CRFFN: I Am A Licensed Customs Agent, Not……
The appointment of Mr Lucky Amiwoero as a member of the task Force on customs Reforms has taken a toll on his time. Tracking him down has thus become a very uphill task. After almost one month, he was eventually pinned down last week. As usual, he was vey frank and down to earth.
What is your appraisal of the maritime industry in year 2010?
In year 2010, the maritime industry suffered some setbacks in the sense that there should have been a consolidation on three key issues which are fundamental to the growth of any maritime industry. In every part of the world, there is the capacity building concept and the empowering of the indigenous operators, structure of trade facilitation as well as putting round pegs in round holes; these are the key issues. But in 2010, we did not have much of that because there was a lot of politicking, there was a lot of changes and misdirection of policies. So the maritime sector suffered very serious setback which is not too healthy for a nation like Nigeria that has high destination of cargo throughput and we have what it takes to become one of the key countries on maritime issues. When you look at our capacity building concept, it is not geared towards enhancing the prospect of the maritime industry, when you look at the development of indigenous operators none of them have actually been developed, most of them have actually been living from hand to mouth, then when you look at the structure of the facilitation of trade, complying with the IMO standard and all the rest, we have not been able to meet up to standard. We can say that we have tried as a nation to have got to this level, but there are still areas of improvement.
One of the highpoints of last year was the last minute change in leadership at both the NPA and NIMASA, what is your take on this?
The truth about it is that government should look at NPA properly and appraise its functions, there is a serious clash in the port and NPA functions should be defined more properly. Government should come out with a legal frame work to be able to identify their jobs, now we have BPE and other agencies, there should be a harmony as to who regulates the port and what the function of Nigerian ports is, these things should be clearly defined. For instance, there are some charges that are being collected for development and its being paid by importers, so we are looking at what is the role of the NPA today in the port, what are the roles of the BPE and the rest of them? These roles should be harmonized, when you say people are moved out, they might be moved out politically or for any other reason. I believe that the functions of these organizations will bring about what these organizations are supposed to do in terms of their functions. I know that NIMASA is supposed to be involved in building capacity, developing infrastructures for the indigenous operators, but for now we have not seen much of that, what we have seen is that they have been able to push one or two people out for training as seafarers.
For example, one of the key points that make America a maritime nation is their fleet expansion programme which is centered on the three component of indigenous capacity upgrading, one has to do with the cargo side, and cargo must be controlled 75 per cent by the indigenous operators within the seaborne trade. The other one is that they have subsidies like what we have in NIMASA to be able to build capacity, some are construction subsidies which means the ships will be constructed by the organization who will now give it out for people to manage, some of the subsidies have to do with paying the crew, giving out loans and so on so as to sustain their programmes in the maritime sector, the other one is the generation of cargo within the government have to be assigned to American ship owners. These things are the same pillars that we have, these are structured in the laws of NIMASA, they have all these components and we expect them to work within that region to be able to build capacity, if you look at sections in the law that established NIMASA, there is a provision that 50% of the cargoes generated in the country should be given to the indigenous operators, I don’t know how many indigenous operators are operating now, and we are talking about building capacity to be able to have a Nigerian flagged vessel and so many other things, so it is not just to send people abroad, but when they come back where is the ship, and the essence of NIMASA’s money generated is to be able to build capacity, if we have eight to ten ships owned by Nigerians and monitored by the banks, that has all the characteristics of that of America, today we will have capacity built on the basis of that money because it is not government money. The law says that 25% of the money is to be set aside for building capacity, so when you look at what has happened within NPA and NIMASA; it’s based on how we have complied with the law. In NPA, the man has been there and has played his role, but what we are looking at is NPA’s functions of these organizations. When you look at the law, it is not talking about shipping alone, it’s talking about maritime, transport, shipping, logistics and all the rest. The problem we are having now is that if you look at that law, the law itself is a little bit complex because there is a long list of people who want to be MD and many of them will tell you they are this or that, but I am not looking at this, I am looking at the man who can deliver, he can come from anywhere because the law is there, when you even put the right people there, are they doing the right thing? Because today you bring in a DG and by tomorrow you remove him, we are going backwards, so let us get the right person who can deliver, what we need to do now is to build capacity and have what is called maritime infrastructure, we lack this in this country, what every man is supposed to do is defined in the law, that of NPA is so complex, are they a landlord port? Are they service port? What is the main concept? Because the truth about what we are seeing in NPA is that they have a law that is there, but yet they have organization that are operating which nobody can regulate, nobody regulates the terminal operators and the shipping companies and there is no where this is done.
