HAMEED ALI, SENATORS SET FOR SHOWDOWN
Car Owners, Dealers Kick Against New Duty Policy ‘How Customs Officers Connive with Car Smugglers’ ‘We’ve Dismissed 49 Officers Over Fake Duty’
The stage appears set for a confrontation between senators and the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Col Hameed Ali (retired), over the Customs’ insistence on going ahead with its plan to impound vehicles that do not have customs duty from April.
The latest salvo in the face-off between the two sides was fired Friday by Ali, who, in his reaction to an order to appear before the Upper Chamber’s plenary and in uniform, retorted that he was not appointed to wear uniforms.
“No, I was not appointed the comptrollergeneral to wear uniform,” the Customs boss said during an interview with Television Continental (TVC). “Does the uniform work or the person behind the uniform? Am I doing my job or not? I think that’s what should interest the National Assembly,” he said.
Ali also insisted that he would appear before the senators only if an invitation was served him through the appropriate channel. “If the proper procedures for official invitation to chief executives of government officials are followed, I will appear before the Senate,” he said.
The relationship between Ali and the Senate became frosty following a resolution of the Senate ordering the Customs Service to halt a planned clampdown on vehicles without Customs duty, as well as their owners.
The Customs, on Thursday, March 2, 2017, gave a month grace period to all vehicle owners with no Customs duties to pay or risk seizure and prosecution. The directive didn’t go down well with Nigerians, judging by the huge criticisms it drew against the Customs, prompting the Senate to call for the suspension of the policy, which senators said could cause “significant discomfort to Nigerians.”
Sponsoring the motion, the Deputy Senate Leader Bala Ibn Na’Allah, told his colleagues that the Customs circular on the matter, dated March 2, was issued without cleared guidelines as to what category of vehicles would be affected.
He said implementation of the circular would cause significant discomfort to the teeming law abiding citizens of Nigeria, adding that it was already causing anxiety among Nigerians.
“The Senate hereby resolves to direct the Nigerian Customs to stop all actions regarding the implementation of the same circular until it appears before the Senate Committee on Customs to explain in details, the purpose of the circular to the Nigerian public,” he said.
Consequently, the Senate mandated its Committee on Customs to immediately engage the Nigeria Customs, with a view to fashioning out what could be acceptable to the Nigerian public.
Before ruling on the matter, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the plenary, said: “Not even the National Assembly itself can impose punishment on crime that was committed years ago. It cannot happen. If we cannot do that, the Customs cannot do that either. What they are doing is totally unacceptable and we must say no to it.”
Citing “public complaints and suggestions,” the Customs, last Wednesday said Ali had approved “60 per cent rebate across board,” and despite the Senate’s resolution, it vowed to go ahead and impound any vehicle that did not use the one-month window to pay its duty, as well as prosecute the owner.
Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja, the Customs’ acting Public Relations Officer, Joseph Attah, said Nigerians would gain a lot from the new policy, and that the Customs’ management would meet the Senate to explain the benefits.
“Senators are respected representatives of the people. When we visit them we shall discuss, and I’m confident that with the gains in this action, they’ll see reasons,” he said.
He said the Customs took the decision after consulting the leadership of the Association of Motor Dealers of Nigeria (AMDON), adding that they may extend the April 12 deadline, depending on compliance.
He said their action was in tandem with the federal government’s Vehicle Identification Project (VIP), and urged Nigerians to take advantage of the grace period to pay for their vehicles’ duty and enjoy a rebate of 60 per cent for 2015 models downward.
“Visit any Customs command near you and verify your papers and know if the right duty was paid. Ignorance is no excuse. There is a one-month grace period for now with 60 per cent rebate. It won’t be good to have your vehicles impounded or seized,” he said.
A retired Comptroller of Customs, Mammam Mashi, said the organisation was executing a fiscal policy of the Federal Ministry of Finance by ensuring that unpaid duties are recovered.
He said the ban on land import was as a result of the increasing abuse of the processes, which necessitated the government to come up with only seaports as points of entry.
“Those cars being asked to be apprehended are illegally imported, given the fact that for any import to be legally binding, it must have a proof of duty paid. No one is exempted. Customs is just enforcing the laws of the land,’’ he said,
Asked why they allowed such vehicles to come into the country, Mashi said it was the mistake of officers on duty in those particular days.
