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Customs

NPA is responsible for transfer of overtime cargo to Ikorodu warehouse—-Customs

—–says it will cost N3 billion to evacuate 5000 overtime cargo at N600,000 each

Eyewitness reporter
Amidst mounting overtime cargo that dots the landscape of the Nigerian ports, the Nigeria Customs Service has declared that it was the responsibility of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to evacuate them to the Government warehouse at Ikorodu.
Making the assertion against the widespread belief that it was the duty of Customs to assume this role, the Apapa Area Command of the Customs, Comptroller Ibrahim Malanta Yusuf, said this was an erroneous impression as there are procedures to follow even before such evacuation could be done.
Comptroller Yusuf, who made this clarification on Friday in his office when he granted an audience to a group of journalists who paid him a courtesy visit,  also disclosed that evacuation of overtime cargo is pretty expensive as the process requires a lot in terms of logistics and financial commitment.
Recall that the Managing Director of NPA, Muhammed Bello- Koko, recently said there are over 5,000 overtime containers across the nation’s ports which are taking up space for new imports at the seaport terminals.

Bello- Koko, who spoke then during an interactive session organized by the House of Representatives Committee on Customs, had asked the Service to auction the overtime containers to decongest the nation’s seaports.

Cargoes are classified as overtime when they have stayed in the port for 28 days without the importer or clearing agent coming up to clear them and take delivery.

However, the Apapa customs boss declared that there are currently about 500 overtime containers including import and export at the Apapa port and it will cost an average of N600, 000 to move each of the containers from the port to Ikorodu – a cost which he said the command is not ready to bear.
By implications, therefore, it will cost a whopping sum of N3 billion to evacuate the estimated number of 5000 overtime cargo said to be at the ports, at N600, 000 each.

overtime cargo

Comptroller  Malanta explained that there are also laid down procedures for disposal of overtime cargoes that must be followed before they are auctioned to avoid litigation.

“Moving containers to Ikorodu terminal entails a lot of logistics and financial commitment.

“To take one container from here to Ikorodu will cost at least N600, 000 and above. Now if we are moving 500 containers to Ikorodu, how much will that translate into?
“However, we have a series of procedures before it comes to moving containers, and even moving containers to Ikorodu is the responsibility of the NPA, not Customs.

“Customs will make sure that they receive unclaimed cargo lists from the shipping companies and the terminal operators, then they will now examine those unclaimed cargo lists after the free storage period.

“After examination, they will leave it for a certain number of days for importers to come and claim their cargo. After the date expires, they will send it for gazetting by the court because of litigation, when the court gazettes it, it will now go for auction.

“After the auction, people will now go online to bid for the items. In most cases, those consignments that will find out that they are going to be outrightly seized and they are consumables, we give them to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) through a presidential committee, not even Customs.

“So, these are the procedures, it is not that Customs will just come and start carrying overtime cargo and start dropping it at Ikorodu for auction.
“When they (NPA) concessioned the port, they forgot that there is Customs and therefore the government warehouse that used to exist where we keep cargoes is no longer there,” he said.

Meanwhile, Controller Malanta said the command generated over N87billion in the month of September adding that the command hopes to collect up to N100billion by year-end.

He attributed the revenue increase to measures instituted by the command when he assumed office nine months ago and increased the level of compliance by importers and their agents.

Part of the measures, according to him, is the deployment of officers with a high level of integrity to strategic units of the command and blocking of revenue loopholes.

He said, “When we come on board, we look at the structures on the ground, the type of officers we should post, and where you will post them. I know 80 percent of the officers either through interaction or through fora so I make sure that the officer I put in a place is an officer that has a high level of integrity. So, with that high level of integrity, I am sure, he would perform his work diligently. Then I tried to strategize based on that and look at the gap to identify loopholes and areas we need to amend.

“We started with the forensic manifest management system where we trail declaration through the manifest and we make sure that illicit importations are sieved out and those who want to circumvent through under-declaration of quantity, under declaration in terms of rate of duty through HS Code are also being tracked and revenue is recovered back with the penalty to serve as a deterrent.

