Frontline clearing agent at the Seme border post, Chief Sam Madubuike in this chat with Shipping Position Daily correspondent, Roland Ekama spoke on issues surrounding border businesses, the challenges faced by operators and Customs. He also talked extensively on multiple checkpoints mounted government agencies along the border routes
“ It Is Almost Very Difficult For You To Smuggle Anything Again; If One Checkpoint Decides To Compromise, Others May Not”
Frontline clearing agent at the Seme border post, Chief Sam Madubuike in this chat with Shipping Position Daily correspondent, Roland Ekama spoke on issues surrounding border businesses, the challenges faced by operators and Customs. He also talked extensively on multiple checkpoints mounted government agencies along the border routes
“ It Is Almost Very Difficult For You To Smuggle Anything Again; If One Checkpoint Decides To Compromise, Others May Not”
Please, tell us about yourself and the nature of your business?
My name is Chief Samuel Madubuike, I am the Chief Executive Office, Sam Express Cargo Services Limited, I am one of the clearing agents based in the border and we are into clearing of goods from the border and also across West Africa borders. In this part of the world, the job of clearing consignment is quite peculiar when compared to Tin Can Island Port and Lagos Ports Complex (LPC), because it seems to be more organised here in Seme, thus what applies to one is applicable to others in the area of charges. Unlike Apapa and Tin Can Island ports where charges vary, here it is uniformity to all the freight agents. The nature of our job here is that whoever has a better image and good reputation gets things done faster. However operations at the border are a more organised for freight forwarders who are into clearing of goods from neighbouring countries to Nigeria.
Looking at operations from the border post, would say smuggling of consignments have increased or not?
I think years back, smuggling of items used to be the order of the day including other criminal activities but today, I wonder if we still find smugglers here, because even what we are supposed to call smuggling now has a union. They are all unionized in such a way that most of the things that are supposed to be prohibited are no more prohibited. Apart from poultry products and vegetable oil, I don't thing others are listed as prohibition, because most items are dutiable. So all they do is that they come in groups and in unions instead of individual trading and more so, our border is peculiar because it only has one inlet and outlet which also makes it very difficult for smuggling activities to thrive , therefore anything that will cross the border has to cross all the checkpoints, I must say it is almost very difficult for you to smuggle anything again; if one checkpoint decides to compromise, others may not and apart from the customs checkpoints here , we still have external checkpoints mounted by the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) and the Comptroller General of Customs taskforce, while other agencies like police and army are all here to check what comes in. Even the army that is not supposed to be on ground has more than four checkpoints there to monitor smuggling activities. I wonder where the smugglers will pass to beat the agencies along the road unlike our sister border station at Idiroko where we have over a thousand and one routes ; and I want to believe that it will be very difficult for them to record 100% success against smuggling activities ,again it is very easy to block Seme and Gbaji bridge ;making it more difficult for smugglers to come in with goods and the worse thing they can do is to come in with their goods through the inland waters, but again we have the Nigeria Navy, Marine Customs and Police waiting for them because that is their jurisdiction . Seme border post is not what it used to be in the time past because smuggling activities is also out of the picture except through the forests and the swamps, then in that case I may believe that it is still ongoing but general I will say the border is very safe from such activities.
But despite your position we still record instances where imported vehicles from Benin Republic are smuggled through unapproved routes into Nigeria, what do you think can be done to stop this practice?
Before now smuggling of vehicles used to be very easy because Cotonou is another country and people can clear their cars there and register it in Cotonou , bring it in through ECOWAS bond, then it was difficult to stop them because their document is correct ;most especially when they are using the ambassadorial plate numbers which you don't have any right to check, but all that has changed now because with the introduction of the CG taskforce , nobody cares whether you happen to be an ambassador or not, you must be checked due to the security issues we are facing in the country at the moment. The level of smuggling vehicles now at the border is at its lowest stage, it is what we are aware of and everyday we see officers diverting cars to the command for either seizures or detention and in that same process, it will only take the grace of God to get your cars back when it gets to the customs command, especially if it has anything to do with smuggling or low duty payment. I remember that back then, Badagry used to be a flying zone of vehicle smuggling but it is no more the same.
What is your take on the performance of the Nigeria Customs Service?
