “In line with the Comptroller-General Nigeria Customs Service Abdullahi Dikko’s directive, we invited you as our partners in progress to take stock of our performance in the period under review. Available records show that the command has performed well in all spheres of our statutory responsibilities.

    “On revenue generation, we have succeeded in sustaining our unprecedented revenue profile since I assumed office as the Area Comptroller. We are making efforts to re-orientate officers and stakeholders on the importance of integrity.

    “Ours can be said to be an integrity-driven administration, which is yielding positive results as can be seen in the records of our performance.”