“All Customs officers know that it is a grave offence to release unpaid duty vehicles or aid and abet such action. It is an automatic dismissal.
“There is no going back on government law. They cannot suspend action. Look at my car. When I got it I paid the duty and it is computerised. It can be crosschecked at all points.
“The law allows Customs to mount any check and apprehend vehicles without duty since they are termed to be illegal. If you have a genuine duty you are free to go,’’ he said.
On the allegation that Custom officers issue fake duty, Mashi noted that there were several outlets in Lagos and other places where fake Customs duty could be printed. He said it was not the duty of Customs to check those places.
It was the Customs insistence on going ahead to implement the policy that infuriated the senators, who converged Thursday and demanded that Ali must appear before the Senate’s plenary on Monday in full Customs uniform.
The lawmakers accused the Customs boss of flouting their resolution ordering him to stand down the implementation of the controversial duty policy.
They were so outraged that they insisted that Hameed Ali, who has been wearing mufti since his appointment as Customs boss, must appear before them on Wednesday at plenary in full uniform, else he would not be allowed into the Red Chamber.
Coming under a point of order, Sen. Dino Melaye said the Customs position was an affront on the legislature as an institution, vowing that the Senate should not accept such.
“Democracy is standing on three legs, and one of the most important legs of democracy is the legislature. The Nigeria Customs cannot function without the National Assembly because they cannot spend or survive without appropriations and oversight.
“If this Senate takes a resolution and an agency of government will have the temerity, the guts, the strength to blatantly disregard the entire institution of the Nigerian Senate, it is a very dark day for democracy,” he said.
Melaye added that Ali, as the Number One Customs officer, has been disregarding the Senate, especially on the issue of not wearing the agency’s uniform.
“We have asked this man in the committee why he is not wearing the rank of comptroller-general and he said uniformed men don’t wear uniform twice. I asked under which law and I educated him by reminding him that he retired as a colonel and that General Hananiya retired as a General.
“Hananiya was appointed as the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and he wore promptly and daily the uniform of the commission. If that position is a rank and you are not wearing that rank, it means you are not even proud of the Nigerian customs,” he said.
Melaye prayed that “the Senate resolves as follows: that we invite the ComptrollerGeneral of Customs to appear in plenary and in uniform to either justify or falsify this statement. If after his appearance he insists that he said it, then I will recommend him for psychiatric test.”
Contributing to debate on the motion, Senator Solomon Adeola Olamilekan (APC, Lagos), said it appeared Ali was being “highhanded.”
“I think it is high time we, as the Senate, put a stop to the level of high-handedness of the Comptroller General of Customs. The CGC is carrying out the affairs of this agency as if he is the managing director or the commander-in-chief of this country,” he said.
The lawmaker called for the amendment of the Customs Act, “so that all the heads of these agencies will be subject to confirmation from the National Assembly.”
He said the Nigeria Customs under Ali “is not doing better. Customs is doing worse. The Customs now operates as a gangster; Customs officers now go after trailer-loads of rice. The prayers were adopted. Ali, however, fired back on Friday, saying he was not appointed to wear uniforms and that he would only honour the invitation when it followed due process.
What appearing before plenary means Apart from the confirmation of ministerial nominees, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) nominees and a few others, the Senate seldom considers an issue like this at plenary.
Usually, the Senate would have referred the matter to its Committee on Customs, like it did earlier on Tuesday. But due to the gravity and the seriousness senators attached to the matter, they resolved that Hameed Ali should appear before the whole 109 senators instead of a committee, comprising about only 20 of them.
What this action means is that every senator, including the Senate President and his deputy, would have the opportunity to ask Hameed Ali questions on the matter, which may likely broaden the scope of the interaction the Senate Customs Committee would have done.
Unlike what happens when committees host government officials and make recommendations to the 109 senators for consideration, in the case of appearing before plenary, decision could be taken and it will stand.
In essence, Ali’s appearance before the whole senators would save the lawmakers the process of referring the matter to the committee, meeting with him at the committee level, making recommendations, laying a report on the matter, considering the report and adopting it.
It remains to be seen what decision the senators will take after Hameed Ali’s appearance before them.