Like I have always said, I think the Nigeria Customs Service is at its best, with Alhaji Dikko Inde and his men. I think customs is at its peak and I hope after Dikko the customs will not be rated low because they are doing very well at the moment and the shirt and shoe he is wearing at the moment might be too big for others to wear, especially when the next Comptroller General does not have the patronage from the President of the country, but Alhaji Dikko’s performance in the last four years has been outstanding. No one can imagine how the CG has been able to carry out constant and steady promotion of officers and men of the service, because before now it was very difficult to get promoted in the service. In the area of recruitment, the customs boss has been able to employ youths in their thousands in last four years which I must say is unprecedented in the history of the Nigeria Customs Service. Under his regime so far we have witnessed three recruitment exercises which were made known to the general public. The transformation that has taken place has been unprecedented because we never expected the Customs to move this far , we hosted the World Customs Organisation, we also collaborated with Benin Republic to co -host as well and before now it has never been in the history of our customs.
Do you think operators within the border have also embraced the introduction of PAAR?
PAAR as we all know has very good intention, but the only problem we have with PAAR is the implementation in the sense that the agent is supposed to make their declarations and customs will investigate and approve it, but the officers that are in charge of the issuance of PAAR are not making things to be easy for the customs because it is expected that when you apply , you submit your papers to the banks today and by tomorrow it is supposed to be with the customs and in the next 48 hours, it is expected that your papers are out. But sometimes, you will be forced to go to Abuja or send someone to Abuja before those papers are prepared. Nobody expects that in the real sense of it, one is expected to follow up the issuance of PAAR to Abuja because it is a document that goes straight from top to bottom, thus until the officers at the issuing office stop expecting agents to come for their PAAR, I think it is not going to be very successful.
Would you say that Nigeria is indeed ripe for the new automotive policy?
The auto policy has a good intention, but it is coming at the wrong time because before you make a policy and allow it to succeed, you must put in place the necessary infrastructure. Assuming the automobile companies in Nigeria have their equipment on ground in good working condition, it would have been better for government to allow them to produce their brands in hundreds of thousands at an affordable price for Nigerians to understand what made-in-Nigeria brand entails before embarking on a ban for the importation of used vehicles into Nigeria. We all know that importation of vehicles into Nigeria came as a result of harsh economy that Nigeria is faced with, therefore so many people cannot afford the new one and if you are bringing in this new cars, you must make sure that they are quite affordable, very cheap for the people as well as making it available for Nigerians. If the demand outweighs the supply then there is a problem. You will also agree with me that the tokunbo cars have helped so many Nigerians in different ways, but it is not the same with the new cars and it’s a problem that needs to be addressed by our government. If the facilities by the car manufacturing companies are in place, then I will say it will succeed but if there are no infrastructures in place then it’s a problem.
What then, should the government do?
What the government should do firstly is to refurbish all the existing automobile plants, equip them properly to meet modern standard, because most of them, as far as I am concerned have outdated structures and facilities. When you look at what Ford and Renaults are doing you will agree with me that we are far from it because their brand of design is not obtainable in Nigeria.
With is relationship among the freight forwarding associations at Seme border?
NAGAFF and ANLCA at Seme are like brothers. Before now we were all in ANLCA, but politics and greed made some people to move over to other associations. We have always been friends to each other and it will be difficult for us to ignore those that are not our members whenever there are issues irrespective of the association that they belong, we work together to ensure smooth trade facilitation and we have it at the back of our mind that if there is any division among us, the customs will take advantage of this and deal with us and besides we have decided that we will work together and collectively.
How about the relationship between Customs and the freight forwarding associations?
The relationship between my association which is ANLCA, and others in respect to the operations with the customs is very cordial. When we have problem with customs who are our common enemy, we come together and tackle it collectively.
What are the challenges faced by operators in Seme?
The border itself is under- developed; for instance the road has been abandoned for a while now, and then the multiple agencies that you have on the road are not making trade easy for the operators because all of them are looking for money, you also have SON and NAFDAC there which is not suppose to be. They have their multiple checkpoints like policemen and for any little business you want to do you have to go and seek permission from them, which I strong disagree with at the border. In the seaports, for example, it is when you need them that you invite them to come, but at the border they are everywhere, they have their own checkpoints. Quarantine is common at Gbaji same goes to the health and agriculture officials and all of them are impediments to trade.
What are the associations doing to stop the trend?
The associations cannot do so much because some of the heads of the agencies are indigenes of Badagry communities and as the case maybe, there is nothing you can do because when you push him so much, he will report you to the Obas and traditional rulers that are very powerful. They have their own stake in all their operations. Sometimes they go after any individual who tries to intimidate their operations and all these are the impediments we are faced with at the border.
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