Deputy Controller of Customs, Yussuf Malanta Ibrahim is the Asycuda Project Manager (APM Terminal) at the Apapa Command of the Nigeria Customs Service. In this chat with Shipping Position Daily correspondent; Dapo Olawuni, he talked about the progress and workings of the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR), which is a trade document invented by the Customs about nine months ago.Yussuf also acknowledged importers, clearing agents and the trading public for their increased level of compliance to customs procedures.
Deputy Controller of Customs, Yussuf Malanta Ibrahim is the Asycuda Project Manager (APM Terminal) at the Apapa Command of the Nigeria Customs Service. In this chat with Shipping Position Daily correspondent; Dapo Olawuni, he talked about the progress and workings of the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR), which is a trade document invented by the Customs about nine months ago.Yussuf also acknowledged importers, clearing agents and the trading public for their increased level of compliance to customs procedures.
Why do Customs query value and quantity of cargoes after the PAAR has been issued?
It is possible to query PAAR because it is just documentary evidence, therefore if your PAAR is contrary to what is seen inside the container in terms of quantity, in terms of classification, the releasing officer can query it and a debit note will be raised. When you have a PAAR and you don't declare the true value, or the quantity and HS code of your consignment then what is the essence of PAAR?
The argument of the importers is that they do not import from the same countries, so the value cannot be the same.
I will be in a better position to tell you that because I know what is happening in the European markets as well as the Asian markets, when we talk of Asian market we talk of China, India, Dubai and all the related Asian countries, when we talk about European market we talk of the US, Italy, Spain, and we know that by quality and standard this region is higher and that is why we even say that internationally accepted price for ceramic tiles is going to be 5.30 per square metre from Europe and 3.50 per square metre from China, so we know the price of products from China and those from Europe, so for somebody to tell you that we group the price of product together, it is not possible; professionally and we don't do it.
Why is Customs demanding 25% penalty on every alert issued on a cargo?
Alert is nothing but guidance, for example you are leaving Apapa for Maryland and you tune in your radio station, they are telling that there is traffic gridlock at Western Avenue, Mile 2 and so on, it is now up to you either to follow that route or to change the route, that does not mean if you follow the route you will encounter the traffic, before you get there the road might have been cleared; so the alert is just telling the examining officer to be conscious and double check, the alert is as a result of the variation in documentation that was put in the system, that is why people at the system audit at the headquarters who are privy to all the soft copies and information from customs declarations will not issue an alert on the cargo. For example you declared 600 cartons of tomato paste in a 20foot container, but as a professional, in the actual sense I know it is about 1200 cartons, but still I am not going to value the container, I am going to value the items inside it, so I will send an alert telling you that the value is low, but it is now left to the examiner to write back that the container is not fully loaded or that it contains other items, hence value can be considered okay.
And importers must pay a penalty for the alert?
Yes of course, in every default there must be a penalty and the penalty is stated clearly in our CEMA book, your false declaration is done intentionally, and if we allow you to do it again you will still keep repeating it.
Why can't Customs make the valuation book public?
Even if we make the valuation of cargo to be public, you are not valuing the container but the items inside the container, so what are you going to put to the public? What if you say a 20-foot container is so and so amount, but at the end of the day an importer does not fill the container? Or is it not possible for me to buy goods according to the amount of money I have? The most important thing is for you to declare the true value of your consignment in order to avoid any unnecessary delay.
Is it possible to re-route PAAR as some agents have alleged?
Re-routing of RAR was possible and it is not anything about money, we had three service providers- Cotecna, SGS and Global Scan, if you have applied through Cotecna but unfortunately our cargo falls under SGS, so for you to start a fresh process you just re-route the consignment to Cotecna, but this time around it is only one platform, so what are you rerouting? It is a false accusation.
Is it possible to decentralize the PAAR ruling centre instead of having just one in Abuja?
How can you decentralize the ruling centre when we are clamouring for a one-stop-shop? If you decentralize it you cannot have a perfect control of the server, you have to understand that this is a Nigerian project and implemented by Nigerians, if we decentralize the ruling centre, then the purpose of PAAR would have been defeated, the issue of decentralizing was when the service providers were in charge of the system. Cotecna, SGS and Globalscan all handling different servers, but as it is, the guys in Abuja are not overwhelmed because they can produce a PAAR in six hours or two hours, you can only talk of decentralizing when you see that PAAR is not coming out at the right time, sometimes when you lodge your PAAR, before you get back to your office the document is already out.
There are allegations that some of the banks collect bribes before they transmit PAAR
I don't know about this and I have never heard about it before, if your bank is asking you for money, close the account and go to another bank, nobody is restricted from going to where you can get a better service.
How do you treat complaints coming as a result of PAAR?
This is a port and there has never been a day that you don't get 50 to 100 complaints, both genuine ones and un-genuine ones, we sieve the genuine complaints and treat them with utmost dispatch.
How will you describe the compliance level of operators at this command?
We thank God that the compliance level is growing all the time, we know where we are heading from and where we are heading to, the importers, the agents and the trading public are trying so much when it comes to compliance level, you can even see it in your own declaration and the way you will see people around, one thing I want you to understand about compliance is that when there is compliance you will not see too many people around, if you look at the Apapa command now, people are not loitering around because the process is moving fast and smooth.
This is nine months into PAAR implementation, what are the areas where importers are yet to comply with?
People are impatience; stakeholders have tried so much because it is not easy to be compliant in electronic transmission. For example, when you buy a new phone you struggle with yourself to learn it, talk less of a stakeholder in an industry that is always in a hurry and faster than their hearts, but now everything has been stabilized, I don't think there is any issue on the compliance level.
What is your final message to freight forwarders over the PAAR?
My final message to them is that they should continue their good work of compliance and they should continue educating their importers on the need to be transparent, sincere and honest in their declaration, agents do not go to the market to buy goods, in most cases it is what the importer gives them that they work with, sometimes the importer tells them he has red inside the container, but upon customs examination you discover it is yellow, so they should continue to educate the importer because this is what will reduce the pressure on them.
What is customs doing about some officers who are trying to frustrate PAAR?
I never knew of any officer who is trying to do this, but I know in every system there will be resistance, this is because it is a new project and they don't know what will happen, people might back out and watch from a distance in other to be sure of what the new system is, but not to jeopardize efforts of the department they belong.
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