Genesis of controversial duty policy The directive by the Comptroller General of Customs (CGC), Col. Hameed Ali (retired) is the third critical order in the last 11 months. It is coming two months after the Service banned all importation of vehicles through the land borders on January 1, 2017, after a 21-day grace period in December 2016. The first was the ban on importation of rice through the land borders since April 2016.
It was observed that the plan to compel all vehicle owners to have their duty paid became pronounced in December 2016, shortly after the Service announced plans to ban importation of vehicles through the land borders.
The Customs boss, at a workshop on integration of the National Vehicle Identification System (NVIS) at the Customs College in Abuja, disclosed that 70 per cent of registered vehicles in Nigeria are not documented for duty payment by the Service. He said it was a major cause of revenue loss and a national security issue.
Ali had said: “With this collaboration, I am convinced that complete sanity will be infused to the system of vehicle registration. It is a known fact that 70 per cent of vehicles registered for use in Nigeria are not documented for duty purpose by the Nigeria Customs Service.
“The loss of revenue associated with this lapse is quite obvious. However, in a country like ours, the security implication of that development is equally worrisome,” Ali explained.
He assured of dealing with Customs officers caught sabotaging the scheme. “Officers found guilty in such cases of criminal collusion, bribery and corruption, shall not have a place in the Service any longer,” Ali reiterated.
The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, at the event, said the integrated NVIS would commence in March of 2017 to discourage vehicle smuggling and the evasion of Customs duty payment by smuggled vehicle owners.
Reacting to the directive, the national president, Association of Motor Dealers of Nigeria (AMDON), Prince Ajibola Adedoyin, at the briefing, said the association welcomes the directive after consultations. On the grace period, Adedoyin said the association would call for further review or
extension when the need arises. Car dealers, owners kick against policy Car owners and dealers across the country have spoken against the policy, describing it as ill-timed, given the economic recession afflicting the country.
A dealer at Gangara Motors in Kaduna, Malam Usman D. Ali, said it was an illtimed policy in the face of recession. “Why should Customs come up with such a policy when people are merely surviving in this recession?” he asked.
Dealers and motorists in Nasarawa State also share the same view as Aleke. One of them, Ade Fadile, who deals in Toyota brands in Mararaba axis of the state, said Customs officers were the biggest culprits issuing fake duty papers. He said: “The CGC must call his boys to order and sanction officers who indulge in this.”
Some car owners spoken to expressed concern over the new policy, describing it as anti-people.
A resident of Katsina, Abdulrashi Magaji, said that apart from being ill-timed, the policy would only further impoverish the already poverty-stricken Nigerians. He said Customs now blamed car owners for failing to discharge their duties at the point of entry.
“In Katsina you pay between N20,000 and above at the border, depending on the type of car you are bringing in. We have proofs for that,” he added.
A commercial bus driver, Yusuf, believes that the policy is dead on arrival, stressing that it would be opposed by many commercial drivers. “Most of our rickety vehicles don’t even have proper documentations. We do our best to cope with particulars most at times, and they are now coming to say that we should pay duties.
“I bought this car from a woman who inherited it from her father, we only did an undertaken and I paid. So, where will I start? It’s almost out of production; this is an old model Volkswagen bus. They should have a rethink,” he said
Mallam Isma’il Garba, a commercial bus driver plying the roads in Kano, described the move by the Nigerian Customs as a step towards getting many people to become jobless.
“As you must have noticed, I had to follow some local routes in order to avoid embarrassment by the officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC). The little I am gaining from the commercial driving would not be enough for me to settle them because my vehicle particulars and driver’s license have expired.
“For the sake of God, how can a man that cannot afford to renew his particulars and driver’s license pay Customs duty? We are only managing in this business to feed our families. I am sure many drivers would soon be rendered jobless because many of us cannot afford to pay duty to Customs for our old cars,” he said.
‘How Customs officers connive with car smugglers’
Investigations by our correspondents revealed that most of the vehicles that enter Nigeria without paying for duties do so with active connivance of officials of Nigeria Customs who patrol or man checkpoints in towns, villages and routes around border communities.
Vehicle dealers who spoke to our correspondent disclosed that in some cases, Customs officers are the ones who drive uncustomed vehicles across the border from Maradi and Maimujiya towns in Niger Republic after collecting between N25,000 and N40,000 as bribe.
