Nweke: Rising Cargo Seizures by Customs are Self Indictment on Controllers, Unit Heads
NWEKE
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on weekly basis records billions of Naira seizures of goods from Nigerian importers or smugglers. These seizures are recorded by CGC Strike Force; the CGC Monitoring Unit; the CGC Compliance Unit; the CGC Roving Units and Federal Operational Units ( F.O.U) in all the zones of the country. But the concern being raised is that most of these seized goods were earlier okayed and released by Customs Controllers in the ports or border stations. The question being asked is: does this mean that the Controllers and other officers did not do their job well or were simply compromised by the importers or smugglers?. Can the resident customs officers in the ports or border stations be free of connivance with the importers. What is the customs doing to ensure that officers who released prohibited goods or those later seized for various infractions are brought to book? In this online interview with SHIPPING DAY, the former President of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Eugene Nweke, blames the leadership of the customs, saying the seizures are self indictment among the officers, especially the same Customs Area Comptrollers and their swam of officers who treated and exited such imports out of the Customs Port Control. Nweke who spoke on a wide range of issues affecting trade facilitation adds that while the unit Heads and their boys rejoice in self praises securing thumb up of the headquarters for “a job well done”, the Service is weighed down by bad image of self indictment over these circulating seizures. Excerpts:
What is your assessment of the current situation in the ports side by side with the various seizures being recorded by Federal Operations Units and Task Forces at the ports?
One can say without mincing words that the Customs modernization efforts seem to have zeroed backwards to the CGC Jacob Buba Jang era.
The backwardness is self inflicted, which now propels a seeming balkernization state of the service.
Today, inspite of the border closure policy, Ogun state Command of the Service was reported to have made seizures of prohibited items to the tone of N500million . This is inspite of the various ad-hoc ( special committees ) set up by the Comptroller General of Customs, namely CGC Strike Force; the CGC Monitoring Unit; the CGC Compliance Unit; the CGC Roving Units etc. most of them are detailed to operate side by side with the Area Commands. Unbelievable as it were the Federal Operational Unit – F.O.U was equally reported to have made seizures of goods that were considered duly cleared out of the seaports heading to the owners warehouse ( within the states) but were intercepted in transit and the value was reported to worth: FOU Zone “A” #17billion and FOU Zone “C” #91million, all reported within a week interval.
Given such occasion, the units Head and their boys rejoice in self praises securing thumb up of the headquarters for “a job well done”; but the home and bitter truth is that Customs is openly indicting itself especially the same Customs Area Comptroller and his swam of officers who treated and exited such imports out of the Customs Port Control. This self indictment can be seen in several ways that does not really speak in the positive to any critical and analytical stakeholders or technically inclined administrators.
One notices that despite the seizures, the importers and agents don’t seem to have learnt anything as the trade crimes continue, what is your view on that?
It is on this premise, that the need to up hold the integrity of the Nigeria Customs t becomes imperative, hence, this modest interview. Seizures are not meant to be perpetrated to impress higher authorities, seizures when carried out are meant to correct a system ( a corrective measures). It is an official action that should serve as a deterrent to the smugglers. But how come that the smuggling activities are rather on the increase, reasoning with the reported import value of the cargo seized so far. It goes to say something is wrong somewhere.
In an ideal Customs administrative parlance, a seizure of one unwholesome container by the F.O.U is as good as an Area Comptroller loosing his job, alongside the culpable officers.
But the thriving conspiracies between the perceived traders ( smugglers), usually account for the reason why no corresponding arrest of the trader ( smugglers) is made upon interception and subsequent seizures of such cargo. Also this assertion is further buttressed by the number of successfully prosecuted cases in courts. If one takes into consideration the total amount and volume of cargo seized, it means that hundred of smugglers should be cooling off in jail às provided by CEMA, but that is not the case.
Are you implying that the Customs is applying kid gloves as far as anti-smuggling operations are concerned even in the face of numerous seizures and high revenue generations?
Sure the Nigeria Customs is raking in revenue to the government treasury, but if the pace of revenue generation is adequately weighed on a proper economic parameters the results may be in the reverse order. Critical economic parameters for revenue generation analysis include the gross value for negotiable duty certificates and waivers within the year under review; the corresponding impact leading to a thriving and spring up of manufacturing factories leading to a robust manufacturing sector; the consideration to the uncontrollable rising incidences of the applicable foreign exchange rate, constitutes another factor of considerations, the total annual capital drainage, being the total imports values for intercepted and seized cargo per year.
To uphold the integrity of the Customs entails the evolution and replication of professional career inclined officers, especially amongst the two star officers, the next question is, what should be done to achieve that? Simple, place administrative focus on addressing noticeable fundamental defects in the service.
What are these defects and what form of reform do you think the Service can introduce for the best interest of the industry?
