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Tag: PAAR

  • Customs redeploys 1,000 officers to boost PAAR

    Customs redeploys 1,000 officers to boost PAAR

    The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has redeployed over 1,000 officers to facilitate the processing of Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) at the ports and other designated clearing outlets.

    The exercise is to ensure that only officers with the requisite knowledge of classification and valuation man PAARs desk, it was learnt.

    Sources said the Customs Comptroller-General, Alhaji Dikko Abdullahi, ordered the redeployment to end the initial challenges.

    Senior officers are working with young officers knowledgeable in computers to produce between 1,800 and 1,900 PAARs daily.

    At the Apapa Customs Command, which is said to be the fulcrum of PAAR’s implementation, the Customs is making progress in the generation and transmission of the document.

    According to findings, the Command generated and transmitted 19,198 PAARs between last December and last month. About 6,632 were utilised, leaving a balance of 12,566.

    A breakdown of the figures indicated that 781 PAAR were transmitted in December, 372 were utilised and 409 unutilised. In February, the Command recorded 5,365 PAARs; 1,792 were utilised and 3,573 were unutilised.Of the 9,722 PAAR generated and transmitted last month, only 3,338 were used, 6,384 were not.

    The Area Comptroller, Apapa Command, Charles Edike, said the Customs began the transmission of 250 PAARs daily in December. He said Abdullahi complained that the figure was too small and ordered that “we should increase to two shifts, morning and evening. With two shifts, we transmitted 500 per day. He was still not satisfied with this, despite the backlog of 99,000 RAR left behind by the service providers”.

    Edike also said the opposition against the PAAR regime by a section of stakeholders was a smear campaign to discredit the process.

    ‘’We are aware that there is a lot of smear campaign to discredit the PAAR initiative. Not everybody likes good things, some people thrive on confusion.

    ‘’If Customs is not ready, how would this quantum of PAAR be generated? How many Form’ M’ are processed in a day? How many declarations are processed in a day? People are being mischievous in their assessment of the process and their view is myopic. Even the three service providers combined could not generate this much RAR in a month throughout the eight years they operated,” he argued.

    He noted that importers waited until their cargoes arrived before they began to process their Form ‘’M’’ and they are laying the blame on PAAR, saying it is a pre-arrival method. But importers and their clearing agents, are doing post-arrival, he said.

    “For RAR, it is fine, but for PAAR, that is not the concept,’’he said.

    He noted that an importer is not supposed to start importation until his Form ‘’M’’ is approved.

    ‘’It is after the bank has forwarded the Form ‘’M’’ to the Customs’ portal that you place order. But some people want to circumvent the process and when they run into a hitch, they blame PAAR.’’

    He said: ‘’The purpose of this new clearing procedure is to engender change in our attitude. It is to infuse efficiency into out clearing procedure, to change from being analogue to electronic for speed, efficiency and cost-effectiveness.”

    The National President, National Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, Prince Olayiwola Shittu, confirmed that Customs has improved on the issuance of PAAR, urging the Comptroller-General not to relent in his resolve to forge ahead.

    “The truth is that Customs has improved tremendously on its operation. We are happy with the level they are issuing PAAR, but the C-G must not relent in his effort. If he goes to sleep, his work will also go to sleep,” Shittu said.

    An importer, Mr Solomon Adeseye, urged Dikko to involve more of his officers in PAAR operation so that the initial problem associated with the scheme would not repeat itself.

  • Fresh crisis looms at ports over PAAR

    Fresh crisis looms at ports over PAAR

    A fresh crisis is looming at the ports over the administration of Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) recently introduced by the Nigeria Customs Service.

    Many importers and clearing agents are not happy with the introduction of the PAAR and are planning to shut down the ports over the delay caused by the scheme, according to sources close to the Association of the Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA).

    The ports, one source said, might be shut down before the end of the week.

    The National Executive Council of ANLCA has already summoned an emergency meeting to reconsider its relationship with the Customs on the issue.

    The meeting is scheduled for tomorrow at the association’s National Secretariat.

    Importers are worried about the development, which they say may delay the clearing of their goods.

    Spokesman of the importers, Alaba Arogundade, urged the Customs and clearing agents to resolve the matter amicably to save them from paying demurrage to terminal operators.

