BUSINESS/CUSTOMS 19
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Stakeholder Management, Collaboration Critical To Customs’ Operations customs focus
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), currently the second most important source of revenue to the federal government after the oil and gas sector by virtue of its responsibility of enforcing laws at the nation’s borders and ensuring trade facilitation among other functions, continuously interphases with a wide range of stakeholders. The agency is charged with the responsibility of collecting fees, duties and levies at the nation’s borders as well as ensuring national security by preventing arms, ammunition and other deadly weapons from being smuggled into the country. The NCS which unarguably is an organisation with significant contributions to the nation’s economic growth also does not overlook its security functions. As one of the frontline organisations which contribute to national security and economic growth, the services’ functions of collecting revenue and suppression of smuggling have remained crucial to the security and development of Nigeria. Due to its wide range of functions which necessitates its working with a diverse stakeholders group, the service has adopted specific and targeted communication methods for each target group with a view to achieve maximum results. These stakeholders include other government agencies, designated banks, members of the trading community, the international business community, border communities, shipping lines and the general public. Government agencies which the service relates with the most include the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON),
Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Others include the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigeria Ports Authority, Port Concessionaire and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) as well as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). There are also other critical stakeholders such as relevant committees of the National Assembly, the media, clearing and forwarding agents amongst others. In order to get the full support and buy-in of these groups with a view to delivering on its statutory responsibilities, the service has remained committed to building and sustaining effective relationship with these various organisations in addition to other individuals operating in the sector. As part of efforts at forging a good stakeholder management, the NCS has opened vibrant and sustainable channels of communication between the service and its various stakeholders. This is to ensure the establishment and maintenance of mutual understanding with these organisations for the betterment of the nation. Recently, efforts aimed at fighting corruption in the country further received a boost with the inter-agency partnership launched between the NCS and the EFCC. The anti-corruption programme according to both agencies is an initiative designed to help check smuggling activities at the borders as well as fire the consciousness of its officers and men and improve integrity and quality service. A similar partnership has also been renewed with the Nigerian
By JULIET ALOHAN
Navy in an effort for both agencies to effectively discharge their responsibilities, especially on the waterways. Both agencies made the pledge to work together when the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dele Joseph Ezeoba, paid a courtesy call on the ComptrollerGeneral of Customs, Abdullahi Dikko at the Customs headquarters in Abuja. Targeted communication methods have Dikko been adopted in dealing with the various stakeholders in ways that ensure that no individual or group is alienated. Stakeholders’ management is handled with a planned and sustained effort towards building and maintaining goodwill and mutual understanding between both parties. It was this relationship that made the Rice Millers and Distributors Association of Nigeria to donate 150 patrol vehicles to the NCS to supports its anti-smuggling activities. To further deepen the already existing relationship with its stakeholders, all communication means including frequent facility visits are being organised by the service for on-the-spot assessment of any challenges that may be facing its stakeholders.
The use of the mass media is another major tool in the employ of the NCS; this it has considered a way of reaching the larger target group. Programmes of the service are sponsored on both television and radio primarily to provide useful information to the general public and its stakeholders in particular. The service has also undergone total overhaul since the coming on board of Abdullahi Dikko as ComptrollerGeneral who has taken the discharge of its functions to new heights. It has become more efficient at risk management and has reengineered and strengthened the process of post-clearance controls. The effective use of advance information system through
electronic data interchange (EDI), elimination of archaic methods and the achievement of seamless real time transactions, paperless flows and connectivity with other stakeholders have now been achieved to the credit of the current management. It has further achieved cost efficient and predictable border processing of goods and persons, adopted intelligent border solutions, use of biometrics and improved baggage management at airports have all helped in redeeming its previously lost integrity and good image. The development of the national single window environment, a trade facilitating portal which allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardised information and documents with a single entry point to fulfil all import, export and transitrelated regulatory requirements, is a further testament of the services’ determination to forge good relations with its stakeholders by making business transaction easy for them while at the same time blocking revenue leakages. The development of the single window has been described as a great achievement for the service, as the system eliminates the need for traders to submit the same data to several different government authorities. It also supports the sharing of information by a legal framework that provides privacy and security in the exchange of information, co-ordinate and controls various governmental authorities where appropriate, provide facilities to receive payment of duties and other charges as well as provides access to trade related government information.
Encouraging Trade Compliance With Customs Modernisation It is expected that the recent developments in the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), with regards to the unprecedented technological advancements, will help improve compliance with trade process by the business community and shore up revenue for the country. Efforts that have gone into the successful development and deployment of hi-tech applications intended to simplify the entire import and export process should be reciprocated by the business community by adhering to the rules set by the federal government. Billions of naira have been expended by government to, not
only make Nigerian ports user friendly, but to make them one of the best in Africa. Many African countries cannot today boast of half the facilities Nigerian ports now have neither can their Customs administrations boast of half the expertise and technology the Nigeria Customs Service has. There is therefore, no justification for anyone to indulge in smuggling while the Nigerian economy is in dire need of revenue that can be generated from all sectors. Excuses of double taxations at the ports have since been taken care of with the sacking of agencies involved in replication of duties
at the ports, while delay in goods clearance process has become a thing of the past following the various technologies deployed by the Customs Service to tackle the challenge. and request for any form of gratification. While announcing the takeover of destination inspection scheme, Comptroller-General of Customs, Abdullahi Dikko, appealed to Nigerians for support especially in the area of compliance with the trade regulations. With necessary compliance, the loss of the muchneeded revenue for development, which Nigerian importers are knowingly contributing to the development of other countries, would stop and be rightly
channelled. Only recently, Customs antismuggling operatives of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone B, Kaduna, disclosed the interception and seizure of a total of 48 assorted goods illegally imported into the country with a duty paid value of N145m within a space of one month. Comptroller in-charge of the Zone, Ahmadu Maina, informed Nigerians that a co-ordinated anti-smuggling operation involving all the units in the zone led to the seizure. According to him, the operatives of the anti-smuggling units, through reliable intelligence reports
have now established that smugglers change tactics in the manner they conduct their illegal activities. It has been observed that as against the practice of smuggling in goods in large quantities using lorries and trucks, goods are now smuggled into the country in bits, using smaller vehicles in attempts to avoid suspicion. On this Maina said: “Smugglers’ change of means of carriage from trailers and trucks to smaller buses, motorcycles and even use of animals through the porous borders is no longer safe as Customs improved logistics both on land and air have led to many seizures.