By Ademola Orunbon
SOME of the recent goings-on in the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) have thrown up fresh controversy as to whether or not Colonel Hameed Ali (rtd), the Comptroller-General, is leading the agency in the right or wrong direction.
The renewed debate on the desirability or otherwise of his appointment is borne out of public reactions trailing the new measures introduced by the agency recently. These include the ban on importation of rice and used vehicles popularly known as “Tokunbo” through land borders as well as the proposed plan to collect duties on all vehicles in the country, including those in use for upwards of 10-15 years.
The latest action of the Customs which had elicited wild public condemnation, was the February 22 midnight invasion of Cairo market at Sango-Ota in Ogun State where several bags of rice were allegedly impounded and carted away. The men of the NCS, Ikeja Unit, the marketwomen alleged, damaged padlocks and doors of over 60 shops located inside the Sango-Ota motor park and carted away 18,000 bags of rice and jerrycans of vegetable oil. In reaction to the development, some angry youths and rice sellers took to the streets and barricaded both sides of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway with used tyres and planks, causing disruption of traffic. The last is yet to be heard on the matter, as traders insist on getting compensation for the action of the men of the service.
As if that was not even enough to put an end to their recklessness, the following week, the men of NCS invaded shops in Sagamu that led to the death of four innocent people. I don’t see any reason and constitutional provision for men of Customs Service in the country to be looting shops in the mid-night or chasing motors conveying bags of rice after successfully scaling through the borders in the country. Does the law permit this act of lawlessness being perpetrated by the officials of the Customs Service?
Controversy is also raging over the imposition of duty on old vehicles imported into the country some years ago. According to the NCS, owners of such vehicles have up to 30 days to pay custom duty on them or face prosecution. Though, the Senate had intervened and ordered an immediate suspension of the policy, pending the appearance of Ali before its committee on Customs and Excise, the NCS has vowed to go on with the policy, setting April 12 as deadline for compliance.
The Senate, while rejecting the policy, described the NCS under Ali as incompetent, noting that “what the Nigeria Customs has done by this announcement is pure advertisement of incapacitation and incompetence.” In defiance to the senate’s resolution, the Customs has announced an adjustment of points of payment and 60 percent rebate across board from 2015 downward to ease the process and encourage all motor dealers in possession of “unaccustomed” vehicles to come forward and pay their duties. Though, a statement by the NCS read in part: “The CGC, therefore, calls on all persons in possession of such vehicles to take advantage of the grace period to pay appropriate duties on them as there will be an aggressive anti-smuggling operation to seize as well as prosecute owners of such smuggled vehicles after the deadline of Wednesday, April, 12, 2017”.
Historically, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) was founded in 1891 when the former British colonial administration appointed T. A. Wall as Director-General of Customs for the collection of Inland Revenue in Niger Coast Protectorate. This became the Department of Customs and Excise in 1922, managed by the Comptroller of Customs and Excise Federation of Nigeria. But, by 1945, the Customs and Excise Preventive Service had been established, divided into two arms – Maritime and Preventive.
The Maritime unit was responsible for the collection of revenues from import and export duty, while the Preventive arm was tasked with the prevention of smuggling, as well as the arrest and prosecution of smugglers.
The Customs and Excise Management Act (SEMA) No.55 of 1958 saw the introduction of a management board to the unit and the appointment of its first Chairmen and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), E. P. C. Langdon, and he was succeeded by S. G. Quinton. The service’s reputation has been marred by numerous corruption and fraud scandals across the years. According to Transparency International’s 2010 Global Corruption Barometer, more than half of local households surveyed attested to paying bribes to NCS officers in 2009. To date, complex customs regulations and bureaucracy surrounding the import and export of goods have nurtured an environment in which bribes are commonly paid, several companies are also believed to undervalue their goods upon importation to avoid penalties. Yet, other companies, operating in the informal economy, resort to smuggling as a means of avoiding legal trade.
It is widely recognized that Customs administration is a government department with main responsibility of revenue collection and accounting for same and anti-smuggling activities. However, globalization is resulting in an increasingly complex world. The world is interconnected as reflected by expanded flows of goods, people, capital, information and technology, which benefit both legal and illegal trades. Their responsibilities are often the subject of regular review and modifications to ensure relevance in a constantly changing world.
Interestingly, their functions have widened, ranging from tackling issues of commercial frauds like under-invoicing, double-invoicing, over-invoicing, intellectual property rights infraction, daily heightening terrorism, trade in illicit and dangerous drugs, passenger safety, environment and toxic substance, cross border and economic crimes.
Orunbon writes from Lagos.