In a bid to ensure level playing ground for all maritime stakeholders, particularly the freight forwarders on developing issues in the sector, the Nigerian MomentumNews Online & Magazine, has continued to reach out to relevant stakeholders to have their views, especially on the recent development in Nigeria Customs Service.
Chief Hon. Ifeanyi Isikaku
In view of the anniversary and assessment of the achievements of CG Bashir Adewale Adeniyi in the last one year as the Comptroller General (CG) of Nigeria Customs Service, this medium had an exclusive interview with Hon. Chief Ifeanyi Godfrey Isikaku, the MD/CEO, Godify Group of Companies Limited (Operators of Slot Bonded Terminal) in PortHarcourt, the Rivers State capital.
In this interview, the Vice Chairman, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Onne Seaport chapter, bared his mind on some burning issues in the maritime industry, particularly on government’s inconsistent policies in the areas of: import, export and freight forwarding business in the country.
The excerpts:
Question: Few days ago, Mr. Bashir Adewale Adeniyi marked his one year in office as the Comptroller General (CG) of Nigeria Customs Service. What would be your assessment of his administration in the last one year?
Answer: Let me first congratulate our CG, Mr. Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, a career and seasoned Customs officer, who has shown the stuff he is made of. You can see that within his one year in office, that he has restored the CG Conference, which some of the young officers may not have known what the CG Conference is all about, but today, he has restored it and restored the dignity of Nigeria Customs Service.
In terms of revenue generation, you can see that he has surpassed the past CGs in generating revenue to the Federal Government, because the federal government rely on Customs to meet up with their target. He is going to surpass his target looking at the way he is going. I want to thank him for securing our boarders. Talking about revenue generation, you should know that security is key in this country. If you check the number of trucks he has sized and the ammunition that people have been importing in this country, he has been seizing them.
If you look at what happened in Lagos and Onne, you will agree with me on why I said, let me congratulate him.
If you look at Customs officers, they way the work and their behaviours, you will see the impact of the Eagle Eye. The CG has made sure that they use the Eagle Eye to do their job and do it diligently, thank you.
Question: Recently, there was an allegation by the CG that some Customs officers in Lagos and Rivers States are conniving with bonded terminal operators to bring in illicit items in the country, what would be your reaction to that allegation?
Answer: We, at Slot Bonded Terminal don’t engage in such illicit trade and we don’t intend to do that. When you talk about Bonded Terminals, I can only speak for my organization, because we don’t do that. I have been advocating for people to do the right thing, especially in using used items to clear things that are not used. Some of the implications is that it will hinder revenue generation for the government, because most of the things that are caught today, are as a result bringing in such illicit items to the country.
For me, I will keep on to say that Customs should be allowed to do their job. Customs should do the right thing, they should not connive with any agent or importer. Let them do their job. We are securing the nation, because, the security of this country is very important to all of us.
So, we are making sure that we generate revenue in our bonded terminal.Ultimately, we ensure 100% examination on any cargo that comes into our bonded terminal and we can’t be involved in any act that will jeopardize the peace and security of this nation, thank you.
Question: Shortly after Mr. Mohammed Babandede assumed office as the Customs Area Comptroller (CAC) of Onne Area II Command, Rivers State, he embarked on familiarization visits to bonded terminals and subsequent engagements with stakeholders. How do you see such moves, considering your position as a freight forwarder and bonded terminal operator?
Answer: You know, our Comptroller, Babandede, has always been a seasoned officer. He came on board barely one month and quickly moved around to see and know his formations, that is how to know a Comptroller that is ready to work. He visited the terminals to have first hand information on how things are being done there, and that is the way to go.
At the terminal, he gave a standing order to his officers concerning illicit trade, arms and ammunition and anything that will cause problem or insecurity in the country. After the visits, he has been working hard to generate revenue for the nation and going by the press conference he had last week, you could see his charge to his officers to ensure that every T is properly crossed and all Is, well dotted. They are doing well and I can bet that.