Will you blame NPA or the National Assembly that has refused to pass the Port and Harbor Bill?
You have to commend the National Assembly for not yet passing the law; the first law was talking about the National Transport Commission, then the Ports and Harbor bill, and these two bills coupled with the Infrastructure Regulatory Commission would have been a conflict, so the National Assembly took their time in that respect but what we are saying in essence is that those things can be fast tracked and be driven with the desired objective to be able to come out with something better. For now the law we have is a law that is non existing in the port and we have an NPA that is just there, what is the function of NPA now, any country in the world that loses the cargo operations have lost 90 percent of the port interests and that is why you see that America is taking their time, the essence of concession is that you concede your port in order to reduce cost, but this one is making the port very expensive because nobody regulates them or control them.
But since the ports were concessioned, there has been gradual increase in cargo throughput
There must be an increase in cargo throughput, five years ago, we had 19 tariffs bounds. We entered into an agreement for the Common External Tariff which reduced the bounds to five, we are having as high as 150% on duty to be paid, so all other mercenaries falls within those bounds, the increase of tariff is as a result of bringing most of our cargo to zero duty, because we have the zero bound, the five percent and the ten percent. We were having 50 percent before, but now we are having 30 percent, these are the things that triggered the kind of throughput we see now. Secondly the issue of government introducing destination inspection and bringing additional tools like trying to make sure that the machine is modernized, bringing the ASYCUDA, the selective principles of examination, the e-payment and all the automation in our system, formally we have 100percent examination on ground, but from 2006, there was reduction in what we call 100percent examination which is now meant for only certain cargoes. We now have the selective principles of examination based on the five lights, that is, the red light, green light, yellow light and the blue light, you will find out that certain percentage of goods leave the port without going through examination, so the port actually goes through some semblance of facilitation, third is the issue of fast tracking the cargo, now we have cargo throughput on the basis of reduction of duty. So the throughput is as a result of facilitation and because our system has been automated for easy clearance, we have now reduced from 19 bounds to ten bounds, so these are the factors that increased our throughput.
A lot of people have expressed concerns that in spite of shortening the prohibition list we still have smuggling going on
There is nowhere in the world that smuggling is eliminated, what the government decided to do is to reduce it to the barest minimum so that the economy can improve, because smuggling has a very negative effect on the economy in terms of building the local industry and it destroys the economy, when you start to bring in things which are not part of the system, it destroys the internal mechanism in terms of trade, so smuggling is not a good thing and that is why government has to look into how it can change in terms of looking into how they can help the local industry and see how things can move well. So smuggling is something that with time it will reduce because government is looking at how it can be reduced.
What is the essence of that task force on customs which you are a member of?
The task force was created to harmonize previous reports, come out with a blueprint and guide the implementation of all our reports and recommendations. What we have done so far is to put our self in the room and come out with a blueprint and we have been able to submit an interim report, we are awaiting government’s direction and I believe that what the committee has done is a tremendous work and I believe strongly that when implemented, it will go a long way to help the economy to bounce back and sustain itself properly because there are so many things that the task force has looked into. You must know that we have to look at all other recommendations, we have harmonized them and have come out with a blueprint, and this is not a question of jumping from place to place in the port, it’s a question of sitting down, looking at these reports, seeking other ones that are relevant to customs operations. We have incorporated all the principles into the recommendation, the ISPS code and other relevant conventions are part of the recommendations of the task force. The task force is not just jumping up and down, they have sat in and done a very wonderful job and when the recommendations start, you will begin to see what they have done.
