FG loses revenue, importers groan as $3.1bn e-Customs project suffers setback

CONTRARY to global best practices, the Nigeria Customs Service still carries out its operations manually, thus causing Nigerian importers to be ripped off and the government deprived of the much-needed revenue. 

This is despite the approval of the federal government for the $3.1 billion Nigeria Customs Service Modernisation Scheme, otherwise known as the e-Customs project. 

Nigerian Tribune recalls that on September 2, 2020, the Federal Executive Council (FEC), presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, ratified the concession agreement for the Nigeria Customs Service Modernisation Scheme at the cost of $3.1 billion. 

The concession agreement was ratified to reposition the operations and boost revenue generation of the Nigeria Customs Service. 

However, checks by the Nigerian Tribune revealed that the delay in the project has led to continuous manual operation of the Customs, which to stakeholders is ripping Nigerian importers off in millions of naira due to the human-to-human contact involved. 

Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune exclusively on the delay, the Deputy National President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Dr Kayode Farinto, wondered why the e-Customs project had yet to commence more than a year after its ratification by the FEC. 

According to the ANLCA Deputy National President, “When in September of last year FEC ratified the project, hopes were high among those of us who are port users because we felt the days of un-receipted charges collection by Customs officials inside the ports were over. 

“The e-Customs project is expected to ensure that all Customs processes become electronic and automated. As we speak, Customs still carry out manual processes inside the ports. Containers are still being examined manually inside our ports more than a year after FEC ratified the e-Customs project. 

“The major rip-off happens during container examination processes. Cargo owners are always at the mercy of Customs officials. Your ability to play ball sometimes determines whether your cargo will exit the ports or not. Sometimes, you are confronted with more than five Customs units or desks inside the ports just to clear one container. In the process, money exchanges hands. 

“Again, another problem port users are still having with the Customs is the issue of Post Clearance Audit (PCA). The deliberate ploy by the Customs not to strengthen its PCA is the major reason containers are still being chased and stopped arbitrarily along our roads and highways by different units of the Service. 

“If the Customs PCA is strengthened, then there won’t be any need for any units or detachment of Customs to be chasing containers along our roads anymore. 

“Until the e-Customs project commences, Nigeria, as an import-dependent country, will continue to have a situation where cargo owners lose huge sums of money on every cargo that comes into the country since our Customs processes are still manually done.” 

Also speaking on the issues confronting Nigerians with manual Customs processes, a clearing agent, Benjamin Akabueze, urged the Customs to strengthen its payment system if government is not yet ready to commence the $3.1 billion e-Customs project. 

“As of today, Customs payment is done electronically from mobile phones and other platforms. However, the system is always subject to network issues either from the network service providers or Customs themselves. At times, when we pay, there is no confirmation of payment at Customs. This has discouraged many from making payment electronically at times. 

“If the e-Customs project had been operational, maybe we would have gone beyond this stage. When you cannot get confirmation of payment, and you need to conclude a transaction on a container paying demurrage or storage charges inside the ports, then cargo clearance can become cumbersome at times for port users,” Mr Akabuuze told the Nigerian Tribune. 

However, speaking to the Nigerian Tribune exclusively, a close source to the NCS, who wouldn’t want his name in print, revealed that Nigerians might have to wait more for the e-Customs project to commence due to litigation issues by estranged parties connected to the project. 

The source said, “The e-Customs project might not take off this year or next since there are contending issues that might take long to get resolved by all parties involved in the project. For example, sometime between 2017 and 2018, a company, Adani System Limited, reportedly signed an agreement with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Technical Committee on Comprehensive Import Supervision Scheme (CISS) for the modernisation of Customs. 

“Sensing that the government might renege on its agreement with it, Adani System filed a suit against the federal government at the Federal High Court Abuja with suit No FHC/ ABJ/CS/850/2017 in 2018. 

“However, the Federal Executive Council (FEC), in 2020, went ahead and announced the same project to be concessioned to E. Customs HC Projects Nigeria Limited for 20 years without recourse to an earlier agreement entered into by Adani Systems Limited. 

“The case is still pending in court because Adani Systems Limited is claiming that it already procured pieces of equipment worth billions of dollars towards the commencement of the e-Customs project before the project was unceremoniously taken away from it and handed over to another firm by the Federal Government. 

“With this impasse, I don’t expect the eCustoms project to take-off this year. Maybe next year, since our court resolution cases in this part of the world are always lengthy.” 

Responding to enquiries on the e-Customs project, the Deputy National Spokesman of Customs, Timi Bomodi, explained that the project was ongoing. 

“There is nothing hidden about the e-Customs project. We have multiple firms that are coming in to handle a different aspect of the e-Customs project. The project has multiple variations to it and there are different firms involved. All I can say for now is that the project is an ongoing one and very soon, it will commence,” the Customs deputy national spokesman told Nigerian Tribune.

 

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