    Arogundade said: “When PAAR was introduced, Customs promised us that it would take us few hours to get our goods out of the ports. But the delay we are facing now is even more than when RAR was in operation.

    “Therefore, there is an urgent need for the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar to call a meeting of stakeholders that would resolve the crisis between Customs and clearing agents in the interest of peace and the nation’s economy”.

    Contacted, the National President of ANLCA, Alhaji Olayiwola Shittu, confirmed tomorrow’s emergency meeting but  refused to disclose the agenda of the meeting.

  • Operators score PAAR high

    Operators score PAAR high

    The Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) introduced about four months ago by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is fast-tracking goods clearance at the ports, operators have said.

    PAAR processes, according to them, are in tandem with international best practice, enhancing trade, economic competitiveness, revenue collection and border security.

    They, however, decried delays at the ports after they have completed PAAR processes.

    The National President, Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Alhaji Olayiwola Shittu, said PAAR, unlike the Risk Assessment Report (RAR), has made cargo clearance easy.

    He said the intelligence report by Customs Investigation Unit (CIU), System Audit, the State Security Service (SSS), Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA), shipping firms and other stakeholders was being studied by Customs to identify high risk shipments.

    The ANLCA chief noted that PAAR provides a timely multi-dimensional risk analysis at every stage of Customs processes and is a critical to clearance procedure.

    The delay associated with the release of cargo, despite the introduction of PAAR, the ANLCA chief said, should be blamed on some importers who, he claimed, make wrong entries, and some Customs officers, who are determined to corrupt the system.

    But the Intelligence Component of PAAR, Shittu said, is facilitating the management of data across multiple agencies as part of the Integrated Risk Management Approach by Customs and other security agencies.

    Shittu, however, pointed out that some of the hiccups in PAAR are the non-availability of bench-mark by Customs and the failure of some importers to declare their goods correctly.

    “The issue of bench-mark is very essential so that importers will know the amount they are going to pay for a particular container they are importing and PAAR would be more successful,” he said.

    The Chairman, Shipping Investment Limited, Mr Gbeleyi Ojodu, said PAAR provides the support-base for Valuation Risk Assessment in compliance with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on Customs Valuation.

    Commodities sensitive from valuation angle, Ojodu said, are identified and reviewed as vital for accurate assessment of duties, prevent capital flight and capture correct trade data required by importers.

    He said some of the advantages of PAAR include digitalisation of import documentation; expert tariff classification tool; assessment of Customs; import export commodity database; detail intelligent risk configuration encompassing; issuance of PAAR; SMS alert integration service; confirmation of transaction value by the supplier; flagging up of high risk commodities; fast-tracking of trusted traders and third Party pricing data, among others.

    But an importer, Mr Deji Pitan said PAAR has not translated to quick clearance of goods from the ports.

    Some Customs officer, Pitan said, still query PAAR after it had been issued and subject containers to physical examination, thereby delaying cargo clearance.

    The officers, he alleged, subject their cargoes to physical examination to extort importers and their clearing agents.

    But Customs National Public Relations Officer Wale Adeniyi said PAAR provides a standard format for classifying goods. The Common External Tariff Concordance, he said, had been linked to the Customs PAAR for easy navigation and accurate classification.

    “When an importer made a wrong classification, there is no way he would not have problem in getting his goods out of the port.

    “The Concordance contains a list of HS code and serves as an integrated search engine in order to facilitate accurate classification of goods.

    “The user are guided by the system on how to classify his product as well as other relevant information like whether the item is prohibited or not. It is not enough to say you are importing spoon or radio. You must be able to state the type and the place of origin,” Adeniyi said.

    He said the Comptroller-General of Customs has directed NCS’officers to address all traders in their local languages for proper understanding of PAAR.

    As part of plans to make stakeholders key into the scheme, Adeniyi said Help Desks and dedicated communication hotlines were provided to enable stakeholders and the public to channel complaints, observations and suggestions on the process.

    The image maker said the Help Desks are provided at the Customs Headquarters, Abuja and other Commands across the Country.

    He said such feedbacks can also be channelled through some dedicated numbers, including 09 4621597, 09 4621598 and 09 4621599.

    Customs Deputy Comptroller, ICT Operations, Mr Bashar Yusuf also said that traders would have their cargoes released immediately from the port with the genuine documents processed through PAAR.

