Eromosele Abiodun posits that the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali, can avoid a battle on another front by harkening to the voice of Nigerian auctioneers over the plan to dispose of seized and contraband goods by e-auction
After the uproar that trailed his approval of 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 Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd.) is set to face another battle.
Reasons being that the Nigeria Association of Auctioneers (NAA), has threatened all-out war over plan by the NCS to auction seized and contrabands goods by electronic (e)-auction.
Although he has suspended his planned duty collection drive on motor vehicles suspected to have been smuggled into the country without duty payment, the NCS boss is still at loggerhead with the national assembly over his refusal to put on uniform of the customs service as its Comptroller-General.
As if the vehicle duty controversy was not enough, the NCS incurred the wrath of NAA, who has accused the NCS of trying to sell sized goods through the back door.
Stakeholders believe the leadership of the NCS is heading towards the wrong direction because of its desperation to drive the mandate given to it by President Muhammadu Buhari.
On appointment, Ali was given three basic tasks: go to customs, reform customs, restructure customs and increase the revenue generation.
“I don’t think that is ambiguous, I don’t think that is cumbersome, ”Ali told news men on assumption of duty.
This, analysts believe, may have forced the NCS leadership to employ measures it thinks will help to meet its set out targets. The drive to meet its target has set the NCS leadership against major stakeholders in the maritime industry.
It is not just the NAA that is battling the NCS leadership, recently, the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), threatened to shut down the ports over unfriendly policies by the NCS.
In a bid to avoid a total shutdown of the ports, Ali paid an unscheduled visit to the secretariat of both association pleading for understanding and cooperation.
New Directive
A week after the peace deal was reached with ANLCA and NAGAFF, the NCS came up with another directive that the NAA has vowed to resist.
The NCS had, in a statement, announced that it would soon commence the auction of seizure across its commands in the country.
The NCS said only tax payers with Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) issued Tax Identification Number (TIN) will be eligible to participate in a new auction sales of seized items by the service.
This, it stated, is part of the guidelines contained in a new e-auction portal to be deployed for disposing of seizures that have undergone the process of court condemnation.
The portal, www.trade.gov.ng requires applicants to input recent passport photo with a payment of non refundable administrative fee of N1000.
It added that the e-auction portal is expected to reduce congestion in the various government warehouses and increase revenue from the sales.
Ali, THISDAY learnt, introduced the process as a way of enhancing transparency, reduce human contacts and ensure that only the highest bidders for any auctioned item takes it.
Aside the provision of TIN by prospective bidders, other terms and conditions include exclusion of customs officers and their families from participating in the bidding process either directly or by proxy.
The guidelines also indicate that auctioned items cannot be replaced or funds paid refunded to bidders.
Successful bidders, THISDAY findings revealed, are expected to make payments within five working days as auctioned items whose winners fail to pay within the period forfeit the auctioned item to the second highest bidder.
Successful bidders will be given a period 14 days from the date of payment to remove the item bided for or forfeit it at expiration of the period.
Any auctioned item not removed from the warehouse within 14 days from the date of payment shall revert to its pre-bidding status which makes such item open for sale again.
Winners in the auction process are also expected to pay 25 per cent of the auction amount to the Terminal Operator with another 25 per cent of the auction amount to the shipping line operator. Owners of seized items are excluded from bidding for them but may however participate in the bidding of other items while owners of overtime items with evidence of payment of duty and other charges has priority over a successful bidder of the item provided the item has not been exited out of the Customs control.
Aside being transparent, the new method will also increase the amount of revenue government makes from auctions as bidding will be competitive and devoid of bias or favouritism.
Hitherto, the service had done auctions through issuance of documents to beneficiaries with which such beneficiaries approached the warehouses before making payments to designated banks.
This method was viewed as not being transparent as beneficiaries of the auctions were believed to have been selected through a noncompetitive process.
This new auction policy is coming 19 months after customs auctions were suspended following the voluntary retirement of the former Controller General of Customs, Dikko Inde Abdullahi.
There have been media reports that seized goods amounting to billions of naira that have been condemned through court processes are lying in the warehouses.
Confirming the development, spokesman for NCS, Joseph Attah, said the Comptroller General took time to entrench the new method that requires deploying of ICT, avoiding human contact and influences.
He said apart from increase of revenue for government, the online platform will ensure integrity of the process.
Attah added that the new system is undergoing a test run for applicant acceptability before it is open to the public for access and transactions.
Billions of naira is expected to be generated from the sales which includes cars, trucks, tankers, leather and other items seized from smugglers who ostensibly wanted to evade duty payment.
President Buhari had approved the distribution of perishable items like rice, soap, clothes, vegetable oil etc to internally displaced persons (IDP) camps across the country.
NAA Rejects Policy
But in a swift reaction, the NAA rejected the policy, threatening all-out war.
The NAA said the customs’ plan to unilateral conduct sales via e-portal is a violation of the law of the land and may lead to fraud and nepotism.
Secretary General of the association, Isibor Benjamin Abhulimen, who stated this in a chat with THISDAY, said NAA will not hesitate to take legal action against the NCS if it fails to reverse the plan.
According to him, “There is need to look into the Customs act section 191, which conflicts with the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (Sales by Auction Law, cap 187 and CAP 12, Chapter 12, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, have detailed interpretation of the Act of Sales by Auction. Bureau of Public Procurement Act, Part X –Disposal of Public Properties. Section 54, 55 (5) (d) and section 56 (3)), that defines the role of an Auctioneer especially in the area of Disposal.
“Section 191 of the Customs act empowers the C.G customs to go about the business of constituting committees for onward disposal of overtime and contraband cargoes, however there is need to have a clear cut interpretation whether or not after the committee set up by the C.G of Customs, after they ensure forfeiture and carry out due diligence on Identification, Classification and Valuation, should they still be the ones to sell or not, or if at this point the services of an Auctioneer is required.”
He added, “In the general opinion, allowing the CG Customs to value and also be a sales man is likened to been a judge in your own case which creates a lot of room for blatant corrupt practices and leakages in revenue derivation and this also negates global best practices and the very essence of the establishment of due process which has a motto of transparency and accountability.
“Hiding under the guise of e-auction as an excuse to improve the mode of disposal still does not give the room for checkmating the excesses of the Customs, the body of auctioneers can pilot e-auction platform if the need arises and when there are proper legislation to carry out such. The NCS leadership should stretch out their hands to work with other professionals and toe the line of transparency, accountability and equity.”
He stressed that the body of auctioneers in the country will not sit and watch an agency of government take a unilateral decision that does not have any legal basis and no legal frame work.
“It is obvious and very clear that the CG is acting without following due process and the law, because there is no existing legal frame work that enables the NCS to sell seized and contrabands goods by e-auction. Just recently the Committee on Customs in the National Assembly invited all stakeholders on the repeal and re-enactment of certain Laws and Provisions that will enhance the NCS.
“Stakeholders represented expressed their different views and made useful contributions and notably on the agenda was the fact that there is a need for the CG Customs power over sales to be properly addressed, even in the SEMA Law it is noted that the CG appoints the committee for disposal and before disposal he has the option of appointing an agent to conduct the sale.
“The definition of who the agent is according to the Nigeria Constitution and Law is the man so Licensed by the government to conduct such sales on her behalf and that person is the Auctioneer, this was part of the interpretation the body of auctioneers asked to be properly defined in the stake holders meeting at the plenary session of the Senate,” he added.
