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Earlier in the year, I advised a relation who wanted to buy an imported car from Cotonou to be careful so that he would not end up having a smuggled car. Later he brought the car and showed me original duty papers issued by the Nigerian Customs. I was pleasantly surprised, because several years back, I had a different experience. I wanted to buy a car from a dealer. The car came in through Cotonou. When I demanded the Customs duty papers, what was presented was forged. The dealer said the car was smuggled, as it was then illegal to import vehicles through the land borders.
It was apparent that the last administration legalized importation through the land borders to stop smuggling and loss of revenue.
Now we have just had another policy reversal. Spokesman of the Nigerian Customs Service, Wale Adeniyi announced the prohibition of vehicle importation through the land borders in a statement issued penultimate Monday.
The Customs statement read: “The ban is sequel to a presidential directive restricting all vehicle imports to Nigerian seaports only. The order takes effect from January 1, 2017.
“The restriction on importation of vehicles follows that of rice, which imports have been banned through the land borders since April 2016.
“Importers of vehicles through the land borders are requested to utilise the grace period up till December 31, 2016 to clear their inventories in neighboring ports.’’
Although the reason for the policy change was not made known, it could be assumed that the Presidency wanted to take business back to Nigerian seaports and stop revenue loss through smuggling.
But will this measure translate to more revenue? Will it stop smuggling and encourage Nigerians to patronize our seaports? I have doubts.
A similar decision was taken in April this year with importation of rice, but is rice now solely imported through the seaports? As I wrote in this column last week, a visit to Sango Ota, Ogun State is all you need to be convinced that what many Nigerians eat is smuggled rice. Sango is a major transit point for smuggled rice. And the illegal trade has continued with impunity in spite of the prohibition in April, this year.
Only recently, the Comptroller General of Customs, Col Hameed Alli (retd) lamented the porosity of Nigerian borders. He said, “You can’t say this is a border that is well secured. Our brothers and kinsmen live across the borders. If you take Benin Republic, for instance, some of us speak the same language, we live within the same border.”
Nigeria reportedly has 1,500 identified land border crossings. Out of these, only 114 have approved control posts manned by immigration officials and other security agencies. The others are unmanned and besides, there are numerous illegal routes, which the Customs CG acknowledged.
If government has been losing money even when vehicles were allowed through the borders legally, would the leakages now reduce when importation is banned and the porous borders remain what they are?
I have a feeling the ban would not work. If we are to judge by the rice experience, one can conclude that government just further closed the opportunity of earning revenue, while unconsciously encouraging vehicle smugglers to be more menacing.
I fear that we would be returning soon to the era when smugglers turned the border routes into war theatres, engaging in bloody encounters with Customs officials. Many lives were lost in those encounters.
Well, maybe the government has plans to launch military operations to stop smuggling. If this happens, then the militarization of the country would be complete. Military operations against insurgents and kidnappers in the North; against herdsmen in the North-central; kidnappers in the South-east and militants and kidnappers in the South-south.
The ban notice had hardly been conveyed when car dealers, particularly in the North, raised objection. They cried out that the new policy would drive them out of business. What it means is that for them to be able to source vehicles for sale, they must rely on the seaports in the South. They complained that government simply wanted to further impoverish them. Is this government’s intention? Does government exist to increase the pains of the citizens or alleviate their sufferings?
How about Nigerians in parts of the country far from the ports? How much more will they now pay for tokunbo vehicles, which prices had been forced up already by the dollar crisis? Has the policy reversal taken all these into account?
I believe that government should not be driven by revenue drive into unleashing more hardship on the already suffering masses. Rather than introduce a ban on vehicle importation through the land borders, there is the need to examine why importers prefer ports in neighbouring countries to ours.
The answer is not far fetched. Our seaports are not importer-friendly and they have been so for a long time. What is being done about accessibility to the seaports due to bad roads; extortion of money from importers by government officials at the ports; prohibitive import tariff that encourages smuggling and the high port charges?
These are the areas where the change should begin, otherwise we wait to see how the ban, rather than achieve its aim, will breed more corrupt Customs personnel and bolder, more vicious smugglers.
Abdulfatah, you made me salivate with the opening stanza of your piece on Ebonyi rice. Unsung as Ebonyi rice is, your piece would surely market it for patronage by many Nigerians. The ban on importation of rice, to encourage local production, was badly timed. Government should first have ensured availability of compensatory home-produced rice ahead of ban on its importation. Ebonyi Governor reserves the right to ban foreign rice from his domain but should consumption of his local rice be “localised” instead of converting it to another source of generating revenue for his state, through national sales and possibly exportation of Ebonyi rice, in the interim, to West African countries? Nigeria needs all hands to be on deck to bail her out of this recession, which federal government appears to be incapable of solving all alone. This Ebonyi State success should be replicated by other governors in their areas of environmental and agricultural privileges, just as it was with the regional system of government, which predated Independence era of Nigeria. Such would, apart from enhancing food production, create jobs in all affected economic areas of the projects. God save Nigeria, Amen.
–Lai Ashadele.
How can one get Ebonyi rice if one is not residing there? And how much would you give to someone who wants to buy wholesale for sale also? Quantity price? Who’ll take care of the transportation cost of the rice? Please I’m waiting for reply.
–08142733203.
Now that Governor Umahi of Ebonyi has set the pace in rice production to end food problem, other governors should follow suit for Nigeria to be self-sufficient in rice production rather than depending on imported rice to feed the nation when we have enough lands to plant rice on a large scale. PMB’s policy on food security is a welcome idea that all and sundry should support. l believe all the three tiers of government in their next year’s budgets should allocate more resources to agric to boost food production. We are getting there, after all oil is no longer on sight.
–Mrs. Ijeoma Nno, Lagos.
Prof sir, l have to address you like that. Yes o, we can import rice from Ebonyi and tribalism of Nigeria will allow us. Though Senator Onwe said it all in the interview of Dec 8, 2016 well. He commended agriculture minister and the CBN for their moral support. The president should have seen it like this before he banned it. And banning vehicle importation through land border is taboo. Can a driver pilot an aeroplane? Army colonel as comptroller general of Customs? He will fail.
–Longinus O Ihedinihu.