“When they (importers/agents) saw that there was no hidden place, that is when I started getting compliance. So, with the compliance level I get, which has increased by over 40 percent, the more the revenue is also increasing.

“We also transform the challenges of the gridlock into opportunities through the use of barges to move containers and the use of the standard gauge line that is coming up has relieved the system of about 30 percent of containers going out of the port and that means the supply chain is moving.

” You hardly come to the gate and see any queue. Once we are releasing, cargo is going out and revenue is coming. These are some of the basic things we are doing,” he said.

Comptroller Malanta added that export through the Apapa port has also increased by over 25 percent within the review period.

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Customs

Apapa Customs launches man hunt for fleeing importer, agent of seized Tramadol

 

—hands over 20 cartons of illicit drug worth N1.4billion to NDLEA

The Eyewitness reporter

The Apapa Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has launched a manhunt for the fleeing importer of 20 cartons of Tramadol intercepted at the Classic Bonded Terminal, Lagos in December 2022.

The importer, who brought in the illicit drug from India, is currently on the run with his agent who attempted to clear the illicit drug said to be three times deadlier than the conventional tramadol tablets.

The Area Controller of Apapa Customs, Comptroller AB Mohammed, while handling the 20 cartoons of the seized drug to Mr Udotong Noah Essien, the Commander of Nacortics of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency(NDLEA), Apapa Special Command, Wednesday at the Clarion Terminal, Lagos, disclosed that both the consignee and the agent could not be traced to their addresses which he said were fake.

”I am here today to hand over 20 cartons of illicit drug which belongs to the class of tramadol to the NDLEA Commander Essien for further investigation and prosecution of the suspects”

Comptroller Mohammed disclosed that the TIN number of the importer and the customs license of his agent have both been blocked but lamented that both of them gave fake addresses which make it difficult for them to be traced.

He however promised that the Customs, in collaboration with the NDLEA and other security agencies, will hunt down the fleeing suspects wherever they may be.

The Customs chief even said the suspects will be caught even if they fled the country with the aid of INTERPOL.

”We tried to trace them through their addresses but the addresses they gave were fake. We could not trace them to the addresses.

”They have been on the run and we are in search of them but sooner or later, we shall catch up with them and they will face the full wrath of the law.”

Comptroller Mohammed disclosed that the consignee concealed the drug in a jumbled mass of gummy pop sweets which he falsely declared as driving shaft and candy sweets.

He however promised to make Apapa port unconducive to the importation of illicit drugs and their traffickers, vowing to bring to bear the full weight of the law on the perpetrators.

While receiving the drugs on behalf of the Chairman of the NDLEA, Brigadier-General(rtd) Buba Marwa, Mr Udotong Noah Essien, the Commander of Nacortics of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency(NDLEA), Apapa Special Command, lauded the efforts of the Apapa Customs command for the successes so far recorded in the war against the importation of illicit drugs through the port corridor.

He applauded the collaboration between the two agencies which he said has yielded tremendous results in curtailing the importation of drugs into the country.

The NDLEA commander promised that the agency will hunt down the fleeing suspects with the collaboration of the Customs and other relevant security agencies, adding that the agency has spread its dragnet all around the country and that the suspects cannot escape.

The seized drug is said to be a deadlier new variant of Tramadol called Trapaking tablets which has a higher potency than normal Tramadol.

The interception and seizure made at the Classic marine bonded terminal, Ago Palace Way, Festac, Lagos, exposed the novel way the importers of these illicit drugs now use to bring in the prohibited item.

It was Imported from India and is three times deadlier than the normal tramadol.

The new drug variant was in 20 cartons of 225mg of 838,500 tablets and 90,000 of 120mg tablets.

The street value of the seized item was put at N1.400 billion with each cartoon worth about N70million.

The consignment came in from India but was intercepted through intelligence and collaborative efforts of Customs officers and other sister security agencies.