Now in my candid opinion and professional involvement, what I tagged the noticeable fundamental defects are administrative in nature ( human resources and capacity development). It means going back to CEMA to underscore and revive the provisions that interpret the meaning of “Proper Officer” – which according to the CEMA means any officer whose right or duty it is to require the performance of, to perform, the act referred to.”
You see from this definition of a “Proper Customs Officer” most of the new intakes in the service understand and limit the definition to mean ” a well neatly dressed officer”, which ideally is not. The administrative term ” Proper Customs Officer” goes beyond the dress code. To be a proper officer means that such officer is properly trained, sit and pass examination with an intent to acquire mastery of CEMA; Customs Tariff and Classifications; Customs Codes; attend all retraining programmes, ( Customs Integrity Program – aka “Alusha Declaration”), sit and pass all promotional examinations to earn him promotion to the next rank.
You may recall that Customs is a universal application and practices. Virtually all aspects of Custom operations is governed by codes or better placed coded. Wherefore a proper Custom Officer is trained and expected to understand basic codes such as information management code, security Code, Manifest Code ( e.g.such codes in generating Uncleared Cargo List – UCL, forwarding Manifest lists, etc).
Today, we have seen where an older officer minutes a file to a younger ( junior) officer requesting him to take action and report back. The manner and language of communication has since watered down.
It can be verify that, most of the present crop of younger officers were given the basic enrollment training and many are yet to undergo through the proper training which entails rigorous training in terms of mastery of the Job.
Understandably, in 2012 to 2013 recruitment exercise was undertaken by the Service based on an urgent administrative manpower vacuum filling provided by quest for a global information technological advancements leading to digitalisation of process, hence, the recruitment of younger officers mostly trained on information technology in readiness to take over and man the then newly introduced PAAR Ruling Center operations. Such officers are ripe to go for proper training, while many older ones should attend a refreshal retraining programs/courses.
The next issue of urgent concern is to focus on inherent abuses and compromises. It is important to point out that the trade compliance quest of the Customs has not attained appreciable percent owing to insider compromises and abuses. Many officers old and young are materialism driven. Such officers are not professional career driven, rather they are business driven because of their appetite for material acquisitions. They are seen are termed as “Fast Lane Officers”. They are the crop of officers who collude with the trading public to perpetuate unwholesome practices in the customs ports.
They introduce and superintendent by proxy varies of import racketeering, forming all manner of syndicated operations.
The question is, if an officer is under an oath to serve and protect the interests of the government and now turn around to collude and shortchange the same government, what should administrators in a regimented organization with hiarichal structures then do under such circumstances, and what is the pedigree of such administrators. This will bring us to the economic interplay between trade facilitation and stringent preventive/scrutiny measure meant to engender revenue acceleration. Trade facilitation simply means promoting a flexible and simplified cargo clearance process to engender increase cargo volume and fluidity of the system, but stringent measure to galvanize revenue simply means raising the bar of rigidity and scrutiny on imports with the aim of swelling revenue
What is your assessment of the current situation in the ports side by side with the various seizures being recorded by Federal Operations Units and Task Forces at the ports?
One can say without mincing words that the Customs modernization efforts seem to have zeroed backwards to the CGC Jacob Buba Jang era.
The backwardness is self inflicted, which now propels a seeming balkernization state of the service.
Today, inspite of the border closure policy, Ogun state Command of the Service was reported to have made seizures of prohibited items to the tone of N500million . This is inspite of the various ad-hoc ( special committees ) set up by the Comptroller General of Customs, namely CGC Strike Force; the CGC Monitoring Unit; the CGC Compliance Unit; the CGC Roving Units etc. most of them are detailed to operate side by side with the Area Commands. Unbelievable as it were the Federal Operational Unit – F.O.U was equally reported to have made seizures of goods that were considered duly cleared out of the seaports heading to the owners warehouse ( within the states) but were intercepted in transit and the value was reported to worth: FOU Zone “A” #17billion and FOU Zone “C” #91million, all reported within a week interval.
Given such occasion, the units Head and their boys rejoice in self praises securing thumb up of the headquarters for “a job well done”; but the home and bitter truth is that Customs is openly indicting itself especially the same Customs Area Comptroller and his swam of officers who treated and exited such imports out of the Customs Port Control. This self indictment can be seen in several ways that does not really speak in the positive to any critical and analytical stakeholders or technically inclined administrators.
One notices that despite the seizures, the importers and agents don’t seem to have learnt anything as the trade crimes continue, what is your view on that?
