Even as the Senate recently has passed the Bill for the amendment of the Nigerian Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA), the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN) has called on freight forwarders to join forces together and kick against the bill from being signed into law by the President.
Even as the Senate recently has passed the Bill for the amendment of the Nigerian Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA), the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN) has called on freight forwarders to join forces together and kick against the bill from being signed into law by the President.
AREFFN President, Dr. Frank Ukor made the call last week while speaking wiht journalists in Lagos. He warned that should the Custom Bill be signed into law, freight forwarders will be out of business and that the remaining ones will be forced to work as slaves.
Ukor stated that about 70 percent of clearing licenses in operations today belongs to customs officers, even as he added that this is why customs do not want to be controlled by any ministry.
“I am begging all freight forwarders, they should come together and let’s know what to do to stop government from signing this Bill, because if they sign this Bill, all of us are out of business, we should just pack our things and go back to the village and start farming”, he stated.
“I happened to have come across that Bill and I cried, I cried because customs wants to sack all of us, if government signs that Bill, freight forwarders are out of business, the people that will remain will be enslaved so much that they will be praying to get out”.
“With CEMA we were enjoying, but once this Bill is passed we will be in serious trouble, worst still, it is not only us, the customs does not want to be controlled by the Ministry of Finance or by any person, it wants to be on its own; not taking orders from anybody except the President” he said.
Giving insight into a copy of the Bill which he claimed to have sighted, Ukor explained that the law is also unfriendly in terms of invoking sanctions and penalties. According to him, anybody that is seen within custom areas without authorization will get 10 years jail term.
“The annoying part of it is that any small thing you do will lead to jail, if a customs officer slaps you and you retaliate, you will get five years jail, this is what the Bill says”.
Also speaking to Shipping Position Daily in his office recently, a frontline maritime expert, Mr. Lucky Amiwero who has been in the forefront of the fight against some offensive aspects of the Bill, told our correspondent that the Bill spells a lot of danger if it is signed into law the way it has been passed.
Amiwero pointed out that the Custom law is the most important after the Nigerian constitution, because it controls the country’s economy especially on import and export.
He warned that the Bill should not be signed as a political Bill but rather it should be looked at professionally because according to him, it will affect generations to come.
“Let us watch and see what the government is coming out with, but I believe that Bill is a political Bill, it must be a professional Bill, all over the world the custom bill is a trade document that midwife imports and export, so we must be very careful not to pass a political bill, but a professional bill, if its passed politically it’s going to affect us and affect our children tomorrow”, he had alerted.
“There are some areas that are still critical that the Senate has passed, we believe that the government themselves will look at it critically, because the customs Bill is a convention all over the world, when the President and Minister is removed in a Bill on issues that are critical, then you have to revisit that Bill”.
“Customs are not to make policies but to implement policies, so if they are now coming to make policies then it is terrible and I have never seen it anywhere in the world, so we need to look at that bill again, it has been passed, but we pray that the government will look at it critically before signing it” he said.
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