Question: You raised the issue of multiple alerts on a single cargo by the Customs, when Comptr. Babandede visited your terminal, and his response was that CG Adeniyi had taken care of the issue internally. Now, as an insider, would you affirm truly that the matter has been resolved or is there anything you would like to say again on that matter?
Answer: Yes, I think that the issue of alert has been resolved. If you have an alert, no matter where it is coming from, it will be resolved at Deputy Comptroller’s (DC’s) office. Once the alert is resolved there, nobody will put an alert again, as far as Onne Seaport, where we operate is concerned.
Question: Are there challenges you think should be looked into, in order to ensure trade facilitation and ease of doing business at the port?
Answer: The major problem we have is the issue of policy, but that has nothing to do with the Customs, because they don’t make policy. Then, when you talk about trade when you don’t have steady policy, it doesn’t give room for planning, and that is why we are calling on Mr. President, the ministry of finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to peg our exchange rate, especially for the purpose of calculating Customs’ duty.
That will give us room to plan. If they say the exchange rate is going to be N1000 or N800 as they deemed necessary, let them peg it for us. It will be easier for importers to plan and if I am to make payment on a duty, I should be able to know that this is what I am going to pay on a particular consignment, this is what I am going to sell and this is going to be my profit.
Imagine if you go to the market with N1400, by the time they go into production, by the time they get to ship it, exchange rate may have changed to N1500 or N1600, how are you going to do it?
If you are into supplies and you have quoted with that exchange rate, nobody would listen to you. A lot of importers are loosing money. Nigeria is an import dependent nation and we can’t function without bringing in anything. The government is aware that Nigeria is an import dependent nation. So, why are they making things difficulty for the citizenry?
So, l am only calling on the ministry of finance and the CBN to help us peg the exchange rate. Our policy formulators should give us a four year plan. If you give us a four year tariff, don’t change anything, it will help us to plan.
Whereby you introduce a policy today and in the next six months you are bringing in another policy, it doesn’t work like that. That is why you see hunger, that is why you see inflation in the country. Government should know that whenever there is an increase in exchange rate, that inflation will hit the market. How does it work? It means that those in the rural areas that would want to transport their goods to the city will go to the filling station to buy petroleum products. So, once the price is not stable it will affect the price of goods in the market.
Inflation is high, look at our civil servants crying for minimum wage. Government should stabilize the economy if it can’t pay the minimum wage, because stabilizing the economy will make things better, thank you.
Question: On a final note Sir, what is your advice to young and up coming freight forwarders?
Answer: Some of them are on fast lane. When we came into this business, we were following our masters and we were learning. But these days, I found out that some of these up coming freight forwarders are on fast lane. They are on fast lane, in the sense that they don’t want to learn.
All they are after is money. Just for instance, this is my 30th year in the business. If you engage a new staff and he comes to your house, he won’t be thinking of how long did it take my boss to get to where he is now, rather, what will be running in his mind would be, if my Oga can be like this, in the next five years, I will be better than him.
The next he will do is to begin to strive to do things that are not right, and that is the problem we are having. A lot of people are looking for money by all means. If you call them now and say, please come and give me the tariff of this job or the other, they wouldn’t know it. How then, do you make money when you don’t know the job?
That is why you see a lot of people want to fly container as the only way to make money, and they will be putting pressure on Customs, and Customs may be tempted to connive with them to do something that is not normal.
That is why people like us have continued to advocate that the right thing must be done. When young agents come to me, I keep telling them to go and learn the job and do the right thing. That is the way to go.
I don’t indulge in such practice and that is why my office is on the road. I didn’t situate it in an isolated area. Even those in Abuja know that the address of my office is here.
There is nothing hidden here, what is important is for us to learn how to be patriotic. If we are patriotic Nigerians, we won’t be able to produce substandard drugs, because our siblings who are in the village might buy the drug when they are sick. When you clear things that are not right, fake or substandard drugs, you are causing harm to the society. When you clear arms and ammunition, a kidnapper may use it against you, even when you think that you have security. What about your relatives that do not have security?
That is what we are talking about, learning not to put hands in things that are not right.
That is my advice to them. Thank you.
