…Directs Shipping Companies To Halt Release Of Containers Until It Gives Approval
…Hundreds Of Containers Held Up At The Ports
Operating under the guise of “oversight functions”, the Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff has been directing shipping companies to halt the release of containers until the owners secure the consent of the committee that relevant import duty and other taxes have been paid.
In an unprecedented move, the committee now accesses manifests of ships through which container numbers and other information are procured with a directive to shipping companies not to release the containers until their owners contact the clerk of the committee to prove that all taxes have been paid.
However, the committee bypassed the Nigeria Customs Service and the Federal Ministry of Finance and dispatched letters directly to shipping companies.
In one of such letters titled “Identification of malpractices, wrong classification/financial leakages in the import value chain” usually signed by the chairman of the committee, Senator Francis Alimikhena, to Maersk Shipping Company, one of the major global carriers, the committee stated:
“Pursuant to the Rules of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria mandating the Committee to carry out Legislative Oversight into the operations of the Nigeria Customs Service with a view to identifying the financial leakages, irregularities/malpractices in the entire import and export value chain.
“In the course of the assignment, the committee discovers the attached list of containers including Bill of Lading numbers, Containers numbers on the vessels mentioned and shipped by your shipping company has committed Infractions based on wrongful declarations in order to evade proper duty payment leading to revenue loss to the Federal Government. Please see attached.
“In view of the above, the Committee hereby order that the attached list of containers should NOT (emphasis by the committee) be released to the companies until proper duties are paid to the Federal Government and with a notification of proof of Duty payment. “Kindly note that violation of this Order shall attract serious legislative and economic sanction.”
Attached to the October 12, 2020 letter as in similar ones are bills of lading of hundreds of containers numbers due for clearing at the ports.
The committee attached the phone number of its clerk, listed as 0802-301-2132, and directed the shipping companies to advise importers to contact the clerk in the committee’s office within the precincts of the National Assembly.
As a result, importers are unable to take delivery of their containers even after paying import duties and other requisite charges to the terminal operators and shipping companies.
Proceeding to the office of the committee’s clerk is only the beginning of the nightmare for importers. Investigation by Business and Maritime West Africa revealed the existence of a network of fronts led by one Solomon Samson, who extort money from importers before securing the committee’s approval to take delivery of their containers.
Irrespective of the detailed proof of payment submitted to the committee, no approval for release of containers is given until money is paid to its fronts.
Investigations also showed that at no time in the hundreds of containers which delivery was delayed has the committee found any infraction and directed the importer to pay additional charges into the Federation Account.
“On two different occasions, I have been a victim of this extortion. I call it extortion because at no time was I found to have infringed on the payment of appropriate duties and taxes”, said the chief executive of a licensed Customs agency. For fear of retribution, he insisted on not being named.
“It was like a market. I had to haggle with the fronts and meet their demands before my containers were okayed for release,” said the freight forwarder.
He, however, wondered if the oversight functions of the lawmakers extended to direct involvement in the clearing of goods and lamented that the Customs has failed to intervene in what he saw as the disruption in the cargo delivery processes.
According to him, he had to fly to Abuja, spent three working days negotiating with the Senate committee’s agents before he got the approval for the release of his consignments. “All the while, you know that the longer it takes to appease the committee, the more costs you incur through demurrage. Its a frustrating development.”
Indeed, the anchor men for the committee have been on over drive in handling the dozens of importers that have been compelled to undertake the expensive journey to Abuja. Millions of naira regularly change hands as importers desperate to avoid the high cost of delays in the release of their containers prefer to play ball.
For an economy still reeling from the coronavirus-induced lockdown, the intrusion of the senators has added another cost factor to the landing cost of importers, with attendant port congestion and disruption of trade facilitation.
The claim of undertaking oversight responsibility as basis for delving into the clearing process without recourse to the Customs is, however, dubious. If their venture is actually persuaded by zeal to plug revenue leakages, the ideal thing is for them to write the Customs who has statutory responsibility to collect revenue, instead of writing to shipping companies stopping the release of cargoes.
Speaking on “Legislative oversight as a critical component of good governance” while delivering the convocation lecture of Achievers University, Owo, Ondo State on April 9, 2016, former speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara stated that legislative oversight promotes checks and balances as it instills fiscal discipline, good governance, accountability and transparency in public offices.
The then speaker said lawmakers should “leverage on the constitutionally mandated power of investigation under Sections 88 and 89 of the constitution to expose corruption, inefficiency and waste in the conduct of government business.”
Dogara did warn that in carrying out its Oversight and Investigative Hearing activities, the House shall ensure that its powers are not misused or abused by either members or committees. The freight forwarder is convinced the Senate Committee on Customs is over reaching its powers.
“There’s no doubt that the senators are on the wrong track. If they meant well, they would not have bypassed the Customs. I believe they don’t have the power to unilaterally order shipping companies not to release containers after all relevant agencies are satisfied that all charges have been paid and all the while without involving the Customs. Its wrong and it negates the President Buhari’s war against corruption”
“Moreover, their activity is contributing to congestion in the ports and is greatly hindering the government’s efforts to ease out hinderances to trade facilitation. They’re are just using their legislative powers to extort money from importers,” he said.
Although, the attention of the Customs hierarchy has been drawn to the complication brought into the clearing process by the intrusion of Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff, the leadership has been reluctant to confront the lawmakers.
The fractious relationship between Hameed Ali, a retired army colonel and comptroller general of the Customs and the estranged corps of top service personnel has left the agency lacking focus. “Ali relates mainly with his military assistants while the top service personnel feel alienated. There doesn’t seem to be much in terns of policy direction from the Customs House,” Taiwo Ogundele, a freight forwarder told Business and Maritime West Africa.
Ogundele sees the failure of the Customs to assert itself in the face of the senators’ dubious oversight as one of the fallouts of the continued retention of non-career office as comptroller general.
“It has left a huge vacuum in import supervision. It has emboldened unscrupulous elements within the Customs and now senators are getting in on the act. It will only make the economy sink deeper”, Ogundele said.