The Customs operatives trailed the illicit cargo since it came into the port on July 3rd, 2022 as the importer, who initially abandoned it, was buying time and delaying its declaration in order to throw off the officers from its trail.

 

 

 

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Customs

How terminal operators sabotage cargo scanning operations at Tin Can port

 

—As Customs intends to get mobile scanners to achieve total compliance 

The Eyewitness reporter

The Tin can Island command of the Nigeria Customs Service has accused the terminal operators of frustrating the cargo scanning process at the port.

The Area Controller of the Command, Comptroller Olakunle Oloyede, made the veiled accusation last week during his presentation of the command”s performance for 2022.

Comptroller Oloyede alleged that the terminal operators are not willing to provide trucks that will take consignments scheduled for scanning to the scanning site, thus making it difficult for the command to achieve a 100 percent compliance level by importers and their agents.

”It is a big problem for the terminal operators to bring me trucks to take the consignments to the scanning site where the fixed scanners are located”, he lamented, saying ” but customs can”t do it alone, we have to do this work together with other stakeholders, there should be a synergy to get this job done as we all agreed to work together”

”Even, if I have 10 fixed scanners at the port and the terminal operators are not willing to provide trucks to move the consignments to the scanning site, that is a problem”, he stated.

But to circumvent this human obstacle to the scanning operations, Comptroller Oloyeded revealed that the command has decided to procure mobile scanners that will be placed on the quayside to scan containers dropped from the vessels before they are taken to the stacking areas.

”What we intend to do is to buy more mobile scanners and place them at the quayside.

”As your container is dropped on the truck that will take it to the stacking area, it would be made to go through the mobile scanner at the quayside. This will make compliance level compulsory.

”This is because the mobile machines will be at the quayside where they can be moved from one end of the quayside to the other.

”Even, if I have two mobile machines, they are enough for me. We just place them side by side on the vessel and your truck we move through them.

”And the scanning will not be more than five seconds per container. I can scan up to 400 containers a day, even more, without analysis.

”I will just scan for record purposes but when it is time when the owner of the cargo is ready for the clearance process, that is when the risk management tool will tell me which of those containers I have already scanned and kept their records are going for scanning. This is when we scan and analyse.

”This is what we intend to do very very soon”, the Customs chief declared.

On the issue of customs’ failure to apply value depreciation on old cars, Oloyede said that Customs does not have data for cars older than the approved age limit of 2014.

According to him, the system has been configured in such a way as not to recognise them, but rather than outrightly reject them, that is the reason they make them pay the value of the newer cars.

He observed that in other climes, such old cars are meant to be crushed and used as raw materials for other things but lamented that in Nigeria, people still bring in cars of 2005, 2007 into the country.

”There is no data for old vehicles. They are meant to be crushed. Our system is programmed to take cognisance of government policy on the age limit of cars. Any vehicles outside the approved age limit are not recognised..

He extricated Customs from the astronomical increase in the costs of vehicles in the market, attributing the high cost to the galloping exchange rates and the dynamism of the international market.

”When we talk of value for clearance, before, what was the exchange rate, and now, what is the exchange rate? This is what has affected the cost of cars in the market.

”And on value depreciation, you can’t depreciate vehicles that you are not supposed to bring into the country. But for vehicles within the age limit of 2014, the depreciation of value is there”

He also revealed that the system has been configured in such as way that there can’t be human intervention or interference.

 

 

 

 

 

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Customs

Tin Can Customs nets N574.3 billion in 2022 —–records N242.365 billion in exports

The Eyewitness reporter
The  Tin Can Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has realized a sum of N574.3 billion in 2022.
The Customs Area Controller (CAC), Tin Can Island Port Command, Comptroller Olakunle Oloyede, disclosed this at a news conference at weekend.

Oloyede said the figure represented an increase of N80.90 billion or 16.39 percent when compared with N493.4 billion recorded in 2021.

“This feat can be attributed to the constant rejigging of the existing measures geared toward sustaining the command’s revenue profile.

