The BIG Story: Tin Can Customs - Where Trade Compliance is Encouraged and Rewarded

Funso Olojo |

Compliance is a crucial aspect of trade facilitation. As a matter of fact, it is the fluid which lubricates the wheel of trade facilitation.

Sadly, this essential commodity is very scarce among the trading public and thus has become a major friction point between the traders and Nigeria Customs Service.

An average Nigerian Importer or Customs broker wants to circumvent the rules and guidelines on cargo documentation and clearance procedures through false declaration, under declaration, concealment and outright evasion of duty, all in a bid to maximise profit while the Customs wants to optimise its revenue collection .

This is the crux of the age long suspicion and friction between the Customs and the trading public, especially those with penchant for circumventing the rules.

But at the Tin Can Customs command, there is a curious twist to this accepted norm, a sort of paradigm shift where importers and Customs brokers, with little persuasion, willingly embrace compliance.

They have every reason to be compliant because there is a reward for compliance, which is a seamless cargo clearance.

The management of the command led by its Area Controller, Abdullahi Musa, is gradually but methodologically building a structure that encourages compliance.

The reforms which the Area Controller is espousing is meant to institutionalise the culture of compliance that will naturally lead to trade facilitation and enhanced revenue performance.

According to Uche Ejesieme, the spokesman for the command, Comptroller Musa leveraged and took to a higher notch the transformation which was kick-started by his predecessor.

“The level to which Comptroller Musa has taken the reforms process has resulted to a paradigm shift and trajectory that has repositioned the command and made it a toast of the trading public which has now blighted its former notoriety for playground of non-conformists”, Uche Ejesieme observed.

Through intelligence gathering, selectivity and profiling, the Command has been able to identify three categories of importers.

The compliant importers ,those who are willing to be compliant if properly schooled and the third category is the chronic non-compliant traders.

For each of these groups, there is a consequence for their passion and action.

According to the Area Controller, the first category would have its trade expeditiously facilitated while the second group will be encouraged to embrace compliance.

But the third group, which Segun Oduntan, the Tin Can chapter chairman of ANLCA said consists of not more than five percent, will face the full wrath of the extant laws.

“The first group will enjoy the privilege of trade facilitation. As long as you have fulfilled all the obligations in your declarations and duty payment, you have the right, and I mean what I say, you have the right to walk into my office and report any delay in the release of your cargo.
Sincerely I will intervene.

“To this end, I have directed all the DCs, DC Enforcement, DC Admin., DC Revenue, they have same powers as I have to intervene.
Sincerely, I have started doing that and I will continue to do that.

“Perhaps if am busy to personally intervene, I always refer them to DC Revenue or DC Admin.to take up the matter.

“So for operators who are compliant, we want to be seen to be facilitating their trade.

“For those who are willing or realise they have issues with their declarations and are willing to be guided.

“Yes we shall help them and those issues will be resolved and appropriate DN shall be issued and they will take their cargo.

“But for those who have issues but they don’t believe they have issues, those are chronic non-compliant traders, non-conformists.

“We shall not hesitate to apply the full weight of the law to such persons”, Compt. Musa explained.

“Let’s preach compliance. Let our clients know the value or reward for being compliant.
As an importer, you can achieve high circle of imports in a year if you are compliant.

“But if you are not compliant, you cannot achieve that because there would be interventions here and there” he further admonished Customs brokers.

To show that he is a stickler for compliance and trade facilitation, Compt.Musa said he had given a standing order to Customs releasing officers that on no account should they hold on to any container they have examined and found to have satisfied all the laid down procedures.

“We have directed DC Gate to take charge. As soon as you examine a container and there are no issues, you should immediately release and relate with terminal operators.

“This idea of waiting until you treat up to 10 or 20 containers before you release is not acceptable and we have asked the DC Gate to ensure compliance” declared the Area Controller .

Such was the passion of Compt. Musa for trade facilitation.

To ensure that his order for trade facilitation is carried out by officers, the CAC often sneaks on officers at the terminals to ensure they are not breaching his orders.

“He is a thorough and meticulous man.

“Oftentimes, he drives himself round the terminals, unannounced, for on the spot assessment and this has put officers on their toes to be on top of their game at all times” disclosed Uche Ejesieme.

Most of the times, the Area Controller goes beyond his briefs to ensure that all impediments in cargo clearance procedures are removed.

