• To Commence Full Implementation of CEMA
There are strong indications that the Nigeria Custom Service may have been forced to backout from further implementation of the controversial benchmark duty on cargoes, even as it was gathered that the service is not happy about cancelling the scheme and is now set to go all out to deal mercilessly with non-compliant importers and their agents.
Shipping Position Daily gathered in Lagos yesterday that the decision of the Custom to cancel the benchmark came on the heels of a letter that was written to President Goodluck Jonathan by a frontline maritime expert and consultant on Customs matters.
Our correspondent however gathered that the presidency had ordered the Nigeria Customs Service to stop forthwith the implementation of custom benchmark, but also directed that henceforth, the Custom should no longer compromise in implementing section 46 and 47 of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA.)
A source, told our correspondent yesterday that “ by the section 46 and 47 of the CEMA, if you conceal, if you falsely declare or under-value or make wrong description of import, the ultimate penalty is seizure of such consignment and prosecution of offenders, if you are found guilty, it is five years with no option of fine".
Also reacting to this development in Lagos yesterday, the founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) Dr. Boniface Aniebonam condemned the cancellation of the controversial Custom duty benchmark, saying that it is a scheme that was put in place by Custom to assist clearing agents and their importers.
Aniebonam who spoke with Shipping Position Daily stressed that “a reasonable and responsible person that is knowledgeable will not be happy because it is a provision that the Custom have made to ameliorate or to assist the importer instead of evoking the ultimate power to seize and prosecute.”
He warned that henceforth, “the best option for freight forwarders and their principals is to make genuine declaration or get their cargo seized".
"From today, I am aware that if you make any declaration that is untrue to Customs, the cargo will be seized and you will be prosecuted", he stated.
In an apparent confirmation that the Customs rethink was not voluntary, the NAGAFF founder said, “I understand that one of us wrote a petition to the President and he copied various government agencies and saying that Customs is benchmarking imports into Nigeria, this shows the little knowledge he has because there was nothing like that, it is just a platform that the Custom has put in place to deter people from making non-genuine declarations".
Aniebonam maintained that the CEMA is superior to the import guidelines, because, according to him, it is an extant law, therefore the application of the section becomes pertinent.
"From what I got, the government has now given Custom the directives to go ahead in line with the transformation of the present administration to enforce the law, so where are we now, who is going to lose, who is losing and who is going to blink first?" he asked.
Aniebonam condemned the action taken by some individuals who allegedly wrote to the president saying that such people are not actually well- grounded in the nitty-gritty of goods clearing from the nation's port.
"Those that are involved in this frivolous petition, how many containers do they clear out of the port, are they really involved in cargo movement? One of them who was profiled cleared only two vehicles throughout 2011", he alleged.
He faulted claims that importers have neglected Nigeria and have diverted to neighboring countries, saying that genuine importers are still carrying out their business at the Nigerian ports.
Meanwhile, some stakeholders have affirmed that the benchmark or not, the N1Trillion revenue target is achievable.
The industry players believed that without the benchmark on imported items, the customs should able to meet the target in line with the international practice.
In a chat with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos yesterday, Deputy National President of the Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders,Importers ,Exporters Coalition; Barrister Osuala Emmanuel Nwagbara, said that the Nigeria Customs Service would be able to meet the target when there is free flow of goods out of the ports, adding that when there is transparent process, more goods will come into the ports and when officers in charge of specific duties do their job diligently.
Nwagbara stated that delays of goods in the ports are some of the factors that can hinder the customs from achieving the set target by the federal government. ''If bottlenecks at the ports can be eliminated, coupled with the delay of goods as a result of customs examinations and if unnecessary stop over can be eradicated, then there will be free flow of transactions, it will also make the turn- around time for vessels to be shorter, not forgetting the 48hour cargo clearance, the customs will definitely meet the target''.
On his part, the Public Relations Officer of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents [ANLCA],Mr.Joseph Nnamocha said that the customs target of N1 trillion is achievable when they are diligent in carrying out their duties, he stressed that issues of multiple examination should be stopped to ensure free flow of goods out of the port and to allow more cargoes to come in.
According to him ,''for the customs to meet the set target, it has to encourage importers to embrace the nation's port as some of them have shunned the port to embrace neighbouring West Africa ports which would have brought more revenue to the federal government's coffers, he said.
Discussion about this post