    “The cargoes would be cleared before arrival, once other government agencies operating at the port confirmed the documents through PAAR,’’ he said.

  • LCCI blames Customs for delay in goods clearance

    The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has attributed the delay in goods clearing at the ports to the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

    The chamber said the delay was adding to the cost of doing business.

    Its President, Mr Remi Bello said the delay was a major cause for concern for importers.

    He urged the Customs, shipping firms and terminal operators to waive the accumulated demurrage for those concerned because the delays “were not caused by importers and it would be unfair if they are compelled to pay for what is not their fault”.

    “Persistent delays in the clearance of cargo at the Lagos ports have become a major cause for concern for the business community. One of the major shortcomings of the investment environment in Nigeria is the speed of cargo clearance at the ports; the 48-hour target set by the government is far from being achieved,” Bello said.

    He listed the implications of the current situation to include high demurrage charges and disruption of production schedules, as raw materials were not delivered in good time to factories.

    Others are high risk of corruption at the ports; risk of exacerbation of inflation; and high cost of borrowed funds by importers.

    Others, according to him, are frequent breakdown of the server of the Nigeria Customs Service, delays in cargo release from shipping lines, and tight deadlines for cargo examination booking.

  • Dikko fires 13 Customs officers over ‘missing’ containers

    Dikko fires 13 Customs officers over ‘missing’ containers

    Thirteen Customs officers have been relieved of their jobs for allegedly sabotaging the efforts of the Comptroller-General Alhaji Dikko Abdullahi in making the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) work.

    The PAAR was introduced last month after the Federal Government declined to renew the contract of the three service providers handling Destination Inspection at the ports.

    The affected officers, it was learnt, were dismissed at the Tin Can Island Command in Apapa, Lagos, last week for taking advantage of the new regime to “fly” 40 containers out of the ports without proper examination and necessary documentation.

    “Fly” in maritime parlance is stealing of cargoes.

    The goods, sources said, were worth over N150 million.

    Contacted, Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs Tahir Musa confirmed the sack of the officers, saying 14 officers were fingered in the sabotage, but one was freed and re-instated after investigation.

    While addressing stakeholders at the Apapa Customs Command last week, Musa explained the challenges facing the Customs in implementing the PAAR. He said more than 99,300 Risk Assessment Reports (RAR) were transferred to the Customs by the former service providers, adding that the huge number of the RARs is creating problems in the issuance of PAAR on imported goods.

    “You are aware that the first PAAR was generated by Customs within 58 minutes of upload, but now, because of these 99,000 plus, we found out that PAARs are not coming out as anticipated, that is the reason we are here today, to tell you the problem we are facing.”

    He appealed to the stakeholders to support the Customs to sustain the PAAR regime, saying it is aimed at facilitating trade and reduce the time spent on cargo release from the ports.

    The Assistant Comptroller in charge of Modernisation and Research, Iya Abubakar, alleged that some of the 99,300 RARs were fabricated, adding that some saboteurs were trying to take advantage of the new situation to create problems.

    He alleged that most of the RARs were generated illegally after the Customs had taken over from the service providers.

    “From Apapa, I have seen RARs that were presented and were generated on December 2, wondering how that could be possible. “We know it is not true, but all the same, since you are complaining, management is saying that we should go ahead, but we know it is a lie, the pipe was closed on November 30, so how did the service providers generate your own RAR on December 2,” he querried.

    He said: “Importers who have already processed their documents and whose RARs are pending in the banks and could not be transmitted to NICIS platform as at November 30, 2013 by the service providers, are directed to access their RARs from the authorised dealer banks and commence processing of their goods.”

    Abubakar urged stakeholders to take advantage of this opportunity and get their cargoes released on or before January 31, 2014.

  • Customs to recover over N27b from pre-arrival assessment

    Customs to recover over N27b from pre-arrival assessment

    The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Abdullahi Dikko, has stated that it is set to generate over N27billion revenue with the implementation of the new regime called the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR).

    According to him, under the past regime of Risk Assessment Report (RAR), Customs generated N20billion revenue from the 20,000 queries that were issued to service providers for non-compliance.

    He broke this news to journalists during the unveilling of the PAAR at the weekend in Abuja.

