The Sun News Online

Customs Area Comptroller (CAC) at Tin Can Island Port in Lagos, Alhaji Ali Wakili, is standing astride Customs operations at the nation’s second largest and busiest seaport (TCIP).
He not only accepts that 48-hour-cargo clearance at the seaports is possible and desirable, he believes that the media has not done enough to enlighten the stakeholders and make them aware of their own responsibilities towards actualizing and sustaining the dream.

Tin Can Island Port in 2007
You can recall that I came to Tin Can Island Port in February 2007. It has been a year of learning and experience gathering for me. We thank Yahweh that we have been able to weather the storm.

We were able to do our best and fulfill our obligations as tax collectors and trade facilitators we were able to surpass the target set for us by about 60 per cent.
We were supposed to have collected some N32 billion to the Federation Account. That was for Import Duty only, but we were able to collect N53 billion.
We also collected other levies such as five per cent Vat, seven per cent Port Levy on Development, two per cent NAC even though NAC had been abolished by the National Assembly before the end of the year.

Other collections were ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) Levy, Sugar Levy and Rice Levy, all totaling about N40 billion.
So all in all, in Tin Can Island Port, we were able to collect N93,918,784,328.40.
The new introduction and how it affected your revenue drive
That is speculative. I am not aware of that, and it did not affect our revenue drive at TCIP.
That achievement has not been without its teething problems. I told you that it was a year of learning for us.

The multitude of crowd that come into the port had to be controlled. The attitude of Customs officers needed to be changed. The attitude of most stakeholders leaves much to be desired and they needed to conform with the norms.

There were other service providers such as the shipping companies, the concessionaires and others, but we were able to weather that storm and achieve that grade.

Performance of concessionaires since 2005
I will not be honest to myself if I sit here and assess the concessionaires. I am not in a position to evaluate them.

It is only the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and other stakeholders who benefit from their services that can do that.

Seizures within the period
We made over 25 seizures of assorted goods, ranging from textiles furniture and other goods prohibited from coming into the country.
We also seized some vehicles and some of them were seized at the attempt to remove them without the payment of appropriate Customs Duty, using falsified documents.
If you look at the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA), it has various penalties for various offences.

To the best of our ability, we were able to apprehend some of the agents who were on the spot. From there, investigations would lead us to their principals, actual owners or importers of these items, where it is possible.
In all we do, we are guided by the CEMA. Look at CEMA 345, laws of operation 2004, section 154 and some other areas which deal with the things that are supposed to be done and their liabilities.
In other words, no importer was apprehended
We apprehended some agents and they have been appropriately charged to the Federal High Court, but no convictions yet.

Value of the goods seized last year
I do not have the correct information on that in my memory now. I do not want to speak on that aspect, as I do not have the correct information.

48-hour cargo clearance
It is the desire of governments in Nigeria to improve the economy of the country. Since the economy has to be improved, we have to move from oil to non-oil sector.
If you look at the profile of the government, you will discover that outside the oil revenue, the maritime sector, especially through the Nigerian Customs Service, accounts for a large chunk of revenue that accrews to the Federal Government.

As a result, the government has the desire to ensure that there is a good turn around in terms of service provision and in terms of clearance of these goods.
So, government came up with this 48-hour-clearance of goods, which the service and its leadership also believe is not only desirable but also achievable.
It is achievable within the confines of certain parameters.

The parameters
Customs is only a part of the clearing process as you know. There are other stakeholders such as the shipping companies, the importers, the agents, the banks which collect this money on behalf of the Federal Government and the concessionaires.
They all have their contributions here and there.

48-hour clearance is possible
It is very possible. Those of us in the Customs are very realistic.
If we have a genuine importer who will follow the rules and the brokers who will bring in the correct declarations and do the correct thing; if we have a good change of attitude by Customs officers; if we have a good interplay from the banks, the concessionaires and the shipping companies, we would have no problem achieving the 48-hour goods clearance.
Emphasis must be on the shipping companies first. They bring in these manifests and they can run through the Customs service in three hours.

There are however, other factors and interplays which have to take place. We are making efforts to have an interconnectivity between us and all the stakeholders.
Amendments to clearing documents by agents
That is a collective resolve of the entire Customs Service and officers.
At the Comptroller General of Customs Conference held at Sokoto late in 2007, we realised that some of the documentations from the shipping companies are not what they should be.
We then resolved that amendments to documentations must not be allowed to derail the resolve to achieve the 48-hour cargo clearance.

Year 2008
As I told you earlier, 2007 was a learning process for me at Tin Can Island Port. This year 2008 would be a year of consolidation of our experiences in 2007.
All areas of revenue leakages, especially falsification of documents and attempts to remove containers and goods without payment of appropriate duty, or attempts to move goods that are not supposed to be brought into the country, are being checkmated.

We have tried to sanitise various interest groups and stakeholders and I have just held a meeting with the stakeholders on the subject.
I held a meeting Wednesday, (January 30, 2008), with all the agencies and stakeholders at the port. We are doing our best to ensure that the year experiences hitch-free business transactions with every segment doing what it should do, to ensure that the ambition of government in terms of 48-hour goods clearance is achieved.

Message to the public
Yes. I would like the media to see to it that the public, stakeholders and interest groups are properly enlightened on the goings on in the industry.
Let them be aware of their rights. Let them know where their rights begin and where they end.