In this interaction with the National President of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA); Mr Emenike Nwokeoji, he talks about the raging issue of soaring exchange rate for Customs duty calculation. He also dwells on how the association is faring since the emergence of new leaders.
This issue of fluctuations in Customs duty rate has been prevalent for a while and customs agents have been raising alarm. Why is ANLCA just reacting to it, it is not coming rather late?
The answer is absolutely no. We have made statements to the press. We have written letters to the authorities concerned. You see before you go public, you must have exhausted all the internal mechanisms you have, to reach these agencies and organs of government. That we have done.
What we are now trying to do is to let the world know all that we have been doing internally that did not yield any dividend. This is to let them know that they should be aware of what is going on and that we have been reacting to it. So at the end of this, the press can inform the public. The press has published many of our letters, so our reaction is not late, this is not the first. We have reacted severally to these issues. I believe some of you can testify to that.
What if the issue of fluctuations in duty rates continues without anything being done about it?
Whatever decision you see us take, is as agreed by the NECOM. If this fails, which I believe it will not, because a lot of people are proffering solutions to the challenges on ground. It’s our collective challenge. If by imagination the federal government fails to do this, our suggestion is very simple; ordinarily we would have touched on so many things. But let’s go straight to it. For instance, Interbank exchange rates does not fluctuate every day. It stays for some time. So why don’t we do the same with exchange rates used when computing duty. That is all we are asking them to do, so that when you want to go into any trade, you can do some studies, such as how much it is the landing cost and know how much you are going to sell it upon landing and even the manufacturers. In situation where a manufacturer now went to the bank and after doing his job, he said the duty of this would be N5,000 and the bank will approve N5,000. But by the time the shipment arrives here, the duty has gone to N7,000. You will now go back to the bank again to start asking for more money. Of course, you know the cargo will be in the port accumulating demurrage. So our next line of action will be informed by the decision that will come from the government and then other stakeholders that we are working with.
Speaking on the issue of epileptic Customs server, even if the exchange rate stabilizes, we are still contending with server failure by the Nigeria Customs Service. What has the association done about it?
We have talked a lot about server failure. I will just close it with one statement. There is a transition going on between Customs and the service providers. During this period, we have experienced it before when service providers were handing over the procurement of PAAR to Customs. So we are following it up; it is only epileptic. It is not a total full-day thing; it comes off and on. So we are working with the authorities to ensure that it does not affect our people.
Some of the clearing agents are threatening to protest against terminal operators over Terminal Handling Charges. Are you aware of these reactions from your members?
The moment the terminal charges were increased, we moved in. But whenever we get there, they will always flash a letter from the Nigerian Shippers’ Council. Shippers’ council gave this authorization for the terminal operators to do this increase. What we have been doing is to negotiate down the approval they obtained from the Shippers’ council. That has been ongoing all. But the approval was given to these terminal operators by the Shippers’ Council.
· “Approval was given to terminal operators by the Shippers’ Council to increase charges”
Since the association’s NECOM was elected, we have not heard anything about elections in at the Chapters. What is the next plan of action on this?
Yes. We are working on an election. Not just the chapters, but including the BOT. We have a whole lot of elections pending. Very soon the calendar will be rolled out and you people will be aware of it.
Beyond meeting with the Nigeria Customs Service, we would like to know if the association has reached out to CBN or the Ministry of Finance regarding the issue of exchange rate.
The fluctuation of the exchange rate is sometimes twice in a day. The fluctuation is just constant. Even between the beginning of this press conference and the end, who knows, it might have changed. That is why sometimes what we read in the press will say Naira appreciates, like I read this morning and you notice the appreciation is maybe two point something just because the thing fluctuated a little bit by one or two kobo.
It has been over 100 days since you assumed office. We would like you to state your achievements in the 100 days and some of the challenges faced.
Talking about our achievements during 100 days in office, we have roled out a whole lot. We were elected into office based on our campaign mantra which is restoration. You must have noticed that we have been moving from one agency of government to the other. We have gone to the Police, NAFDAC and that all of them just to tell them that we are now the major player in the maritime industry and that we are one united family and we are ready to take our rightful position in the affairs of the maritime. And that has been yielding dividends. We are not supposed to be here (at the secretariat). We are supposed to be at Apapa for the launching of a vessel. But we are here because of the importance of this assignment. So we are building bridges and it is yielding dividends; our opinion now is being sought before certain decisions are taken in the industry. Talking about the challenges, one of the major challenges we are facing is why we are here today; which is the exchange rates issue. So it’s one of the challenges and there will always be challenges. Yes we can admit that the economy worldwide is undergoing some challenges, but that of Nigeria is (I think) beyond what one can predict. So we have a lot of challenges, but they are not something that we cannot handle. We are taking them one step at a time and I believe we are making progress. At the appropriate time, we’ll gather you together again and show you a documentary prove of the progress we have been able to make and we are still making. One of them, like you can read from there, is that we had a meeting with the management of Nigeria Customs. For the past seven years, the association has never sat with the management of the Nigeria Customs. But we have done that several times. That is one achievement this administration has been able to record. They want to hear from us, before they make a particular decision and we have this mutual respect.
The Organised Private Sector has a very strong role in engaging with the government, especially at the CBN and Ministry of Finance level. Why not get them more involved in this ‘fight’ over exchange rate?
It is not just the Organised Private Sector, but all agencies. We have written letters to even the people at Alaba market and we are meeting with them. We cannot continue fighting this battle alone. When last did you see MAN, or LCCI do what we are doing? If all of us are able to muster energy together, I think the government will have no choice than to listen to us. It’s not a fight we can do alone. Let the government call us and then tell us exactly what the issue is that will allow this level of inflation. By the time you buy something and get home and you need extra, you will meet a different price when going back. It never happens anywhere.
· We have written letters to even the people at Alaba market over Customs exchange rate
What are you doing to carry your members along in your decisions, so that there won’t be saboteur in the system?
ANLCA is one united big family. We no longer have any group. I know some people might not feel happy that their candidate lost the election, but we have tried as much as possible 9and we are still doing that) to unite each and every member of ANLCA. So we are one united family. I am not aware of any member who we still need to go and pacify. In fact that was where we started our restoration from by meeting every member of ANLCA when we used to have the two divides. But now we are one; even from the appointments we have made, you will notice that it cut across all those dividing lines. And by the time this election is over when we have done the elections with the chapter; that will be the final phase of that unity.
If all your appeals to the government over the Customs duty rate are ignored, what would the association do?
Yes, it’s an appeal, because all we can do is to appeal to the federal government on behalf of the masses of this country. We cannot give them an ultimatum.
If our appeal is ignored, we will come back, meet over it and then we will know and discuss the next line of action.
