For Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to stop ceaseless delays in cargo clearing and reduce cost of doing business at the nation’s seaports there is need to adopt electronic and paperless cargo clearing procedure devoid of human interference, analysts say.
To them, electronic clearing of cargo would help Customs become trade facilitator against the current practice where an importer and his agents must pass through about 21 Customs units to clear a container from Nigerian port.
The units as listed by port users include Form M, PAAR unit, Unblocking, Abandoned, Examination report, DC Report, Releasing, DC Stamping, Gate Exiting, Valuation, CPC/ Q and A, APM, DC Admin, DC compliance, CAC monitoring, CIU, Enforcement, Customs police, OC gate, gate officers and PCA.
On the road to the importer’s warehouse, the cargo owner would also be harassed by Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Strike Force and Headquarters Squad, who in some cases may end up taking the goods to their warehouses.
Tony Anakebe, managing director, Gold-Link Investment Limited, a clearing and forwarding company in Lagos, said the Customs Service has failed to streamline the number of units involved in cargo clearing in order to reduce delay and what importers pay as demurrage and storage charges.
This, according to Anakebe, brings a lot of delay in the clearing of goods as it is mandatory that the documents for clearing one container must pass through the tables of these taskforces before the container would be allowed to exit the port.
He however called on government to ensure the use of functional scanning machines and Single Window platform to eliminate manual procedure.
Muda Yusuf, director-general, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), said on behalf of the chamber that the business community is compelled to interface with too many units of Customs and other government agencies, which makes doing business extremely difficult and exposing the system to brazen extortionist practices.
Yusuf listed the units to include the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) office, Valuation units, examination, releasing, unblocking, DC Report, Stamping Unit, Exit Gate, and Enforcement, including other government agencies at the ports such as NAFDAC, SON, Plant Quarantine, SSS, Police Anti Bomb Squad, and the Port Police.
Importers are confronted with FOU of the Customs, Customs Strike Force, and the Customs Police outside the ports on a daily basis, he stated, adding that encounters by the private sector with these numerous agencies impose unbearable burden on importers and investors in terms of costs, time and bureaucracy.
Yusuf, who disclosed this in a statement in Lagos, called for urgent reform of Nigeria Customs cargo clearing procedure, which is severely hurting investors and adversely affecting economic recovery efforts.
“The trade facilitation role of Customs has been practically jettisoned in pursuit of revenue targets. This disposition is impacting negatively on investors. There are too many queries on imports emanating from diverse sources, and too many discretionary powers exercised by Customs operatives in valuation and classification decisions. The frustrations of importers are compounded by the clumsy, long winded, bureaucratic processes for seeking redress,” he said.
According to Yusuf, PAAR issued by Customs headquarters are frequently queried by Customs operatives at the ports and many businesses have suffered severe disruptions in their investment projections because of large variations arising from revision of value and re-classification of imports by the PAAR office at the Customs headquarters and the Customs units at the ports.
Responding, Uche Ejesieme, public relations officer of the Tin-Can Island command of the Customs, who pointed out the procedures for clearing goods by compliant trader, said Customs role is just limited to examination and release of cargo because the system allows for self-assessment/declaration by the importer or his agent.
According to Ejesieme, an importer is expected to fill a Form M with designated bank attaching all relevant import documents, which would be processed by the bank and uploaded on Customs portal for issuance of PAAR.
On the alleged 21 Customs units involved in cargo clearance, Ejesieme said some units are required for documentation, some for checks and balances, while the rest do not exist.
Listing the statutory units involved in clearing, he said Form M comes from the designated bank, PAAR from Customs headquarters while CIU unit provides additional intelligence.
“Others include Valuation unit to check value, CPC/Q&A for modification of HS Code, and Post clearance audit to follow up on fast track beneficiaries. We also have Monitoring and Compliance unit to put modalities in place to ensure compliance, which is a statutory requirement of the World Customs Organisation (WCO). There are also DC terminals and OC gates that carry out final documentary checks on the goods before release,” he explained.
A compliant trader will always get expeditious attention as well as other incentives, he assured, adding that the NCS headquarters had mandated the commands to create a Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) for the resolution of all trade disputes in line with the concept of legitimate trade facilitation.
