Hameed Ali’s Vehicle Duty Misadventure
Eromosele Abiodun writes that the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Col Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd.) should learn from brouhaha that trailed his logistically callous, ill-timed, ill-conceived and ill-advised directive that vehicle owners in
President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Col Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd) as Controller General (CG) of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) on August 27, 2015,. Ali’s appointment caused a stir and mixed reactions from stakeholders who questioned the ex-army officer’s competence to deliver in steering a customs service gravitating to modernisation.
Ali’s appointment came as a surprise and viewed by many watchers as an unpopular move that will leave the NCS better in some sense with fresh problems and setbacks.
The appointment was viewed in some quarters as President Buhari’s vote of no confidence on members of the customs management team.
Though Ali’s appointment did not contravene the Board of Customs & Excise Law, enacted in June, 1972 and amended by decree no. 45 of 1992 and the Customs and Excise Management Act 2004 (as amended), it was widely criticised for fear of sustaining the move for a technology driven customs administration.
From a rich security background with sound academic training as a criminologist, Ali was widely believed to have evolved from the typewriter age and may spend a long time to understudy a system he was expected to lead. While many expressed genuine concerns for the good and growth of the NCS, some fears were predicated on the ‘no business as usual’ turnaround that Ali’s coming may effect.
The Mandate
Ali was given three basic tasks: go to customs, reform and restructure it and increase the revenue generation. “I don’t think that is ambiguous, I don’t think that is cumbersome, ”Ali had told journalists on assumption of duty.
Truth be told, Ali started well, touring major customs commands across the country to explain his agenda. But things took a different turn for him when the NCS was failing in its mandate to boost revenue. Instead of advising the federal government to remove the barriers that drove importers to neighbouring countries, Ali came up with the most ridiculous plan. He probably underrated Nigerians ability to reject a bad policy.
Customs Duty Directive
While Nigerians were struggling to make ends meet owing to the biting recession, they were greeted with news that the CG of the NCS has approved a grace period of one month for owners of all vehicles in the country whose customs duties have not been paid, to do so.
The grace period was Monday, March 13 to Wednesday, April 12, 2017.
Motor dealers and private owners of such vehicles were advised to visit the nearest Customs zonal office to pay the appropriate duty.
The NCS, in a statement signed by its acting Public Relations Officer, Mr. Joseph Attah, said the four zonal offices of the Nigeria Customs Service are: Zone A Headquarters, Yaba, Lagos; Zone B Headquarters, Kabala Doki, Kaduna; Zone C Headquarters, Nigeria Ports Authority, Port Harcourt; and Zone D Headquarters, Bauchi, Bauchi State.
“The CGC therefore calls on all persons in possession of such vehicles to take advantage of the grace period to pay appropriate duties on them, as there will be an aggressive anti-smuggling operation to seize, as well as prosecute owners of such smuggled vehicles after the deadline of Wednesday 12th April, 2017. For the avoidance of doubt, all private car owners who are not sure of the authenticity of their vehicles’ customs documents can also approach the zonal offices to verify their status with a view to complying with the provision of the law,” the statement concluded.
Senate Orders Suspension
In a swift reaction, the Senate ordered the NCS to halt the order directing all vehicle owners to verify the payment of their vehicles’ customs duties within one month.
The upper legislative chamber therefore, ordered the agency to suspend the directive until it has duly appeared before the Senate to brief it on the rationale behind the move.
Rising under Order 42 of the Senate Standing Rules, Deputy Majority Leader, Bala Ibn Na’Allah, who described the NCS circular as ridiculous, said the agency failed to present a clear-cut guidelines on which category of vehicles would be affected by the directive.
According to Na’Allah, the implementation of such ambiguous circular will create a huge discomfort for innocent Nigerians, bearing in mind that it has already caused significant anxiety among citizens.
Against this background, the Senate ordered the NCS to suspend all moves towards implementing the directive and also resolved to engage the Service with a view to ensuring that it comes up with acceptable policies to Nigerians in a typical democratic setting.