“It is as well as utilisation of some disruptive strategic measures such as: periodic capacity building, reshuffling and redeployment of officers using the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis and implementation of the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) valuation,” he said.

He noted that the command also ensured robust and continuous stakeholder engagements and collaborations with all sister government agencies and maritime associations.

“These led to timely intelligence sharing, utilisation and voluntary compliance to government’s extant laws by the trading public,” Oloyede said.

He added that the command increased surveillance on declarations made in order to sniff out improper declarations as well as offending items.

He pointed out that the system paid off with the command recording a total of 38 seizures with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N1.85 billion.

“These seizures comprise 763kgs of Colorado (Cannabis Sativa) weighing 345.1kg with a street market value of N714.6 million only as given by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), 5 x 40 containers of used motor tyre (5,060 pieces).

“Also among seized items are 1,150 bales of second-hand clothing, 1,190 cartons of 20 per carton of potassium bromate and baking powder, 11,392 cartons of 1,200 per carton Pharmacol injection chloroquine phosphate 322.5mg.5ml (IV and IM), 206,000 pieces of finished machetes.

“Also, 1,383 cartons of 50 rolls per carton of cigarettes, 650 cartons of 50 pieces per carton of new ladies shoes, 2,666 pieces in 36 pallets of new starter Ex-Premium Inverter Battery, 1,980 cartons of assorted non-alcoholic beverages and 1,048 cartons of Tilda basmati rice,” he said.

Oloyede listed others as 2,594 pieces of ammunition and 20 pieces of arms comprising of one pistol with 611090 (S/W) model JCP 40mm, one used Co2 air pistol with accessories cal 117(4.5m)BM, one marksman repeater pistol, six Mace pepper gun and 10 suspected arms of various types.

He said that the seizures when compared with the 2021 record of 27 seizures with a Debit Note of N607.27 only, show an increase of 11 seizures and N1.24 billion.

He said that the increase in the DPV rate could be associated with increased surveillance and intensified anti-smuggling drive, the high value of seized items and Naira depreciation that led to higher exchange rates on imported items.

“These prohibited items were seized and forfeited to the Federal Government in line with the provision of Sections 46 and 161 of the Customs & Excise Management Act (CEMA) Cap 45 LFN 2004 and Absolute Prohibition List of CET 2022- 2026.

“The command pertinently acknowledges the prominent roles played by the Customs Intelligence Unit, Valuation Unit, Federal Operations Unit, CGC Strike Force as well as interventions of Sister Regulatory Agencies like the NDLEA, Standards Organisation of Nigeria SON, the Nigeria Police and others in ensuring these seizures and detentions were made.

“A total of 60 suspects were detained in 2022 and were granted administrative bail while the command has 8 cases pending in court,” he said.

Oloyede said the command recorded a significant increase in the Free On Board (FOB) of exports in the period under review to the tune of $589,696,648 (N242,365,322,333.00) as against the $496,075,796 (N141,985,109,159.00) recorded in 2021.

He attributed the increase of 34.4 percent in the FOB to the high quality and value of exported commodities.

“However, the export report shows a decrease in tonnage of export from 1,723,986.8 in 2021 to 336,179.5 in 2022.

“The decrease in tonnage could be connected to current government fiscal policy which prohibited the export of wood and wood products as well as the global unrest with its concomitant economic challenges,” he said

He listed the commodities exported through the command to include: cocoa beans, insecticides, dried ginger, empty bottles, soya beans, cashew nuts, cigarettes, rubbers, cocoa butter, frozen shrimps, copper ingots, aluminum ingots, sesame seeds and other manufactured items.

“Cocoa beans were the highest exported commodity while the legend stout was the least exported commodity.

“The future of export in the command looks brighter as the command in line with the headquarter circular on Export Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) released a Port Order on the Command’s harmonised SOP for the seamless facilitation of Export Trade in strict compliance with Extant Laws and guidelines on Export,” he said.

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