Customs
Customs reintroduces revised VIN policy in May.

–—-as freight forwarders end VIN war with Customs
Eyewitness reporter
The much-vilified Vehicles Identification Number (VIN) valuation policy has now been reconfigured and reinvigorated and set to be relaunched by the Nigeria Customs Service next month.
This followed a wide consultation made by the Customs’ management with relevant stakeholders, especially the representatives of the warring five accredited freight forwarding associations which culminated in the new version of the VIN policy.
The Nigeria Customs Service made this known in a stakeholders’ meeting held at Customs headquarters in Abuja.
Stakeholders from ANLCA, NAGAFF, Association of Auto Dealers of Nigeria and others were invited to get a first-hand look at the reviewed version of the VIN valuation process which incorporates all their observations and reflects discounted values consistent with the make and models of all vehicles in the system.
It could be recalled that the initial introduction of the policy in February elicited an uproar among the freight forwarders who protested what they called the arbitrary and unrealistic valuation method of the policy.
This uproar, which led to strike action by the agitating customs brokers, made the customs to hastily suspend the controversial valuation policy to get more input from the stakeholders.
Following their complaints, and in line with Article 2 of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (RTD) deemed it necessary to send a delegation comprising two members of management, Assistant Comptroller General of Customs, Hamza Gumi and, Saidu Galadima to engage stakeholders in a town hall meeting in Lagos.
This occasion provided stakeholders with the opportunity for airing their grievances and the articulation of possible solutions that will meet the expectations of all parties.
The outcome of the town hall meeting held in Lagos led to an approval for a 30-day moratorium by the Comptroller General of Customs.
This gave room for a review of the VIN valuation protocol, aimed at incorporating all their observations while allowing for the manual release of vehicles in the interim.
During the meeting at the Customs Headquarters, Comptrollers Import/Export Musa MBA and Valuation Anthony Udenze stressed the importance of transparency and honesty in declarations made by agents and importers.
They appreciated the efforts of the associations in articulating the concerns of their members and stressed the need to inform them of the progress made so far.
Meanwhile, Customs National Public Relations Officer, Deputy Comptroller Timi Bomodi also stated that the Service is interested in the enhancement of the user experiences of all its stakeholders and the improvements in the VIN Valuation protocol serve as a testament to that claim.
While responding to Bomodi, a representative of one of the associations, Kayode Farinto, who is the Vice President of ANLCA, expressed delight as to the final result of the review.
He appealed for constant engagement between NCS and stakeholders to reduce the likelihood of conflicts in the future.
Our reporter gathered that the new revised VIN valuation protocol has incorporated 10 percent depreciation level of vehicles, which was part of the grievances of the customs brokers.
It is expected that the policy will be reviewed as at when due to reflect the new realities of market dynamics in vehicles imports.
Some of the customs brokers who spoke to our reporter however appealed to the customs management to allow the new revised VIN policy reflect accident and salvage vehicles valuation into the policy.
The Nigeria Customs Service has however promised that stakeholders will be satisfied with the new VIN valuation policy as it has incorporated their ideas and suggestions.
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Customs
Comptroller Nnadi mourns death of retired customs officer, DCG Sanusi

“He passed on about an hour ago at a private hospital in Abuja. The Janaza prayers hold after the Zuhr prayers (1 pm) at the National Mosque, Abuja In Shaa Allah,”
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.
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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