Stories by Isaac Anumihe
It is no longer news that Nigeria’s economy has slipped into recession, a situation occasioned by global drop in crude oil prices, militancy in the Niger Delta and lack of transparency in doing business.
Before the crisis in the oil industry, over 80 per cent of Nigeria’s revenue was from crude oil, while 20 per cent came from the non-oil exports. It is, therefore, not surprising that when the crisis in the oil sector set in, Nigeria fell cheaply. However, the Federal Government has said it is making frantic efforts to reverse the trend by ensuring that more revenues come from the non-oil sector. These sectors include agriculture, solid minerals, taxes, duties on freights and cargoes. To ensure effective implementation of the diversification policy, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on August 12, 2015, banned 41 items to encourage local production in Nigeria and boost employment.
This policy implies that those who import these items can no longer buy foreign currency from the official window to pay the overseas suppliers. Rather, they will have to source forex from the parallel market or Bureau De Change to pay for their imports. The banned items include rice, cement, margarine, palm kernel/palm oil products/vegetable oils, meat and processed meat products, vegetables and processed vegetable products, poultry chicken, eggs, turkey, private airplanes/jets, Indian incense, tinned fish in sauce (Geisha)/sardines, cold rolled steel sheets, galvanised steel sheets, roofing sheets, wheelbarrows, head pans, metal boxes and containers, enamelware, steel drums, steel pipes, wire rods (deformed and not deformed), iron rods and reinforcing bard, wire mesh, steel nails, security and razor wine, wood particle boards and panels, wood fibre boards and panels, plywood boards and panels, wooden doors, toothpicks, glass and glassware, kitchen utensils, tableware, tiles-vitrified and ceramic, textiles, woven fabrics, clothes, plastic and rubber products, polypropylene granules, cellophane wrappers, soap and cosmetics, tomatoes/tomato pastes, eurobond/foreign currency bond/share purchases.
However, since the ban, many importers have engaged in a lot of malpractices thus leading to revenue losses.
About a fortnight ago, it was reported that over 50 million bags of imported rice worth over N1 billion, were trapped in various warehouses in Cotonou, Benin Republic, following the ban on foreign rice in Nigeria. This is because importers do not want to pay the statutory duties on the goods and so they stockpiled them in Cotonou ports waiting for opportunity to smuggle them into the country.
About the same time, a smuggler, arranged bags of rice in a coffin and carried them in an ambulance to beat Customs check at Seme border. These were actions aimed at undermining the diversification efforts of government.
But the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has implemented some guidelines for importing goods tagged the Standards Organisation of Nigeria Conformity Assessment Programme (SONCAP).
SONCAP verifies the conformity of all imported goods and enforces their standards – except those that appear on the Excluded Product List. Compliance to SONCAP requirements is applicable in addition to any existing import processes.
The requirements for SONCAP include:
Every consignment of imported goods which contains regulated products must be accompanied by a Certificate of Conformity/ SONCAP Certificate issued by an independent accredited firm, such as Intertek. This CoC/SC is electronically transmitted to SON’s portal.
The Certificate of Conformity (CoC)/SONCAP Certificate (SC) confirms that the products comply with the relevant Nigerian technical regulations and approved international/regional/national standards. SONCAP Certificate (SC) is a mandatory document used by the NCS for clearance of goods going to Nigeria.
SON’s e-certificate is now integrated into the NICIS (Nigeria Integrated Customs Information System) and CBN Information System using the Single Window. The integration of SON’s e-Product Certificate and SONCAP Certificate will enhance the approval of Form M (for general merchandise) and PAAR (Pre-Arrival Assessment Report), which are mandatory documents for Customs clearance of goods at the port of entry.
All Nigerian importers can process the Form M and PAAR transactions from the comfort of their own offices or home through an up-to-date web browser software at the web address.
Minister seeks corrupt-free ports, launches SOP
Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has said that for the ports to effectively support the economy, corruption and conflict of interest must be tackled.
Speaking during the launch of Harmonised Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and Port Service Support Portal (PSSP) in Lagos, aimed at facilitating transit of cargo and reducing corruption in the ports, the Minister who was represented by the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hajia Hadiza Bala Usman, recalled that in 2013, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other related Offences Commission (ICPC), the Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-corruption Reforms (TUGAR) and Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), carried out corruption risk assessments at the six ports in Nigeria (Calabar, Tin Can, Apapa, Warri, Port Harcourt and Onne) to identify areas that are prone to corruption in the ports.
He said the report of the assessment made a case for stakeholders to jointly implement integrity plans to strengthen transparency and accountability towards enhanced service delivery.
The Minister stated that SOP and PSSP had earlier been launched by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, in Abuja and that the launch in Lagos was a follow-up on the Abuja launch.
“Today, we are here to follow up on the Abuja launch with open air launch at the six ports, starting with the ports in Lagos. As you are aware, the corruption risk assessment project is an anti-corruption project focusing on strategies to reduce corruption in the Nigerian ports sector,” he said.
Earlier, the Managing Director of NPA, Hajia Usman, explained that the PSSP is a central mechanism for service support and pre-emptive resolution of service impediments.
The SOP as a process map for each port agency, she said, helps to establish operational standards and guide customers on what to expect at the ports and what they need to do to receive good quality services.
The Managing Director who spoke through her Executive Director, Marine and Operations, Mr. Sekonte Davies, said that SOP would foster accountability and serve as a corruption prevention tool.
Besides, she said the programme will minimise variation and promote quality through consistent implementation of processes of procedures within the organisation.“With this launch, we are certain that unwholesome practices by service providers at the ports will be greatly reduced, if not completely eliminated. It will become easier to detect culprits and defaulters and sanction them,” she noted.
NPA to prioritise rail movement of cargo
As part of measures to reduce pressure on the roads and maximise inter-modal transport potentials, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) is prioritising the movement of cargo into and from the ports by rail.
Speaking during the tour of some terminals and facilities in the Apapa Port Complex in Lagos, Managing Director of NPA, 
Usman, said the NPA will work to increase stakeholders’ confidence in the ability of the rail line to seamlessly transport their cargoes.
She revealed that the NPA has opened talks with Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) on the need to revitalise the rail tracks in and out of the port for easy movement of imported cargoes and access of agricultural produce being exported out of the country, while also working for modern and increased number of wagons.
Usman who lauded the initial move to test-run cargo movement from Lagos to the northern part of the country, also said the NPA will reach out to Federal Ministry of Agriculture and other stakeholders in the export chain on the need to know and adhere to Standard Operating Procedure within the Nigerian port environment.
In his remarks, the Executive Director of ENL Consortium, one of the concessionaires whose terminal the rail track runs through, Mr. Mark Walsh, explained to Usman that there was a successful test-run of cargo movement from the port by rail to the North but was slowed down when owners of consignments complained of delays.
Walsh said prospective users of the rail facilities in the port needed to be reassured of its seamless feature, cost and time saving advantages.
The NPA boss who was accompanied by other executive directors and top management staff of NPA including the General Manager, Western Ports, Michael Ajayi, also visited the recently repaired portions of the Apapa Ijora link bridge.