Comptroller Adegoke Folorunsho is the new Customs Area Controller at the PTML Command of the Nigeria Customs Service. He was previously head of the command’s ASYCUDA unit. Shipping Position Daily correspondent Dapo Olawuni had a one-on-one with him penultimate week in his office and the Controller spoke of his plans for the PTML Customs command, as well and sundry issues
Is it true that you have not met with stakeholders since you came?
Comptroller Adegoke Folorunsho is the new Customs Area Controller at the PTML Command of the Nigeria Customs Service. He was previously head of the command’s ASYCUDA unit. Shipping Position Daily correspondent Dapo Olawuni had a one-on-one with him penultimate week in his office and the Controller spoke of his plans for the PTML Customs command, as well and sundry issues
Is it true that you have not met with stakeholders since you came?
They have come on a courtesy visit, we actually planned to have the meeting and they were even talking about the number of people to be brought to that meeting, the NAGAFF and the ANLCA in order to make it a wider house and we fixed it for Thursday, can we work without them? Everything we are doing is for them, already we had fixed a meeting for Thursday, and I held a meeting with them yesterday, so I don't know why they will go back and say we snubbed them. The first day I came in here, the NAGAFF chairman had a function and I sent someone there to attend the function.
How will you react to allegations of high valuation being leveled against your command by freight forwarders?
We have our books of instructions; a guide, and we also have our laws, what I suspect is that, before now the use of computer was not common, but now computer has taken over the day, and we need to comply to be able to enjoy the use of modernization, with a click of button, you will decode the right value of what you are given, the issue of value is an headquarter thing and the issue of tariff is a federal government issue. So there is nothing anybody can do about it, the value they are being given is not more than what they should pay, by the click of one button you can event get to the manufacturers’ website and get how much an item is sold for, gone are the days that people tell lies about year of vehicle and so on, you can decode these things now.
They also laid allegations of double clearance of cargo at the gate after its dully cleared from terminal
Whoever goes to equity with clean hands has nothing to fear, everything still bores down to compliance, majority of the people making these allegations are those that have something to hide. I have had some here where valuation gave the man an amount to pay, but he did not pay it as specified, so it was discovered at the gate and sent back, trade can only be facilitated for compliant traders, and what the law says is that anybody who fails to comply should be made to face the full wrath of the law, laws are made for human beings, they are to be implemented, but we still give our compliant traders priority, we place them on fast track whereby their goods are examined at their premises, these are registered bonded customers, at any point in time you have a particular bond put in place, what we do is that immediately their goods come, they are cleared straight to their premises, a good example of this kind of customer is PZ, they are a known organization. So when we have a company like that we have to facilitate trade for them, and if there are issues, nothing is permanent in the course of clearance, the machine is designed to be sensitive to what is happening in the system; if at any time, any of the companies benefiting from the fast track erred, we can downgrade them. But most times we don't have to, because they do not have anything to lose, they are a PLC, but when you see these one-off traders, these are the people we have problems with us, and there is no law that says when we see a situation like that we should not do our job.
We gathered that importers are already diverting to neighboring ports as a result of the new automotive policy of government
For every new law that is being implemented, it is bound to have initial reactions, but I am telling you that so far it’s a Federal Government policy, ours is to implement, we don't have control over the laws. Let me also tell you that there are other machineries we have set in motion, believe that anybody who goes to neighboring countries because of the high tariff of cars here and the automotive policy is going to be double taxed because he will pay the duty in that neighboring country, and there is an arrangement now whereby the customs on the other side will escort those vehicles straight to our borders and they will be handed over to our customs.
What about the ones smuggled in without customs notice?
You are just speculating, but I can tell you that this is the new arrangement we have on ground now.
You have worked at both Tin Can and PTML commands, how will you compare both ports in terms of compliance?
I believe small is good and big is good depending on how it is managed, but I can assure you that the two of them are okay, Tin Can is bigger, so if there is any problem in terms of compliance, it is going to be more at Tin Can because of the size, PTML is a smaller port where everybody knows almost everybody; at Tin Can we have various terminals, I just believe that both ports are not comparable because of the difference in size.
Since you resumed here, how will you describe the compliant level of operators here?
The compliant level generally is a problem in the whole importing sector, it is only in Nigeria that you see somebody importing an item where the freight is about $2000 and FOB will be $800, this looks ridiculous, when you go into it you will realize that it speaks volume about our level of compliance, everybody wants to cut corners, and PTML being a sub-sector of the importing populace is not left out. But I believe the level of compliance is increasing because right now people are paying the current duty, we have not had any problems.
Now that you are here, how do you intend to work on the command's revenue?
I can assure you that our revenue for this month is over and above what we must have collected before now, my plan is to up my game and with the help of God to surpass the revenue performance that I met on ground and to so ensure that the environment is peaceful.
What do you intend to do about crowd of agents always milling around inside this terminal?
Inside the terminal here it is still even better, when you go to the one at Mile 2, you will think that we cannot control our crowd, this is bad because it is not all of them that have something to do there. We want to find a way of reducing access into the terminal, there is this duty card, maybe anyone who does not have it, with time they will not be allowed into the terminal. If you look at the number of clearing agents registered and the number of people trying to gain entrance into the terminal, you discover that some of them are not even registered agents.
But there is an electronic ID card issued to them by Grimaldi
When I had a meeting with PTML management I told them to implement the use of their ID card very well and on this side, they are saying that it is the officers that allow them to sit there, but I am still going to address it, but like I said, when you come to a place newly, you need to tread softly, these kinds of policies are introduced systematically.
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