    He said, “I want to inform you that from 2010 to 2012, while service providers were providing services without adhering to RAR, we had issued up to 20,000 queries and out of that, we recovered N20billion. But I can tell you that there were some that escaped Customs because of the volume of work. But now, we are on and if we add an additional N27billion to what we have collected, I can assure Nigerians that the money we are going to recover will be more than that.”

    Dikko noted that the federal government has directed NCS to fully take over the Destination Inspection Process from the service providers.

    He added that the implication of this new directive is that NCS will now fully takeover the import and export procedures of the country.

    The Customs boss said that the officers and men of the service have been undergoing training over the years in preparation for this take-over, adding that the organisation was fully prepared to assume the responsibility.

    Upon the take-off, he said that the service will be charged with the responsibility of managing all areas of the inspection processes which include processing of the electronic form M, issuance of the PAAR to replace the RAR formally issued by the service providers.

    According to Dikko, with the new regime, all the documentary checks could be concluded before the goods arrive in Nigeria.

    One major advantage of PAAR, the Customs boss noted, is that it enhances the conclusion of transaction within six hours instead of the previous three days under the RAR regime.

    Dikko explained that “this new regime we are starting today promises better management of our revenue generation, operations, enhanced trade facilitation and better collaboration with other agencies of government to enhance national security.”

     

  • Customs ready for implementation of Pre-Arrival Report

    Customs ready for implementation of Pre-Arrival Report

    The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) is gearing up for the implementation of the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR), which will replace the Risk Assessment Record (RAR) being operated at the ports.

    The Customs said the Ministry of Finance had approved the pilot scheme of the PAAR, which, will prepare it to takeover from service providers. The service providers carry out destination inspection at the ports on contract and their contract will end in December.

    Customs Public Relations Officer Wale Adeniyi said the test-run of PAAR would soon begin. He urged ports’stakeholders to bear with the agency during the test running.

    Adeniyi, who represented the Comptroller-General of Customs, Alhaji Dikko Inde Abdullahi, at the maritime reporters’ colloquium, said the Customs would soon plant the port where to test-run the scheme.

    He said: “During the test-run, we will run the information communication technology (ICT) platform parallel with what the service providers are doing now. It is going to be a parallel service so that we will implement the ethics associated with the switching off of (RAR) and the switching on of (PAAR)”

    The purpose of the test-run, he said, was to achieve a seamless transmission, within six months.

    Adeniyi said the Customs was set to take over destination inspection from the service providers after seven years, adding that stakeholders should expect some hiccups during the test-run.

    He noted that in 2005 when RAR started with the service providers, as established as the system was, there were some hiccups but as time progressed, people started getting used to it.

    The seven years’ contract of the three firms providing scanner services and generating RAR in the Destination Inspection scheme ended last December and their service was extended by six months, which ended in June. It was further extended by another six months, which will end by December.

    To ensure efficiency, the Customs is training its personnel at the facility of Smith Detection in France, makers of the scanner machines, being used by the service providers.

    The ICT platform would generate PAAR six hours before the arrival of the cargo as against the six days it currently takes the service providers to generate the RAR for processing cargo clearance. All activities in PAAR are to be carried out by Nigerians, the Customs said.

    Adeniyi said: “We are not just ready we are far ahead of the service providers with regards to the currency of our technology.”

    He dismissed as baseless the fear that the agency would revert to 100 percent physical examination of cargoes when the service providers leave because of alleged incompetence of its officers and men in operating and maintaining the scanners.

    To show its preparedness to take over from the service providers, the Customs unveiled the gigantic ICT platform, named Nigerian Trade Portal to reporters in Abuja, and demonstrated its operation.

    The equipment, it said, was capable of completing the processing of trade good documents in six hours before arrival, if the shippers make genuine declaration and issues are resolved with other agencies of government, such as National Agency for Food Administration Drug and Control (NAFDAC) and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).

    The multi-million dollar ICT infrastructure located at the ‘Customs Rule Centre,’ headquarters of the agency in Abuja was developed by indigenous ICT experts drawn from over 900 ICT graduates employed by the agency from universities at home and abroad.

    The ICT platform is being funded by the agency for now while all government agencies are connected to the server including the Central Bank of Nigeria. “But when the system transits to the Single window information system, the responsibility of funding will become that of the Federal Government,” Adeniyi said.