Clearing agents at the Lagos Ports Complex, Apapa have said that the recent first quarter revenue profile released by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has vindicated their call for the recall of the destination inspection service providers.
They said the return is imperative to avoid economic shut down, due to the inability of the Customs Service to generate the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR), as at when due.
Clearing agents at the Lagos Ports Complex, Apapa have said that the recent first quarter revenue profile released by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has vindicated their call for the recall of the destination inspection service providers.
They said the return is imperative to avoid economic shut down, due to the inability of the Customs Service to generate the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR), as at when due.
According to the released revenue profile, Customs says it collected N77.9 billion as against N400 billion it had proposed to collect in the first three months of the year.
The amount was also less than half of the N191.3 billion collected by the Service in the first quarter of 2013.
A document of the revenue profile released by the NCS in Abuja, indicated that N27.4 billion was collected in January, N23.8 billion in February and N26.7 billion in March.
However, a clearing agent; David Pius while speaking about the revenue collected by Customs in the first quarter called for the re-introduction of the sacked service providers to augment the job of the Customs, because, according to him, the Customs lacks the capacity to deliver on the job given to them.
He stressed further that the Customs service lacked the wherewithal to deliver on the job, saying that, this has reflected in the poor revenue collected in the first quarter of 2014.
"Customs should be asked to honorably step down if they can’t give the customers the best, they hurriedly took over the PAAR scheme, even when they know they do not have the wherewithal to do the job”, he argued.
"People are crying because their jobs are not coming out and agents are accruing huge demurrage every day, the shipping companies and terminal operators are smiling to banks while our business and the economy is suffering because of Customs’ inability to generate PAAR.”
Continuing, Pius said: "There is confusion in the port environments because Customs is taking a lead role they have no capacity to fill, it takes more than two months to get your PAAR processed, Customs must put its house in order”.
Towing the same line of thought, another stakeholder; Kehinde Odumuyiwa also called on the Federal Government to urgently ask the four service providers to take over destination inspection scheme in other to salvage the situation.
Odumuyiwa, said pressure is mounting in the nation's port system over the failure of Customs to issue the all-important PAAR on time.
According to him, it takes the Nigeria Customs Service over two months to issue PAAR. This delay had made the freight forwarders to ask government to hand over the destination inspection duties back to the service providers.
He said Customs lacks the competence to manage the PAAR system effectively. "Clearing agents and importers are currently groaning under heavy demurrage they have accrued on their consignments at the port due to the failure of customs to generate PAAR on time”, he lamented.
Odumuyiwa also indicted the various freight forwarding associations in the industry, alleging that they have been compromised by the Customs top management.
"They failed to speak the mind and pains of their members because they have been compromised by the Comptroller General of Customs.
"People have been applying for PAAR, but it is not coming out, customs is just using the associations, the leadership of the associations is not saying the truth, maybe they have something they are gaining from the CG."
"Since 1st of March, no PAAR has been coming out, I have applied for a lot of PAAR, but till now the containers are still at the port attracting demurrage".
"Custom is not saying the truth, they are only saying things to cover their inadequacies," he said.
He continued, "when Cotecna and the rest of the service providers were in charge, it normally took maybe three days to get your RAR, but now the PAAR is taking two months, how do they want the economy to boom" he asked.
Odumuyiwa said that the destination inspection duties have proven to be a job too big for the Customs. “The inspection agents were three, but now customs is doing it alone, the service employ about 4000 staff, how many staff do Customs have."
"The embarrassment is becoming too much and we don't want to lose our clients, Nigerian economy is getting down" the freight forwarder said.
Also, recently the National President of the National council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Lucky Amiwero petitioned the presidency over Customs inability to generate PAAR there by impeding trade facilitation.
In the petition, the council had raised alarm that the economic impact is high cost of clearance and delays, which will eventually lead to possible closure of most factories due to inability to access the available stocks from the ports.
“Most goods that are in the port has no Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) to clear them, which is accumulating huge demurrage and rent and no respite in site (sic) from government making importers look for alternative through diversion of cargoes to neighbouring West African ports to reduce delay and cost, which is detrimental to the economy.
“The Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) is supposed to be issued before the arrival of the goods, as against the weeks and months that it was issued after the arrival of the goods at the port, which negates the objective of the establishment of Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) regime and drastically slow (sic) down the activities of clearance that necessitates the build ups and tension at the ports,” Amiwero stated in his petition to President Jonathan.
Efforts to reach the National Public Relation Officer (PRO) of Customs; Mr Wale Adeniyi for comment were unsuccessful. Calls to his telephone number were unanswered, while text message sent were un-replied
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