Mr. Lucky Eyis Amiwero is CEO of a licensed customs and logistics company; Eyis Resources Limited; he is equally the Factional President of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA). Amiwero spoke with Shipping Position Daily's Dapo Olawuni last week about the crisis in the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) over the collection of operations fees, he also talked about reforms in Nigeria Customs Service.
Mr. Lucky Eyis Amiwero is CEO of a licensed customs and logistics company; Eyis Resources Limited; he is equally the Factional President of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA). Amiwero spoke with Shipping Position Daily's Dapo Olawuni last week about the crisis in the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) over the collection of operations fees, he also talked about reforms in Nigeria Customs Service.
What is your take on the collection of the practitioners’ operations fees?
There is nothing like transaction fees, who gave the Minister the powers to approve the collection of the fees, is he a member of the board? Under what law of the CRFFN is the Minister given the powers to approve transaction fees, there is nothing called transaction fees, the only fees approved is practicing fees which are paid by freight forwarders; not in the port, but in their offices. It is not the government's fees, so the Minister has no legal right to approve such money, it is not in the law, it is impunity and illegality, they are the people that are destroying this country, what is transaction fees?
What it is called now is 'Practitioners Operations Fees' and not 'transaction fees'
Anything they call it, it is not in the law, what we have in the law is 'practicing fees' and you cannot design any other law except you take it back to the National assembly, the Minister has no right to institute any collection. That singular action, if we want to go to Court, they can send the Minister to jail, he does not have any power to collect such money, you don't collect money just like that from the port, you must have the provisions of the law, what is the money even meant for? To give to people to go and spend?
But the last board of the CRFFN and the Minister agreed on the collection
The last board did not approve anything, it was the Minister that approved it, no approval from the board and even if the board approves it, they don't have any right to approve any other fees more than the legal fees that is there, the only fees there is the practicing fees.
But the Attorney General of the Federation approved the collection of the fees
The Attorney General is not the Court, he is just the chief legal officer, he is not the one to interpret the law, the Court is the one to say if it is right or wrong, all these things they are doing is impunity done by the former regime, these are the men that brought down Jonathan, they spent the whole year in the port and they did nothing, no achievement in the port. NIMASA, NPA and Customs are all not working, the railway is not working, and you say you want to come and collect money at the port, under what law?
But there was a meeting in Abuja recently where the permanent secretary….?
(Cuts in)There was a letter from the Secretary of the Government, the Ministry of Transport is subject to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, a Minister of Transport does not have any powers when the Secretary to the Government has written; that letter came from the Secretary to the Government; this is the warehouse of all the ministries.
Is your association approaching the law courts on this?
We have written a letter, and we will go to any length to make sure that the CRFFN collection is stopped because it is an illegal fee and it will increase the cost of doing business, and it will create problems in the port, they have collected more than N1billion, but what did they use that money for? To buy cars and build houses.
Are you aware that there are other illegal collections in the port that is even more than this CRFFN fees?
That is not their business, they are not licensed customs agents, they are transporters and that is not even the issue, CRFFN does not have any powers to go to the port and collect any charges just because some people are collecting illegal charges, all these will be addressed under this new regime.
Customs have equally started the collection of NAC levy
The NAC is wrongly collected, I have addressed a letter to the government, I worked on the committee that cancelled it at the port, and if it is being re-introduced, that is not the proper way, the way that they are collecting it is wrong and this I have communicated to the government. As a former member of the task force that withdrew the NAC collection, the NAC being collected now is not properly done, it's supposedd to be collected on two percent and not on all the percentage of cargoes at the port, the law says two percent. The law has not been reviewed, the reviewed law of 2014 says two percent, what they are collecting now is wrong, they cannot collect Import Adjustment Tax, it is criminal and it is illegal.
The CET implementation has been generating a lot of heat, what is your take?
It must generate heat because the Customs and the Ministry are not serious. The CET is something that you must sit down and call for a meeting with stakeholders and create an avenue for them to comply, the truth about it is that the CET has about 117 tariff lines that have adjustment tax, those adjustment tax you have to educate people on why you have to introduce the adjustment tax and many of the areas you presently have conflicts can not be addressed, there must be an avenue where these issues will be resolved quietly. It is not the duty of customs, it is the finance ministry that is supposed to address those issues, they are the ones to give direction on the policy. I believe the whole issue will be addressed by the new government. We have been running government the way we feel like in the past 16 years, the new government I believe will address these issues critically. Common External Tariff is not a small thing, it is a policy that will affect the economy of this country, and if we are not prepared, people like Ghana, Benin Republic will take over our industries, so we must be prepared and we must have a Customs that knows what they are doing.
What is your advice for the new government in repositioning the Nigeria Customs Service?
From 2003 till this time, the Nigeria Customs Service has not been reformed, there must be technical, administrative and structural reform of the Customs to clean up the practices that are there now, there is impunity in the Customs, there is imposition there, they don't comply with the law and they don't understand what the processes are, so the Customs cannot drive the process of change if you don't change the people that are there, you must change the system. Our cargo has been diverted, investors have been discouraged from the country, many companies have left the country and many people are suffering while some have died because of the process of Customs, they are not assisting the government, rather they are destroying the trade, they believe they are the owners of the trade but this is wrong, they are just there to implement the trade. There must be a structural reform, our ports are the worst in the world, the kind of procedures we have in the port, you find Customs engaging in many kinds of illegalities, abandoning people's cargo, bringing in different kinds of laws they like and doing anything they feel like, there must be a system whereby Customs will be held accountable for any delay in the port and this is what international law says. There is need for customs to be reformed properly because they have not complied with international conventions, we are still doing destination inspection while others have changed, we have lost our transit, we have lost cargoes, and if we don't change the Customs we have now, we would have a problem.
What is the update about the court case between you and Customs?
We won the Customs and that has been resolved, the case has been won, but it is not all about court case, it is about doing the right thing, the government is supposed to have changed Diko (CG Customs) for what he has done, it is an infringement and an abuse of office and it was even in the judgement, it is not about the man that is there, but it is about putting our country right.
How are you dealing with the factionalization in your association?
Festus Ejiofor is currently facing criminal charges, are you not aware? He is facing a criminal charge for forging our association's certificate. Also; we don't have any faction in National Council.
But the CRFFN has chosen to recognize him in all their activities
We have even taken CRFFN to court because it is an illegal body, there was a decision on that case, the CRFFN should account for the N1.5billion they have consumed for the past four years, what have they done with it, they collected subvention from Shippers Council three times which they are not supposed to collect, this is caused by the minister and he should go to jail for that because the law does not allow for subvention, the provision of the Act is very clear where Council can get its money.
But the government has confirmed CRFFN as a government agency
How can you call CRFFN a government agency, under what law? A lower court can make a statement, but until you go to the Supreme Court before you get the final decision.
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