Vehicles Rot Away At Customs Warehouses … As e-auction Platform Fails

ABIOLA Seun

There is palpable tension at the Nigeria Customs Service over the collapse of the e-auction platform introduced one year ago.

The service in July 2017, introduced the electronic auction platform to decongest its warehouses across the country of vehicles that were seized from smugglers.

Since the platform was introduced, 706 winners emerged and were presented vehicles across the country but recently, the platform has allegedly collapsed with no winners announced in the last six months.

It was gathered that the last time a winner was announced by the management was in February 2017.

A usually authoritative source last week said that the Service suspended the scheme due to some “technical issues” it is experiencing with the system.

The source disclosed that bid had been placed but winners have not been picked because of the technical issues experienced on the website.

“The truth is that the on-line auction has been suspended. There are actually some challenges part of which is to upgrade the server because some fraudsters hacked into the system the last time” the source said.

However, stakeholders have expressed concerns over the state of seized vehicles at various customs warehouses in the country.

For instance, in the Ogun area command, the warehouse was not only filled to the brim with seized vehicles but most of the vehicles seized have depreciated to the level of scrap because of long stay.

Apart from the Ogun area command, some of the seized vehicles warehoused at the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone ‘A’ Ikeja, are also depreciating fast with no space for new ones.

Also, at the FOU Zone C, Owerri, Oyo/Osun command of the service and Seme border commands among others vehicle are rotting away.

Speaking on the development, President, National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Lucky Amiwero, urged Customs to decongest its warehouse by reviewing some of its laws to generate more revenue for government instead of auctioning seized goods at a ridiculously low amount.

“Instead of seizing these vehicles and allow them to rot away, Customs should look at the provisions of section 142 of the CEMA and allow people to come and pay additional duty and carry their vehicles.

“Provisionally, auctioning is wrong because it is not there in their law. What they should have done is to assess these seized vehicles and allow people pay extra duty and clear them. That will add significantly to Customs revenue than what they get from auctioning the vehicles.

“Countries all over the world these days are not talking in terms of penalty and seizures. What they talk about now is pecuniary penalty which has to do with money because trade has changed,” he said.

Another clearing agent, Ebenezer Banwo asked the Ffederal Ggovernment to set up ad-hoc committee to decongest the customs warehouses across the country of seized vehicles.

Banwo, a clearing agent, who operates from the Tin Can Island Port Complex said government would eventually lose huge revenue if the vehicles are not auctioned soon.

He said: “Go to any government warehouse and you will see what am talking about. Majority of the vehicles are in a deplorable condition, infact they are nothing but scrap that would be of no value to federal government when they are eventually auctioned, so, the earlier they are disposed of, the better for the country.”

Responding to enquiry, the National Public Relations Officer of the Service, Joseph Attah said the online platform is active and alive.

He also disclosed that vehicles at the warehouses of the service across the country must be condemned by a court of competent jurisdiction before they can be uploaded online for auction.

In his words: “The auction platform is alive and active and whenever things are forfeited to the federal government, they are uploaded but in the interest of those who want to see this, they should know it is not 12 noon on Monday to 12 noon on Wednesday and that the winner is automatic.

“The online action is devoid of any human intervention and the highest bidder is a winner. The system has been launched and we talk about it over and over and we cannot continue to talk about it when there is nothing new.”

“When new vehicles are available they will be uploaded. I don’t know the number of winners off hand because everything there is electronic and when I ask, they will query the system and they will print it out for me, everything is electronic.”