Some stakeholders have argued, albeit correctly that the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) of the Nigeria Customs Service is not novel, they said it is only rehearse of the old tool of destination inspection, that is the Risk Assessment Report (RAR).
To these people, PAAR has only transferred the responsibilities of the destination inspection service providers to the Customs. So there is no way PAAR would be assessed without comparison, talks and thoughts about its precursor; RAR and destination inspection scheme.
Some stakeholders have argued, albeit correctly that the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) of the Nigeria Customs Service is not novel, they said it is only rehearse of the old tool of destination inspection, that is the Risk Assessment Report (RAR).
To these people, PAAR has only transferred the responsibilities of the destination inspection service providers to the Customs. So there is no way PAAR would be assessed without comparison, talks and thoughts about its precursor; RAR and destination inspection scheme.
The idea of Destination Inspection of imports was first mooted in 2001, with July of the same year fixed as its commencement date, but that was not to be as the Federal Government through the then- minister of finance; Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala announced a new take-off date of 2004. But these dates kept changing, until 2006 when it finally took-off.
At the flag-off, Cotecna was given the contract for destination of all imports into Nigeria; a development which was resisted by some interest groups. This delayed the take-off date.
But on account of the myriads of disagreements and opposition to Cotecna’s exclusive contract, government eventually agreed to split the deal among the three destination inspection agents, namely: Cotecna, SGS and Global Scan.
At the flag-off, the nation’s entry points were farmed out to the three service providers, such that, Cotecna was given Lagos seaports, Jibya and Banki land borders in Katsina and Borno states respectively. SGS won the contract to inspect imports coming into the country through Onne port (Rivers state), Idiroko land border (Ogun state) and Port Harcourt airport. Lastly, Global Scan got the deal for Warri and Calabar seaports, Seme land border in Lagos state and Murtala Mohammed International airport and the PTML port in Lagos. This arrangement was to later change towards the end of the contract.
Certainly, expectations were very high as to whether or not the scheme was capable of correcting the shortcomings of many years of pre-shipment inspection of imports, which we are told, was fraught with many problems such as: discrepancies in value, quantity and delay in issuance of the all-important Clean Report of Inspection (CRI) by the pre-shipment inspection agents. There were also allegations of discovery of large-scale importation of prohibited items, upon physical examinations by the Nigeria Customs Service personnel.
It can be argued that between 2006 and 2013 when the service providers were operators of destination inspection scheme, the Nigeria Customs Service became more professional.
Initially, when the Nigeria Customs Service was cleared to take over the scheme, there were mixed reactions about its ability to make a possible success of it. Some had raised alarm over the possibility of hackers penetrating the system, while others pointed at the possibility of power failure crippling the exercise.
Rising to the challenge, the Customs CG has answers for these apprehensions. He told stakeholders that the service has trained competent hands to forestall the possible activities of internet hackers. He also assured that there is adequate power back up.
Given the facts that are available, and the need to start sorting out our problems and begin to grow our indigenous capacities, the Nigeria Customs Service should be supported. This can be done when importers adhere to the guidelines that have already been made public. Now is the time also for licensed customs agents to get adequate training, because certainly the face of cargo clearance and delivery will change.
Most importantly, the Customs must not rest on its oars, thinking that by retrieving destination inspection from the service providers is the ultimate. There is a lot more work ahead if the service must succeed in the new task. It must start with the Nigeria Customs Service inventing a mechanism to stop its officers from frustrating the process.
We may not yet have a perfect and iron-cast cargo clearance system, but the average importer or freight forwarder will agree with us that the destination inspection scheme has engendered a new lease of life for Nigerian importers, especially since the Nigeria Customs Service took over.
It is gratifying that not only has the PAAR aided cargo clearance, it has also saved a lot of revenue for the nation, as confirmed recently be the Customs.
At recent industry gathering, the Area Project Manager of the Customs ASYCUDA at the Apapa Area Command, Deputy Comptroller Yusuf Malanta Ibrahim said that the since taking over of destination inspection, the Nigeria Customs Service has saved the country about N36.7 billion, representing the one percent Comprehensive Import Supervision Scheme (CISS) that the service providers were collecting on imports for their services.
Malanta had also said that since the introduction of the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR), the Customs has been fine tuning the process of its issuance to ensure that trade is facilitated. He added that the Service now work round the clock in three shifts of officers at the PAAR ruling center in Abuja, saying that the 24 hours operations has led to an average of 1,000 to 1,200 PAAR’s being generated daily.
He explained that with PAAR, the importers knew in advance and could predict the duties and taxes payable on their consignments even before examination.
No doubt, these are commendable achievements, no one could say prior to PAAR that Customs personnel could work in shift and round the clock, no one could also vouch that the service’s personnel could work on weekends.
Apart from saving the nation revenue and changing the work ethics of Customs personnel, it has also significantly aided cargo clearance. This has been attended to by the end user- the importers and their agents.
The only conflict in the operations of PAAR remains argument about whether it is sacrosanct or not and Customs has declared that PAAR can be queried by its officers. This may appear ridiculous because it is a supposedly infallible system designed by the Customs, but its outcome is based on inputs from the importer. This is why the Customs preaches that, genuine declaration on the part of the importer is vital to the success of PAAR and attainment of the elusive 48 hours cargo clearance.
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