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by Steve Agbota, [email protected]
In January 2022, when the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) introduced a new valuation system known as the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) valuation system used for allocating standard values to all vehicles coming into the country, nobody had the inkling that the policy would set maritime stakeholders on a collision course with government.
The system, according to Customs, automatically determines the value of import duty that an importer is expected to pay on cars immediately after the vehicle is passed through a dedicated scanning machine.
During the unveiling, Customs said the VIN is an automated system that would aid the valuation of imported vehicles entery the country through all Nigeria’s approved entering points.
The idea behind the development of the VIN was to address the agitation of clearing agents and other port users who have been calling for a standardised valuation system in the country. Then, Customs described it as a system that uses artificial intelligence to allocate appropriate value and taxes to vehicles using the Vehicle Identification Number.
However, the implementation of the VIN valuation has been stoking fire among the stakeholders especially the clearing agents as they claimed that the system is giving wrong and outrageous values on imported vehicles.
For instance, agents said an importer now needs about $14,000 to clear a used car of $5000. After so many efforts to get the Customs to amend the anomalies in the system proved abortive, the Clearing agents had on Monday protested against the new policy, grounding operations at PTML terminals and the popular Car Park C at the Tin Can Island ports.
The agents lamented that the VIN valuation system had raised the duty payable on imported vehicles by almost 300 per cent, making it difficult for them to process clearance of their vehicles from the port.
“Our grouse is not about the acceptability of the VIN valuation, it is about the fact that Article 30 of the Customs legal notice was not followed in issuing the value on cars, rebate on vehicles was not also taken into consideration in issuing the value, the agents stated.
An insider in the Customs told Daily Sun that the VIN valuation was not well implemented because the ICT department failed to carry the Valuation department along in the implementation of the system.
However, NCS has reacted to the outburst by clearing agents over the introduction of VIN valuation for clearance of imported vehicles at the nation’s ports.
In a statement by the Customs Public Relations Officer, Deputy Comptroller Timi Bomodi, said that the clearing agents protesting the introduction of VIN valuation do not care about automation, simplification, harmonisation or even transparency in the system.
According to him, all the agents’ care about are the personal benefits accruable from milking the system with little import duty payment.
Bomodi said the resistance to VIN-Valuation by clearing agents was surprising as the policy was deliberately designed to meet their demands for a harmonised value system on imported vehicles and automation of Customs processes.
“In recent times the consensus among clearing agents on the valuation of used vehicles appears to favour a harmonised value system that is consistent across all Customs platforms in Nigeria. They insisted that the same make, and model of cars should be made to pay the same amount of duty.
“These agents also demanded the discontinuation of the discounted value method which allowed for the subjective considerations of officers in the Customs Valuation Unit who rely mainly on the book value of vehicles discounted at a fixed rate over time,” he added.
In his response to Customs claims, Vice President, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Dr. Kayode Farinto said: “I read with consternation the submission of the National Public Relations Officer of Customs and I pity Nigeria, asking myself, at what point did we get it wrong in this part of the country.
“It is sheer hypocrisy to condemn the position of few freight forwarders that exposed the level of non professionalism in the management of Nigeria Customs Service but because anything goes in this part of the world,
“First and foremost, every freight forwarder was tired of giving bribes, inhuman treatment by men of NCS on the road, whenever they take delivery of their vehicles and the fact that there was no uniformity on duty payable on same categories, year of manufacture and even with same cubic capacities of vehicles, hence we all clamour that something urgently needed to be done on this issue,” he said.
He said that the VIN valuation is outrageous, it encourages corruption, lacks predictability, transparency, shortchanging government revenue and it does not help Nigerian economy.
“Permit me to digress because I was frontally campaigning for this in the last few months and it will interest Nigerians to know that the Comptroller General of Customs immediately keyed into our demand and directed that a Committee of Stakeholders be set up (which must include the Customs brokers and Customs officers) to meet and look into how this can work in the interest of the nation.
“However, some members of the management team vowed that it would never happen due to the pecuniary gain that would elude them if this process is allowed to come to fruition. And they never allowed the Committee to be inaugurated let alone be set up. I stand to be corrected because I remember that we wrote series of letters reminding them of the need to set up this Committee but it was tactically avoided.
“Hence, the recent happening in the industry because, up till now, we have it on good authority that only a few analogue officers came up with values and data inputted in the VIN Valuation and even forgot due to lack of knowledge to put into consideration that legal notice 30, which is a law that allows every used vehicle to enjoy rebate as per year of manufacture. This rebate ranges from 10 to 50 per cent reduction on duty payable,” he explained.
Furthermore, he said talking about Artificial Intelligence (AI), the great question that we need to ask these crops of fake innovators is, does AI provide data? The answer is no.
He said Artificial Intelligence (AI) broadly refers to any human-like display by a machine or system.
“In Artificial Intelligence, basic forms, computers are programmed to mimic human behavior using extensive data from past examples of similar behaviour, where does your own data emanate from?
“We have unhindered access to world Customs organization on the issue of data or ex factory prices which would have formed part of the consideration to make the VIN Valuation work. Finally, it will interest Nigerians to know that for these new systems to work and be devoid of corruption, it must be designed such that once you pay whatever the system is given, the release ought to be automated. But the designer of this system also deliberately avoided this to still create room for physical contact and “Chua Chua (Chua Chua is a language in the industry for settlement).”
“We, as patriotic Nigerians, want this nation to move forward and are tired of being called names by people that are benefiting from our position. Hence, we insist that, the right thing must be done and condemn all acts of attempting to give freight forwarders bad name,” he said.
Meanwhile, a foremost freight forwarder, Dr. Musa Segun, said having listened to Customs defence on the VIN, it is obviously shameful that the organisation that supposed to know better is acting from ignorance point of view.
“What is artificial intelligence? May we need to get our officers to be well trained and stop using English they find difficult to interpret. Artificial intelligence is the inputs human intelligence of needed data’s into a robot or computer system to have direct interaction with human for solutions.
Ordinarily, it simply means garbage in garbage out. Whoever has designed the VIN has imputed fraudulent figures that do not exist in any part of the world into the formation. And each time you input yourr correct value it would definitely conflict with what has been programmed in the VIN,” he said.
He said unfortunately, the Customs are taking Nigerians for a ride, thinking they are not informed and they can play on people’s intelligence. He added that it behooves the leadership of associations and critical stakeholders to constructively engage the Customs and justify why the fraudulent AI (VIN) will not be allowed to fly.”
