Port Operators Laud Passage Of CEMA Bill

The Shippers’ Association of Lagos State has expressed satisfaction that the National Assembly had finally listened to requests for passage of the Customs & Excise Management (CEMA) Bill.

The Shippers’ Association of Lagos State has expressed satisfaction that the National Assembly had finally listened to requests for passage of the Customs & Excise Management (CEMA) Bill.
Secretary of the Association; Mr Jonathan Nicol, while congratulating the upper house for passing the CEMA Bill, however submitted that : “The bill ought to have been passed since 10 years ago, the customs procedures have been outdated and should have been updated long before now.“Some of the grey areas of the old CEMA bill would have been removed to meet international standard,’’ Nicol said.
The Senate passed the CEMA Bill into law this month as promised. Members of the upper legislative chamber said that they considered the passage of the bill as very crucial to the nation’s economy.
He said that the CEMA Bill, when implemented, would improve revenue generation for the maritime industry.
Nicol said that the document would also take care of corruption at the ports since it had nothing to do with politics.
Nicol said that implementation of the bill would also result in more importers using Nigerian ports.
Similarly, a  Trustee of the association Mr Nicodemus Odolo, commended the passage of the bill by the upper house, saying that, the old CEMA law had become obsolete.
“We have grown beyond the level of the old CEMA law and this new bill will specify special penalties for defaulters such as in the case of wrong declaration and concealment,’’ Odolo told newsmen.
A factional leader of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Mr Lucky Amiwero, however, said that the provisions of the Act should be harmonised by the two chambers.
Amiwero said that the harmonisation was necessary in view of the differences in the provisions of the Act as passed by the two chambers.
He said that maritime stakeholders would have to adopt a wait and see attitude until the provisions were harmonised by the upper and lower houses.
“CEMA is not a Customs bill; it is a bill to take control of the economy.
“After the constitution, the next most important bill should be the CEMA bill, as it takes care of a wide section of the economy, including specifying the powers of the President.
“It is an economic bill meant for the Minister of Finance to apply,’’ Amiwero said.
He said that 40 per cent of the provisions of CEMA bill was made of international trade conventions which should be diligently applied in order to see obvious results.