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By Steve Agbota, [email protected]
Last week when the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and a consortium, Trade Modernisation Project Limited signed a concession agreement worth $3.2 billion to digitise the operations at border security and revenue collection outfit, there was so much anxiety among stakeholders.
The concession agreement according to the Federal Government is expected to generate over $176billon.
The agreement signing ceremony took place at the national headquarters of the NCS where representatives of technical and financial partners in the deal, including African Finance Corporation and Huawei Technologies Company Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of China-based Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd were present.
During the signing ceremony, the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Hameed Ibrahim Ali, said that $176 billion revenue would be generated into the Federal Government’s coffers within 20 years through its e-Customs project.
He revealed that the $3.2 billion e-Customs project to be financed by the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and managed by Huawei Technologies Limited under a 20-year concession window, would quadruple Customs’ current N210 billion monthly revenue collection.Ali added that the project ought to have commenced two years ago but could not due to unforeseen exigencies.
“The journey has been long and torturous. But we have eventually signed the dotted lines. I want to appreciate the ICRC for the commitment to see the project to fruition. I appreciate our partners, Huawei Technologies Limited.
“They have been part of it. We had to go to China a couple of times. Today, we’re going to become a fully digitised service. I thank the AFC for financing this project on behalf of the entire Nigerians.
“The success of this project will be on the global map. We are going to hit the ground running. It is a very beneficial project especially as it’ll garner $176 billion for the concession period.
“We are likely to surpass that. It’s a 20-year project by which time all aspects of it would have been deployed and Nigerians will decide whether to own it or allow it run as a concession,” he said.
However, since the deal was sealed, it has been stoking fire of discord among stakeholders in the maritime industry who complained that no career Comptroller General of Customs would accept such suspicious deal crafted in secrecy, even as they said stakeholders were not carried along during the exercise.
Given a break down of the deal, the $176 billion figure, at an exchange rate of N590 to a dollar shows that the project will generate $8.8billion (about N5.2 trillion) annually as against the current N2.52 trillion annual revenue of NCS with the threshold of N210 billion generated monthly. This represents over 100 per cent increase in the current Customs revenue figures.
This was as stakeholders faulted the figures which they described as unsustainable in a bleeding economy dependent on import. The project is not meant to promote export but targeted at importers to more duties and levies, which will invariably lead to inflation.
The implications is that there will be rise in prices of goods and services that will definitely affect the purchasing power of ordinary man on the street.
Speaking with Daily Sun, The National President of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Mr. Lucky Amiwero said the Chinese firm the contract was awarded to is not a member of WCO, adding that the firm is an expert in the Customs but the project is just an ICT thing.
“What are they coming to modernise? What did they know about e-Customs? You are talking about the company that is just a telecom company that was rejected in America coming to modernise Customs. What are they coming to do here?” he asked.
He said Nigeria has the system already, which is e-Customs. He wondered why it is now being duplicated when even America used to have two now has one. “Customs is a procedural service. Customs is not a thing of politics. That Chinese firm thing is only on telecom. We are not talking about telecom here but we are talking about e-Customs,” he said.
He explained that Customs is import, export, manufacturing, transit and transshipment, adding that all these things are procedure and Customs don’t meant to be rule by people that do not have the knowledge.
“The people widwifing the contract are not experts in Customs, but politicians, saying that all the companies the contract was concession to, none of them are expert in Customs. How can they mordernise Customs? Just like telling the man heading the Customs, the one they call CGC to come and mordernise Customs, he can’t because he doesn’t know anything about Customs,” he added.
He said Customs is not Police, Immigration and Prison, Customs is a procedure, saying that Customs has over 100 conventions in the CEMA and CEMA is not a domestic law.
Meanwhile, former National President, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Eugene Nweke, said the award of the contract was not transparent and has therefore asked the Federal Ministry of Finance to explain to Nigerians the bidding process leading to the concession.
He, therefore, expressed his displeasure in a June 3, 2022 press statement titled, “Re: Customs Signed Modernization Project Concession Agreement to Facilitate Trade – Nigerians Are Still Asking for Clarification Over Pertinent Questions and Issues of National Concerns.
He also accused the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), established to superintend and regulate Public-Private Partnership (PPP), of running what he called a one-man show in the contract award.
According to him, the agency that concessioned the project is a public one and not a one-man enterprise, as such Nigerians have a right to know how and when was the bidding process advertised and who are the bidders and what criteria were used to arrive at the choice of Chinese firms.
According to him, Nigerians were hoodwinked in the contract deal because a non-career Customs officer was at the helm of the affairs of the service; hence the initiators of the deal had their way.
“Also, may I state the obvious, the present scenario became possible due to the absence of a seasoned career Comptroller General of Customs. I can bet you that no career officer, no matter how unintelligent and corrupt he may be, would accept nor succumb to the concessioning of any aspects of the Customs functions or operations,” he added.
However, National Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Customs Service, Deputy Comptroller Timi Bomodi has allay fears of stakeholders on the newly signed $3.1billion e-Customs Contract, saying that when it comes on stream, challenges of alerts on cargoes would come to an end.
He also revealed that with this new system, examinations and release of import and export cargoes will be subjected to live feeds across multiple platforms.
He assured that this would check arbitrary decision making at all levels and will also guide against unnecessary interventions by officers.
The $3.2 billion e-Customs project is to be financed by the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and managed by a Chinese firm; Huawei Technologies Limited under a 20-year concession window.
The customs spokesman debunked insinuations among stakeholders that revenue functions of the customs have been ceded out to a private firm.
