Chukwumalu Emeka [Nat.Sec.Gen. SNFFIEC]
Chukwumalu Emeka [Nat.Sec.Gen. SNFFIEC]
What the customs called benchmark is wrong in the sense that there is what we call the 3 ‘E’. There must be emergency after, that you do want we call enlightenment before execution and on the part of the customs they executed without enlightenment and that is a problem to the industry. So the issue of benchmark is wrong because they are making use of tariff in the first place and tariff is a legal document enabled by an Act, but this piece of paper has no basis. If they want to do the normal thing after that town hall meeting with stakeholders, the customs management is supposed to come to a round table and put pen to paper on what they agreed upon, then take it to National Assembly or the ministry of finance for approval before embarking on it, but as I am talking to you, there is no negotiation even the one they call town hall meeting nothing positive came out of it. As at present, many importers are not ready to carry their goods out of the port because of customs decision and it has changed their programme and as a matter of fact, all these things will fall back to the final consumers which will lead to inflation because an importer who has 20 containers in the port will be looking for another additional money for him to move his goods out of the port. I must say that the benchmark duty by the customs is totally illegal; we do not want it at all in the port system.
Mr. Andy Nnamdi [Importer]
I think it is the N1Trillion target given to them by the federal government that led to the initiative called benchmark valuation, but the bitter truth about the whole thing is that the end user will suffer for the whole thing because after paying the so called benchmark duty on imported items to customs, then the importers will like to make profit also from what he or she imported, so if we continue like this then we are in for a tough time ahead of us. The bottom line is that it will definitely lead to inflation and that is the truth.
Mr. Joseph Nnamocha [PRO ANLCA, Apapa Chapter]
The benchmark issue is a welcome development though for a long time now the customs has been extorting seriously because we do not know the standard of the actual amount to pay but in respect of that we are seeking for the implementation of the benchmark but the yearning of the importers is that there should an extension, I think it is the best decision that should be made by the customs so that at a certain time, they will be prepared to confront what is ahead of them because you don’t just make a policy and start immediately. I will say that they should give the importers more time, may be a grace of three months to enable them clear what is on ground. However like I said earlier, it is a welcome one and we are yearning for it, but it will make the price of commodities in the market to go high which I know it is not too good for the economy of the nation.
Mr. Robert C. Achusim [Freight Forwarder]
Government should intervene and address this issue because the disadvantages are just too many. First of all, it will lead to inflation by those in the markets will definitely increase the prices of their commodities in order to make profit, the rate of smuggling of goods will increase as a means to cut corners by importers, some stubborn importers will embrace other neighboring ports in West Africa. So it is not really a welcome idea in the country. If they want to meet the N1 trillion target it does not mean that they will kill the importer with the benchmark initiative which to me is being too overzealous on their part. Government should come to the aid of the importers; otherwise the benchmark duty on imported item will cause a lot of problems to the government, the common man and the country in general.
George Okafor (Freight Forwarder)
The issue of benchmark is something I believe the custom still have to educate people more about, it is not something that they will just wake up and decide to impose, everybody is involved including the importers who have already taken loan to do this business, if you now put up this benchmark, it will definitely affect their business, so custom should give it some time and educate the importers and the agents more about it, so that when the scheme finally kicks- off, it will not be a problem to trade facilitation or create bottleneck in the clearing process, some of these importers do not usually believe the agents, they believe you want to swindle them of their money, but meanwhile it is not the agents’ fault, it is government policy, they should give us time to educate our clients so that everyone will be able to follow it.
Bolade Lawrence (Asst. Nat. Sec, ANLCA)
In my own opinion, there is nothing wrong with benchmark, especially on vehicles; it will bring about uniformity in the clearing of goods. It will also reduce extortion by agencies in the port; however, the whole exercise should be given adequate publicity.
Nwajagu Paul (Chair, NCMDLCA, Tin Can Chapter)
What we should be looking at is not cancellation or delay of the scheme, but how favourable it will be for the Nigerian economy, if it is not favourable and yet you delayed its implementation for a month or even 30 years, anytime you return it, it will amount to the same thing. So the issue does not border on whether to delay it or cancel it, the issue is on the benefit of the benchmark, you can decide to cancel it but what if it is a good thing? The idea of cancellation does not come up, what we should be looking at is the cost benefit analysis and we are going to analyse it to know if it’s favourable for the country.
Dr. Frank Ukor (President, AREFFN)
The customs recently came out with a benchmark and the benchmark is a good thing because we have been clamoring that they should come up with a data base so that it can reduce the level of money we give them. They have said that the benchmark is not on value but on cargo, for instance if you have goods on letter of credit and you are going to repatriate your money at the end of the day, and your declaration is genuine, then they are not giving you value on that, they are giving benchmark on the goods that does not have actual value, if you pay the actual value, you may not be able to sell the product, so now, they are going to give you benchmark base on the cargo so that you can sell and make profit. But the only thing we are lamenting now is that some of the values they give are so high and they don’t have human face and we want them to do it with a human face.
Abdullakeem Akanji (Mikkol Maritime Services Limited)
I think the Nigeria Customs Service should give more time and sensitize people on what they mean by benchmark, they should also tell us the lowest or reasonable duty they want to be giving us either on vehicles or general cargoes, they should give more time because the economy is not even buoyant now, they should not compound the problem of people when there is no money and the economy is somehow slow all over the world, they should be reasonable and not just jump to conclusion on benchmarks, how many people are importing now; unlike before, the benchmark is a reasonable development, but they should give more time.
Chief Fabian Okafor [NAGAFF, KLT Chairman]
Stakeholders were not carried along as regards the benchmark duty set up by customs, which makes us to wonder the kind of system we are operating in. Now when you look at the issue of the benchmark proper the Customs and Excise Management Act [CEMA] does not allow for such initiative and even at that, are there any provisions for border and other areas from where these goods come into the country. The benchmark is not welcomed at all because it will lead to inflation and the country’s economy is not even stable at the moment
Mr Osisi Tico Philip [Vice President, Int’l Relations, NAGAFF]
The benchmark valuation on imported items is not welcomed at all because in the first instance the government has passed the year’s budget and it is under implementation and on the part of the customs they should have waited till next year before meeting with stakeholders on issues like this and even in doing so ,stakeholders must be carried along. You don’t just sit down and wake up in the morning and roll out benchmark even with the economic hardship does not allow such things at all. As a result of hardship in the country a lot of factories have fold up or gone to neighbouring countries and importers on their part are crying about how to clear the goods from the ports. However there is no justification for the benchmark.
Mr. Ugbah Jude [Freight Forwarder]
How does the Customs intend to achieve the so- called benchmark when we have congestion at the port and the roads are not good? In the first place, the idea is a suspicious because you wouldn’t peg a benchmark when we all are saying that the economy is bad and the level of importation is dropping. It not about somebody waking up one morning to come with benchmark on imported items, our leaders in the various freight forwarding associations should stand up to this issue once and for all because it is going to affect the end users in this country. It is not fair to wake up one morning and charge people unnecessarily because you want to meet government target of N1Trillion.
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