How can you convince stakeholders that it not to change the management of the Customs?
The UNCTAD developed the concept of reforms, reform is not to change people, it is bringing out the technical infrastructure and tools for effective handling of trade, it is not about removing somebody and bringing another, if you bring in another man and he does not have the tools to work with what do you do? So the focus is: what is the international best practice in terms of form and structure, conducting a reform on the basis of UNCTAD is for you to look at how you can bring in tools to work and bring in a process engineering concept, in terms of employment you have to generate them, the issue of reform looking at people and saying it is based on management is not true, it is to put the right thing in the right place and have the right instrument, tools and correct environment to work, and it also looks at the relevant aspects of the law to put them in order so that it can meet up with the international best practices. Invariably, the government itself has done well in bringing about the tools; for example the scanners, today things are easier and simpler, if you look at ASYCUDA++ where you have the DTI and the core components of ASYCUDA which is the selective principles and the tax- based systems. All these are to facilitate trade and make it faster, easier and what we are trying to do is to see how these things can be enhanced so that we will be able to meet up with the target which is the objective of setting it up. So we believe strongly in it that it must follow international best practice, and once you are there, there must be continuity. Removing somebody and putting another is not the strength of reform
So it means this committee will not remove anybody?
We are not moving anyone, our own is do what we have been sent to do and we are coming out with a blueprint which will be guided in implementation, this is our terms of reference and we have done most of the job up to 75%, it remains for us to continue to do what we want to do.
How soon do we expect the implementation to start?
It is supposed to have started, but we are still there, what we have done so far is that we have been able to harmonize these new ideas, it all now depends on government. But the truth of the matter is that the committee has done a great job and we thank God for the kind of men and the chairman there, everybody is working together as a family.
What do you expect from the maritime industry in 2011?
There is a lot of expectations, the maritime industry is the bedrock of any nation, that is why you see a country like America still talk about the Jones Act, this was an Act established a very long time ago and today they have modified their laws, they have incorporated it, all this Cabotage that we are talking about is just to empower indigenous operators and protect them from these fundamental areas for the growth of the nation. I believe strongly that we should reinvigorate the Cabotage concept; we must borrow a leaf from the Americans, first of all we need a maritime task force where every of these requirements will be channeled like we have in America, secondly is to incorporate the Nigerian Customs into the Cabotage act because we are having two duplicated Acts; that is, the coastal laws of the Cabotage Act is duplicated and there is no where in the world where the customs is not included in these aspect of the trade, if you look at our Cabotage Act, there is a problem between the indigenous operators and customs because the customs is not part of the system, but in America customs takes care of the cargo. There are four elements in the process of the Cabotage; first is the cargo, second is the ship, the labour and the ship yard. In all these four, where does the country stand today, what has NIMASA done for the indigenous operators as of today, these are the fundamental issues, because the essence of the 25% of the maritime fund is to build capacity and enable the indigenous operators so that they can operate and create employment and build the nation so that our economy will be enhanced, we have all the advantages, for example, we control 75% of the cargo within the West African sub region but what are we doing with the advantage? We are losing our cargo to neighboring countries because of the way we are actualizing our dreams, our dreams are not goood dreams, we dream selfishly, we must dreams of service so that government can benefit from activities of most of these organizations. If you take a look at NIMASA, NPA, Shippers Council and NIWA and check their laws you will find out that we are in a problem, what are these agencies doing
You have a conflict with the CRFFN, have those conflicts been resolved?
I don’t have a conflict with the Council, it is the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding, we want to know what is freight forwarding and the court is going to interprete that properly because I am a licensed customs agent and I have a law that takes care of me which is CEMA, you don’t call it conflict, it is a question of addressing it because there is nowhere in the world that actions are duplicated, when you have one from finance and another from transport, and import and export is being controlled by finance, so it is not a conflict, but a question of how to see how we can put to rest the tension we have in the industry. What is the function of a freight forwarder, who is a freight forwarder and so on, the court is going to interpret that properly, for the interest of the economy, the nation and the seaport so that there will be no conflict.
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