He does this by rallying all other players in the chain such as customs brokers, terminal operators, shipping companies and the relevant government agencies to ensure seamless cargo clearance and delivery.

He expressed pains at what he called public erroneous impression that any infraction which delays cargo clearance and delivery is caused by Customs.

According to him, unknown to many, out of about 12 steps in cargo clearance procedures, Customs is concerned with only two of those steps which is cargo examination and release while the importers, customs agents, terminal operators, shipping companies and transporters handle the larger chunk of the process.

So he has to go out of his way to ensure that other players in the chain do their job, all in a bid to help importers facilitate their trade.

“As part of efforts to improve our performances, we hold stakeholders meetings with other operators in the cargo clearance chain where we examine issues critically and tell ourselves the truth.

“There was an allegation of congestion in the ports which was put on the Customs.
At one of such stakeholders’ meetings with customs agents, terminal operators, shipping companies and other government agencies, we critically examined the issue.

“At the end of the day, we identified the problems as being the issue of procedures.

“Customs procedures, terminal operators procedures and others such as infrastructures, logistics, barge operations and all other issues.

“As for customs operations, we have analysed the problems and proferred solutions and assigned responsibilities to ensure all those problems are resolved .

“The whole issues is not about customs.

“If you look at port operations critically, transmission of manifests is not customs, it is shipping companies. Submission of manifests is not customs but importer or declarant.

“Assessment is not customs, it is either the importer or agent since it is self -assessment.

“Payment of duty is not customs, it is either the importer or agent.

“Request for positioning of container is not customs, it is agent. The actual positioning of container is not customs but terminal operators.

“It is after all these steps have been taken, then you call on customs that you want your container examined by giving your C Number and customs generates declaration and go for examination.

“In all of this process, what Customs does is to examine and release, and release to the extent that you have released and the consignment can exit.
That is all.

“The SGD is transmitted to terminal operators again who take their charges and all other things they want to do.

“The next thing is transportation, you start looking for a vehicle to evacuate your cargo.

“You need to get the quality truck that will evacuate the cargo.

“Then the issue of the roads and the process it will take to get the consignment to the owner

“I have listed about 12 steps in the cargo clearance procedures but customs has only one step, which is examination and release.

“But unfortunately, the public perception is that whatever happens in the port is customs” , Comptroller Musa observed in a pained voice, admonishing that issues relating to cargo clearance procedures should be properly placed on the door steps of concerned players.

But this erroneous perception on the operations at the ports does not deter the CAC in his determination to ensure that goods that are compliant with extant rules and procedures are expeditiously released from the command’s custody.

That is why he also advocated for joint examination of containers by relevant agencies with the Customs to ensure cargos are released on time.

He has also warned his men at the gate not to stop any container duly examined and found in conformity with the extant procedures.

He frowned at the practice where officers at the gate treat detected infractions at the point of exit
which he believed impedes trade facilitation.

The Area Controller also believed there is the need to make use of Post Clearance Audit(PCA) officers for issues relating to any infractions detected after the consignment is released.

He said PCA is part of clearance process .

“Except, it is the issue of contraband, I don’t think it is acceptable for container that has been released is again stopped at the gate.

“If it is issue of classification and other related matters, I think the PCA can take over the matter instead of holding the container at the gate” Comptroller Musa noted.

Expectedly, the reforms and efforts of Controller Musa on trade facilitation didn’t go unrewarded as the command has continued to record exponential increase in revenue performance.

Since February 2018 when he mounted the saddle at the command, there has been monthly increase in revenue which eventually culminated in bountiful harvests.

The comparative analysis of revenue performance of the command between 2017 before he took over and 2018 when he came with his reformation agenda shows that the Command recorded N342, 538,503,205.24 in 2018 as against N287,632,912,667.49 garnered in 2017.

The revenue performance of the command on the first two quarters of 2019 also better the performance of the corresponding quarters in 2018.

While it generated the total sum of N172.514 billion (including July 1st- 10th), in 2018, the Command garnered total sum of N179.275 billion in the corresponding period of 2019.

According to Uche Ejesieme, all the indicators suggest that the trend will continue.

At Tin Can Customs Command, Comptroller Musa may have instituted a performance culture which results to bountiful harvest of revenue largely engendered by trade compliance that is built on trade facilitation.

A culture that is alien to other climes where trade facilitation is ruthlessly sacrificed on the altar of hard revenue drive