“Mr. president, the basis for being here as parliamentarians is to define the rule of engagement between us and those who elected us into this very, very coveted office, to the effect that we would all swear to uphold, protect and defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the law. We already have an existing law called the Nigerian Customs Service,” he said.
While describing the directive as ridiculous, Na’Allah challenged his colleagues to uphold the oath they swore to by resisting any obnoxious policy meant to further complicate life for the already troubled Nigerians.
Supporting the motion, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu highlighted the excesses and outrageous policies of NCS as he recalled how the Senate had adopted a motion decrying the harassment of traders in Sango-Otta, Ogun State by men of the Customs who violently took away purchased items from the market under the guise of non-payment of appropriate customs duties.
He said it was unfortunate that the Senate was yet considering another outrageous move of the agency which he said was attempting to foist illegality on the citizenry in its drive to generate more revenues.
Truth be told, Ali started well, touring major customs commands across the country to explain his agenda. But things took a different turn for him when the NCS was failing in its mandate to boost revenue. Instead of advising the federal government to remove the barriers that drove importers to neighbouring countries, Ali came up with the most ridiculous plan. He probably underrated Nigerians ability to reject a bad policy
He also said the NCS lacked the power to impose punishment on Nigerians over deeds committed in the past, arguing that even though the constitution vests the National Assembly with the power to make laws for the federation, the legislative institution does not possess the power to impose penalty on anyone over perceived wrongs of the past and much less a mere agency like the NCS.
Customs Agents, Shippers Disagree
Similarly, the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and the Shippers’ Association, Lagos State disagreed over the one-month grace period given by the customs concerning payment of duty on vehicles.
Both bodies expressed diverse views in separate interviews with newsmen in Lagos.
The National President of ANLCA, Mr. Olayiwola Shittu, advised the customs to make the deadline for duty payment on vehicles an open-ended operation, saying the policy would check smuggling.
The President, Shippers Association Lagos State, Mr. Jonathan Nicol, described the customs’ policy on vehicle duty as outdated and not in conformity with the current situation in world trade.
Shittu said such a policy should be extended or be an open-ended operation so that the duty on some vehicles that passed through customs and not properly cleared, would be paid.
The customs agent said if customs continued with this policy, vehicles owners would be forced to pay duties on those vehicles that were not cleared but found their ways into the country.
VOAN, NLC Kick
In the same vein, the Vehicles Owners Association of Nigerian (VOAN) and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) expressed their opposition to the NCS directive.
They described the policy as unrealistic, with VOAN threatening to drag the NCS to court if it fails to withdraw the directive within seven days.
VOAN, in a letter to Ali through its counsel, Tolu Babaleye, called on the NCS to consider the interest of 35 million Nigerians who would be adversely affected by the “ill-timed and ill-conceived” policy if enforced.
According to him, “As much as we would love to commend the NCS for this laudable step, we would like to state that this policy is ill-timed, ill-conceived and directed at the wrong set of people in the country, and same will unleash untold hardship on car owners in Nigeria and pit government against the general public. About 35 million Nigerians would be affected by this policy if same is carried out.”
He stated, without mincing words, that the failure to pay customs duties on imported vehicles should not be laid on the doorsteps of innocent vehicle owners but the car dealers that imported those vehicles and who should be held responsible for circumventing customs checks with the connivance of some Customs officers.
Babaleye was emphatic that innocent Nigerians should not be made to suffer for the acts of car dealers who imported the cars without paying the necessary import duty with the active connivance of men of the NCS.
“Towards this end, we give the NCS seven days from the date of receipt of this letter to comply with our demands on behalf of our client, failing which we shall not hesitate to approach the court of law to seek redress on behalf of our client and in the interest of downtrodden and oppressed Nigerians,” Babaleye said.
In addition, the NLC condemned the policy directive. NLC President, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, in a letter dated March 7, 2017 and addressed to the CGC, described the new policy directive as “unrealistic.”
Wabba said that though the labour union fully supports the NSC to carry out its statutory functions of collecting taxes on behalf of the government, often times in the form of duties on vehicles, it however opposes the new policy.