Dealers, it was gathered, pay all the taxes that are levied along the way from Cotonou in Benin Republic to Niger, where they hand over the vehicles to Nigerian Custom officials to cross the border without paying the required duty.
A car dealer who has been in the business for about seven years, said importers avoid paying duties because they are exorbitant. The Katsina-based dealer, who wants to remain anonymous for his security, said other countries in the sub-region charged far lower than Nigeria.
“Why should I pay in Cotonou, Niger Republic and dodge my country, Nigeria? The simple answer is that the duty is very high,” he said.
He argued that if government would make dealers to pay as low as 10 or 20 per cent value of vehicles they were importing, they would not follow illegal routes.
“If you are sure of making a reasonable gain because the duty is good, you will not dodge paying. After all, it is for the good of our country,” he said.
He said Customs officers deployed to man the illegal routes vehicle smugglers follow, collect bribes to allow them into the country.
“Before your vehicles get to the checkpoints along the illegal routes, you go to the officers and settle them, after disclosing the number of vehicles you imported. If they are 20 or more, it doesn’t matter, provided you settle with the Customs officers. By the time the vehicles get to the checkpoints, the officers will allow them to pass without a question,” he said.
This was corroborated by a car dealer based in Kano State, Mallam Muhammad Bashir, who also complained about the amount being charged as duty, which he attributed to the use of illegal routes by smugglers with the aid of Customs officers.
He said: “Niger Republic, Burkina Faso and Benin Republic charge between N30,000 and N60,000 per car, while Nigeria charges up to N120,000 per car. So, if the federal government can reduce the charges, I am sure dealers will pay because nobody would want his country to lose revenue, especially at this period that government is looking for more funds.”
A driver with 15 years experience transporting fairly used cars from Cotonou, Abdullahi Ibrahim, said on some occasions, officials at the border encourage importers to evade duties.
“As soon as a driver reaches the Nigerian boarder, our security men will give him two options. They will tell you: ‘If you want to enter Nigeria through the authorised way, this is the amount to pay. And if you choose to enter through the unauthorised way, this is what to pay.’ So it all depends on you. If you choose the unauthorised route, they would assign a Customs officer in uniform to escort you to your last destination, but you have to also pay him some money,” he said.
He recalled that the last time he brought a car to Kano from Cotonou he paid N50,000 to the Customs for the unauthorised route and N25, 000 to the Custom officer that escorted him to his home from Lagos.
A resident of Kongolom, Umaru Akama Shirwa, reinforces the allegations against the Customs officers, saying if not with their connivance, no undocumented vehicle would be able to pass the 23 checkpoints that lined up the road from the border to Kano without being detected.
“Of the 23 checkpoints along the road, the Customs has 17 of them,” he said.
The chairman of the Katsina State car dealers, Salisu Ibrahim Abubakar, pleaded with government to “reduce the duties to allow us pay and continue with our business.”
However, speaking on the matter, the comptroller of Kaduna/Katsina Customs command, Mohammad Jaafar Tanko, said the clampdown on smugglers and importation of cars through the border was on top gear, just as he said the command had constituted an anti-tokumbo squad to enforce the ban.
According to him, the special squad had been mandated to comb the state and apprehend any vehicle brought in through land border or without a valid paid duty.
On allegation against Customs officers aiding smuggling of cars and other items at the borders, Tanko said: Like you rightly said, they are allegations, but despite that, I have planted my men strategically, improved intelligence so that those conniving with smugglers or diverting attention of officers, let them continue, we shall soon close in on them. We are working to get them.”
When contacted Friday, the Customs public relations officer, Attah, said the “CGC will definitely respond to any official invitation from the highly respected Senate.”
Commenting on officers issuing fake duty papers, he said since the coming of Ali, about 49 officers had been dismissed and others sanctioned. He added that other Customs officers were still in detention for various offences that were being investigated.
Mr. Attah did not comment on whether the CGC would wear the Customs uniform to the Senate’s invitation, saying it’s a personal issue.
On the allegation that Custom officers issue fake duty, Mashi noted that there were several outlets in Lagos and other places where fake Customs duty could be printed. He said it was not the duty of Customs to check those places.