My advice for Customs Service

The Comptroller General (CG) of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) Col. Hameed Ali (retd) has had some unnecessary open confrontations with the Nigeria Senate starting from March 7. Unnecessary as the altercations are, they have also been elevated to the grotesque level. What rings loud in the ear has been the disagreement over whether the retired Colonel should wear the uniform of the NCS or not.

Sadly, many of the contributors to the debate have also centred their argument on the uniform issue. Let’s first thrash out this issue of uniform before going to the main matter. Whatever Ali has to say as regards the quest of the Senate that he wears uniform; I posit that the man has no point. When asked by Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu why he did not appear before the Senate in uniform on March 16, he simply replied that he was not aware of any law that compels him to wear customs uniform.

Earlier, he had written the Senate and insinuated that he was seeking legal advice on the issue of uniform. He also contemptuously advised the Senate to seek legal advice on the issue so that he and the Senate would be on the “same page” on the matter.

One Senator replied Ali that while the Customs and Excise Act compels him to wear the rank of his office, there is no law that bars him from wearing uniform. Ali had rested his objections on a convention in the Army, which allegedly forbids an Army officer from wearing the uniform of any other “lesser” organisation after retirement. But he has also been told that retired Major General, Haladu Hananiah, wore the uniform of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) when he was named the Corps Marshal.

Since the position of CG is a rank, not wearing uniform means that Ali is not wearing his rank. But ironically, he rides the official car that carried the insignia of that CG, sits on the seat decorated in that rank and also flies the Customs aircraft which is decorated in Customs colours. Above all, he receives salaries and allowances from a “lesser” Organisation, whose guard of honour he also inspects in mufti.

The matter is very simple; Customs is a uniformed Organisation. And the rules of any uniformed agency mandate its officers and men to appear in the designated uniforms. If Ali cannot appear in the uniform of a “lesser” Organisation, he should also detest the money coming from that Organisation. He should keep to his pension as a retired Colonel of the Nigerian Army.

Like Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, reminded the Senate on Wednesday, we all need to keep in mind that the key issue that propped up the Hameed Ali matter is the proposal by Customs to impose retroactive duties on vehicles on Nigerian roads from April 12.

Senator Abaribe had told his colleagues: “Lest we forget, Customs made an obnoxious policy; it was in this process that we invited him to explain his policy. This is what brought us to the matter of asking the CG to come and explain to Nigerians that policy. And I don’t want Nigerians to forget that.”

Like Abaribe, I also say to Nigerians, the main point at hand is the matter of customs policy on old vehicles. The Customs Service is in need of improved revenue, because there are leakages here and there. A number of vehicles plying the roads don’t have proper duties paid and the CG thought of an innovative way of ‘catching them in the act.’

Inasmuch as the idea of enhancing customs revenue is welcome any day, allowing Customs officers to mount roadblocks in the cities and highways would be counterproductive. In the first place, there is no evidence to show that majority of the vehicles were smuggled. In fact, we can safely argue that at least 90 percent of the cars in use are either imported through the nation’s ports or passed through the gates of our borders. So, if the Customs men at the borders decide to connive with importers to defraud the country, must Customs not punish its officials rather than seek to impose fines on the end user?

There is a case the story spinners raised during the week. It was alleged that the decision of the Senate to fight Hameed Ali was because the service seized a bullet proof Range Rover jeep meant for the Senate. It was alleged that the importer paid only N8 million out of a duty of N74 million.  But the question is that the vehicle was allowed to pass through the gates at the Wharf. Some persons did the undervaluation and it was given a pass to leave the port. Ali must first concern himself with those men.

Bearing in mind that the end user in most cases is not the importer, so why should the punishment go to the end user and not the importer and his Customs collaborators?

But if the NCS is interested in reducing the hemorrhage at the ports and borders, it could easily enter into alliance with FRSC and VIOs and station desk officers at the point of vehicle registration to determine if correct duties were paid. At least every imported vehicle must carry a plate number and the papers are renewable annually. Besides, the NCS should publish regularly duties payable on every category of vehicles and goods, such that importers can easily pay online.