It is on this premise, that the need to up hold the integrity of the Nigeria Customs t becomes imperative, hence, this modest interview. Seizures are not meant to be perpetrated to impress higher authorities, seizures when carried out are meant to correct a system ( a corrective measures). It is an official action that should serve as a deterrent to the smugglers. But how come that the smuggling activities are rather on the increase, reasoning with the reported import value of the cargo seized so far. It goes to say something is wrong somewhere.
In an ideal Customs administrative parlance, a seizure of one unwholesome container by the F.O.U is as good as an Area Comptroller loosing his job, alongside the culpable officers.
But the thriving conspiracies between the perceived traders ( smugglers), usually account for the reason why no corresponding arrest of the trader ( smugglers) is made upon interception and subsequent seizures of such cargo. Also this assertion is further buttressed by the number of successfully prosecuted cases in courts. If one takes into consideration the total amount and volume of cargo seized, it means that hundred of smugglers should be cooling off in jail às provided by CEMA, but that is not the case.
Are you implying that the Customs is applying kid gloves as far as anti-smuggling operations are concerned even in the face of numerous seizures and high revenue generations?
Sure the Nigeria Customs is raking in revenue to the government treasury, but if the pace of revenue generation is adequately weighed on a proper economic parameters the results may be in the reverse order. Critical economic parameters for revenue generation analysis include the gross value for negotiable duty certificates and waivers within the year under review; the corresponding impact leading to a thriving and spring up of manufacturing factories leading to a robust manufacturing sector; the consideration to the uncontrollable rising incidences of the applicable foreign exchange rate, constitutes another factor of considerations, the total annual capital drainage, being the total imports values for intercepted and seized cargo per year.
To uphold the integrity of the Customs entails the evolution and replication of professional career inclined officers, especially amongst the two star officers, the next question is, what should be done to achieve that? Simple, place administrative focus on addressing noticeable fundamental defects in the service.
What are these defects and what form of reform do you think the Service can introduce for the best interest of the industry?
Now in my candid opinion and professional involvement, what I tagged the noticeable fundamental defects are administrative in nature ( human resources and capacity development). It means going back to CEMA to underscore and revive the provisions that interpret the meaning of “Proper Officer” – which according to the CEMA means any officer whose right or duty it is to require the performance of, to perform, the act referred to.”
You see from this definition of a “Proper Customs Officer” most of the new intakes in the service understand and limit the definition to mean ” a well neatly dressed officer”, which ideally is not. The administrative term ” Proper Customs Officer” goes beyond the dress code. To be a proper officer means that such officer is properly trained, sit and pass examination with an intent to acquire mastery of CEMA; Customs Tariff and Classifications; Customs Codes; attend all retraining programmes, ( Customs Integrity Program – aka “Alusha Declaration”), sit and pass all promotional examinations to earn him promotion to the next rank.
You may recall that Customs is a universal application and practices. Virtually all aspects of Custom operations is governed by codes or better placed coded. Wherefore a proper Custom Officer is trained and expected to understand basic codes such as information management code, security Code, Manifest Code ( e.g.such codes in generating Uncleared Cargo List – UCL, forwarding Manifest lists, etc).
Today, we have seen where an older officer minutes a file to a younger ( junior) officer requesting him to take action and report back. The manner and language of communication has since watered down.
It can be verify that, most of the present crop of younger officers were given the basic enrollment training and many are yet to undergo through the proper training which entails rigorous training in terms of mastery of the Job.
Understandably, in 2012 to 2013 recruitment exercise was undertaken by the Service based on an urgent administrative manpower vacuum filling provided by quest for a global information technological advancements leading to digitalisation of process, hence, the recruitment of younger officers mostly trained on information technology in readiness to take over and man the then newly introduced PAAR Ruling Center operations. Such officers are ripe to go for proper training, while many older ones should attend a refreshal retraining programs/courses.
The next issue of urgent concern is to focus on inherent abuses and compromises. It is important to point out that the trade compliance quest of the Customs has not attained appreciable percent owing to insider compromises and abuses. Many officers old and young are materialism driven. Such officers are not professional career driven, rather they are business driven because of their appetite for material acquisitions. They are seen are termed as “Fast Lane Officers”. They are the crop of officers who collude with the trading public to perpetuate unwholesome practices in the customs ports.
They introduce and superintendent by proxy varies of import racketeering, forming all manner of syndicated operations.
The question is, if an officer is under an oath to serve and protect the interests of the government and now turn around to collude and shortchange the same government, what should administrators in a regimented organization with hiarichal structures then do under such circumstances, and what is the pedigree of such administrators. This will bring us to the economic interplay between trade facilitation and stringent preventive/scrutiny measure meant to engender revenue acceleration. Trade facilitation simply means promoting a flexible and simplified cargo clearance process to engender increase cargo volume and fluidity of the system, but stringent measure to galvanize revenue simply means raising the bar of rigidity and scrutiny on imports with the aim of swelling revenue
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