Mr. Joseph Nnamocha [P.R.O Apapa Chapter ANLCA]
Nigerian importers are 90% compliant to the controversial benchmark on imported items on genuine declaration. On the part of the Customs target of N1trillion, I want to believe that it is achievable when they are diligent in carrying out their duties and I want to believe that the issue of multiple examinations should be stopped to ensure free flow of goods out of the port and to allow more cargoes to come in.
Comrade Umar Omeiza Jimoh [President SSACTAC]
The Nigeria Customs Service has been performing well over the years by meeting the federal government target annually and to me they have improved in that regard. The Customs has been active in revenue collection to the government coffers and it has been improving from strength to strength, we believe that it is achievable. And if they can collect ,I know it will be close to it.
Barrister Osuala Nwagbara [Maritime Lawyer]
We believe that the Nigeria Customs, been a law- abiding institution of the federal government will be able to meet the N1 trillion target because when there is a transparent process more goods will come to the ports and when officers in charge of specific duties are able to carry out their duties in line with international practice, delays will be eliminated ,bottlenecks will be eliminated, unnecessary stop over will be eliminated, free flow of transaction ,the turnaround time of vessels will be shorter, the 48- hour cargo clearance will be met and all monies due for the government will flow to the coffers of the government. When all these are put in place, there is no reason why the Nigeria Customs cannot meet the N1Trillion target. Don’t forget that the more goods are delayed in the ports due to examinations, the more the delay for them to meet the target.
Mr. Abayomi M.A. [Clearing Agent]
They can meet the target and yet it is also possible for them not to meet it. It is possible for the Customs to meet the target, based on the volume of importation into the country and they may not make it in the sense that if all the borders are not well- secured, I doubt if they will make it. As it is now, we all know that the neighbouring ports of West Africa is another avenue to bring in goods into the country and people want to shy away from duty payment and it is going to affect revenue collection on the part of the Customs.
Olorogun Andrew Ugwi [ANLCA Member]
In Nigeria, the government we have is neither for the people nor by the people. What we have is the government by the bureaucrat that is, the ones in power. This bureaucrat transform for the military, and so many action taken by them is like a military order therefore Nigerians have no say. What we use to clear for N650, 000 and N850, 000 has been tripled by the Customs. I must be sincere with my take on the N1 trillion targets and it is very difficult to say if it is achievable because importers are gradually abandoning the Nigeria ports to other ports in West Africa.
Dr. Boniface Aniebonam (Founder, NAGAFF)
The N1Trillion target is quite achievable, and when people talk about cargo diversion to other countries I begin to laugh, you don’t divert a cargo that has destination in shipping operations, it is a holistic process, if you move a cargo from Hamburg to Nigeria, the destination must be Nigerian port, either Apapa or Tin Can Island port, you can’t divert a cargo that is meant for Nigerian port, if you divert it to a neighbouring country, it must still come in through an approved border station and the things that made you run away from the seaports will still be met at the border stations. The target is not sacrosanct; cargo is a determinant of revenue, so you must pay to remove your cargo from the port, let nobody be threatened with meeting revenue target or not, revenue is a function of cargo, if we have cargo in our port then the revenues must be collected, if there is none, then we take it like that.
Agaptus Nwakiti (Freight forwarder)
If the Nigeria Custom Service is sincere, they can meet the target, but it is not good to frustrate importers by raising everything such as raising duties and debit notes in order to achieve their goals. If they can make it sincerely, then I think they can achieve the N1trillion target. Duties were raised on some items as a result of the benchmar, this has forced some importers to go back to Benin Republic and importing through our land borders, some importers have decided to go through land borders due to the high duty in Nigeria.
Alhaji Akanni Balogun (Licensed Agent)
I don’t know the basis of their calculations because whatever money the Customs is going to make will be derived from importation into the country, if you observe very well, our industries now are not operating at full capacity, what we are now having more at the ports are used vehicles, how do they calculate how many used vehicles come into Nigeria, you can know it through the multinational companies that bring them in. To me, the N1Trillion target is being over ambitious; do they want to kill the populace? Now they are increasing the tariff on used vehicles, they don’t want the people to exist, by the time they increase tariff on importation, it kills the lowest consumers because they have to pay for it, so the rationale behind this N1Trillion target is strange and I don’t believe it is achievable. In terms of statistics, what we are having at the ports now is lower compared to how it used to be, it is from the containers that come in that we make money, and if less are coming, then how do you make money, to me, the people at the helm of affairs in Customs are playing to the gallery, they want to impress the government, instead of telling them the truth.
David Kaniku (ANLCA Chieftain)
A lot of variables will not allow them to meet the target, because in budgeting you take a lot of things into consideration, it was a speculative target in the sense that they collected N900billion last year so they projected, but you see, in the maritime trade, import and export are not constant, the business trend and terrain change every year, but be that as it may, the N900billion was collected from importers through arm-twisting, the importers paid the money because they had no option; for me, in as much as I want them to collect revenue for the country, it should be practical. For example, they brought up the benchmark which has had a negative effect on port activities, some importers have left because they cannot meet up with this high duty benchmark, they move back to the trenches and the next thing they will do is to smuggle, this will not make the N1trillion to be achieved.
Discussion about this post