When Customs Disappoints Critics of ICTN Implementation?
CONTAINER TERMINAL
By Francis Ugwoke
In the past few months, the planned implementation of the International Cargo Tracking Note (ICTN) has been under attack by some critics. The critics who are actually few compared to the number that are in favour of the deployment of the technology model have argued against it on a number of grounds. For Lucky Amiwero, President of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), the issue among others, is that ICTN implementation slated for the second quarter of this year, has no legal backing. Amiwero cited Section 28 of Nigeria Customs 2023 Act which provides for electronic cargo tracking. It was not clear if Amiwero was making a case for the Customs Service to implement the ICTN when he presented his stand during a stakeholders’ meeting on the technology organised by the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN). What is clear is that Amiwero has over the years kicked against ICTN. He argued, “ICTN has been stopped three times, it is not an UNCTAD development, it is a regional thing that has to do with West and Central African Region, it is just a rule for people to look at freight cost and so on.
“I was a member of the committee on Customs Reforms and we stopped the ICTN back then, we asked them to tie it to a service.
“You cannot operate a system without a law, the Nigerian Shippers Council does not have electronic device application internationally, as far as their law is concerned, it is just for Shippers’ interest. The ICTN started with the Nigerian Ports Authority, but it was stopped by my committee then because it was not tied to any service, there is no law backing it”.
Amiwero was not alone. The National Vice President of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) Dr. Segun Musa, who has been against ICTN reintroduction in the past few months also spoke. He dismissed ICTN as nothing special. According to Musa, there is nothing special in tracking cargo for ICTN to be introduced.
Musa argued, “The essence of the risk is that when a ship is on voyage, it might move from port to the other, and there might be a concealment at the next port of call. Whenever there is a concealment anywhere along the passage of the voyage or transit, it has already been taken care of by the customs service.
“The customs is making use of advanced manifest. So, whatever you concealed, the advanced manifest would reveal it, and whatever the advanced manifest cannot reveal, the physical examination or scanner would reveal it.
“The ICTN cannot fly, we have said it before.
If anyone has written to the presidency just to confuse them, we would also write to the presidency to educate them better.
“My submission is that we cannot allow every business to use our agencies and few among us to enrich themselves.
If the customs comes out today and say they do not have the capacity to track cargo and do credible examination, I would be the first to write to the presidency for us to go back to the era of pre-shipment inspection. What they are Introducing to us in ICTN today is pre-shipment and destination inspection”.
Both Amiwero and Musa were the major critics against ICTN, arguing that goods can be tracked on transit.
But the two shipping experts and customs agents may have been disappointed by the Nigeria Customs Service considering its position at the stakeholders’ event. The Service distanced itself from the positions of the two customs agents. The Service which has been involved in both pre-shipment inspection and now destination inspection, described ICTN as indispensable for national security. Assistant Comptroller General of Customs, ACG Charles Orbih, pointed out that ICTN can provide critical intelligence for the interception of contraband before they are brought into the country. The Customs Service has recorded massive seizures of illicit arms and drugs at the ports at different times last year and even this year.
Orbih told the stakeholders, “We must rise to the clarion call of protecting our borders. Forget the cost implications—security comes first. The ICTN will allow us to track cargo digitally and scientifically, ensuring that threats are neutralized before they pose harm”
The ACG assured that the Service is ready to collaborate with the Nigerian Shippers’ Council on the implementation.
Orbih said, “For the Nigeria Customs Service, security is paramount. Our information flow is based on tracking, and the tracking system that is being introduced by the Federal Government through ICTN is to enhance national security.
“You can imagine if there was no information, the 840 arms and ammunition that we handed over to the management of small and medium arms unit recently in Port Harcourt, what would have happened to us in this country.
“Last week again, we handed over 440 weapons to them again, and about 1,600 is waiting to be handed over at the Federal Operations unit. All these information, we must develop on its efficiency for the good of our country.
“The drug war is a massive one, and we must use all the systems being introduced by the Federal Government.
“There is no week at every of our customs commands that we don’t hand over illicit drugs, whether at seaport or airport. We must all rice up to this clarion call”.
The ports economic regulator, NSC, was not left out in defending some of the claims of the critics. The representative of the Executive Secretary, Celestine Akujobi, Director of Consumer Affairs, told the stakeholders that the ICTN is not a new initiative to the Council. According to Akujobi, the Council has managed it in the past before it was suspended. He assured that the agency is fully prepared to execute the system efficiently for the benefit of shippers, government and the entire economy. He addressed all the issues raised by critics against ICTN implementation, dismissing the cost implication with assurance that costs would be minimal and absorbed within the trade system.
Akujobi said, “The ICTN is a trade facilitation tool, not just a revenue-generating initiative. The Shippers’ Council is committed to implementing it in a way that enhances efficiency, reduces costs, and strengthens national security. The system is not a duplication of the Nigeria Customs Service’s (NCS) role—rather, it complements existing frameworks, as evidenced by previous collaborations between the NSC, Customs, and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).”
“The most important thing is that we are moving forward, the ICTN started years ago, it was an UNCTAD advisory that Shippers Council of every country should monitor the movement of cargoes from port of origin to destination.
“The UNCTAD advisory was to all developing countries following the demise of the liner conferences.
“In the same vein, the Union of African Shippers Council met and discussed on how to implement the cargo tracking, as early as 2006, sister countries have started the implementation of the Cargo Tracking, Others started 2011.
“Today, there are over 20 countries both in West and Central African subregions implementing ICTN.
“Nigeria has tried it in the past and it was successful, I can attest to that. During that time, I was officer in charge of ICTN as an Assistant Director then, it is true that it was later suspended, but I don’t think that the situation back then is the same today. This is why this time around, we are determined to get it right.
“For us at the Shippers Council, we are ready to go ahead with it, we believe that any new innovation that is introduced, some people will say yes to it, while some would say No, but it is for us to look at all the positions dispassionately and how it would be of benefit to both the operators, the government and the generality of Nigerians.
“It would not be a duplication to the role of the customs, this is because the first implementation that was done was in collaboration with customs and Central Bank of Nigeria, if it was going to be a duplication, customs would have complained against it then, they were topmost of the implantation committee at that time”.
It was further argued by stakeholders that ICTN is not a duplication of what exists in the customs system but complementary tool as well as a port regulatory network system or additional regulatory mechanism that will work in synergy with customs systems to ensure compliance, risk assessment and trade efficiency. Among issues which ICTN deployment is expected to address include under-declaration, concealment and under-payment in which the country loses so much revenue to individuals and corporate organisations. ICTN deployment will also check under-declarations in gross registered tonnage (GRT) of vessels involving some shipping companies.
The former Executive Secretary of the NSC, Barr Hassan Bello, had few weeks back described ICTN as imperative, as it will further add to the efforts on improving ports efficiency.
Bello had told SHIPPING DAY that the relevance of the ICTN in achieving efficiency, particularly transparency cannot be over-emphasised.
He had said, “Nobody can under-declare cargo or conceal anything with the deployment of ICTN.
“ICTN will reveal the nature of the cargo, it will reveal the quality of the cargo. This is information you need to pass to SON, NDLEA”.
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