“We strongly hold the view that those who break the law or seek to break the law should be sanctioned to serve as a deterrent to others. The need to enforce tax laws in our country is all the more necessary because of social justice and other dwindling revenue sources.
“Our support for the NCS is therefore not in doubt. If anything, the Customs should be encouraged to do their work well,” he stated.
Wabba, however, disagreed with Customs on the new policy directive on the basis of it being, “logistically callous and will create unimaginable chaos and suffering for innocent vehicle end-users”.
According to him, the policy was self-serving and will in the end enrich unscrupulous Customs personnel who contributed in no small way to the present situation through acts of commission or omission.
“It would amount to rewarding their complicity, ”Wabba stated.
He said it was common knowledge that duties on imported vehicles are payable at the point of entry, and subjecting vehicle end-users to this kind of trauma, in which they had no hand in the importation of their vehicles was unfair and unacceptable.
The NLC president stressed that, “there is no information on the vehicles to be excluded from this exercise.”
This, he said, presupposes that the owner of a Morris Minor or a Peugeot 404 brought into this country in the 70s is similarly affected.
“Beyond this, a state of mental siege is being created by all manner of endless verification and re-certification exercises in the country.
CMP Petitions Lawmakers
Also, a group, the Coalition of Maritime Professionals (CMP) petitioned the National Assembly over the CGC directive to all motorists, describing it as insensitive and misguided.
A statement signed by the Coordinator, Mazi Charles Obi prayed the legislators to call the CGC to order and to halt him from putting Nigerian car owners through the trauma of moving from one Customs zonal office to another in the name of cross-checking their papers.
“Of all the policies that the NCS has come up with, this is the most callous. If Customs could not stop smugglers at the border, must Nigerians be made to pay for that? In the first place, why is the customs paid with the tax payers money? Is it not to collect revenue for the government at the ports and to police the borders? Why would they now make the people to pay for their laziness and incompetence? Why would Nigerians waste their money on the organisation’s remuneration and at the same time be made to suffer for their mistakes,” the statement queried.
According to CMP, the NCS has made Nigerians travelling to their villages pass through harrowing times by making them go through series of customs checks in the name of verifying their papers.
“On most of these occasions, people’s cars they bought with their hard earned money are impounded and converted to personal use by Customs officers in the name of fake papers with nobody asking questions.
“As if that is not enough, the CGC now want his men to move into town, to mount road blocks and begin to impound people’s vehicles under the same guise,” the group declared.
CMP said that when the CGC set a target of N1.1 trillion for 2017 for the organisation, it was obvious that the Service was going to employ unfair means to strive to get this money to please its masters at Aso Rock when Nigerians are dying of hunger.”
The statement noted that even the so called grace period is designed in such a way that people will not be able to meet up so their cars will be impounded either for auctioning or converted to private use.
Directive Suspended
Overwhelmed by the outcry that trailed the insensitive policy, the NCS suspended its planned duty collection drive on motor vehicles suspected to have been smuggled into the country without duty payment.
While not specifying a defined timeline to commence the exercise, the service disclosed in a press statement that it will parley with the committee on customs after Controller General of Customs had met with the leadership of the Senate.
The NCS spokesman, Attah, disclosed that the leadership of the Senate also agreed that the planned duty collection on vehicles was in line with the law.
Attah, an Assistant Comptroller of Customs, added that the intent behind the parley is to broaden the understanding of the lawmakers over the payment of duty which he described as a civic responsibility.
Attah said: ‘’Following the unnecessary tension generated as a result of misconception and misrepresentation of the NCS planned motor duty payment, the leadership of the National Assembly and the CGC Ali met with a view to resolving the impasse. They both agreed that the proposed motor duty payment, though in line with the provision of Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) Cap C.45, LFN 2004 should be put on hold while the Senate Committee on Customs & Excise interfaces with the NCS for further discussions.
‘’ While payment of duty on vehicles or indeed any dutiable imported item remains a civic responsibility of every patriotic Nigerian, NCS Management has directed that the exercise be put on hold while expressing readiness to engage the Senate Committee on further discussions to bring them on board to understand the importance of the exercise to national security and economy’’.