By Steve Agbota, [email protected]

Last week in which the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and a consortium, Trade Modernization Project Limited, signed a concession agreement worth $3.2 billion to digitize border security and revenue collection operations, it there was so much anxiety among the stakeholders.

According to the federal government, the concession agreement is expected to generate more than $176 billion.

The signing ceremony of the agreement took place at the national headquarters of the NCS where were present representatives of the technical and financial partners of the agreement, including African Finance Corporation and Huawei Technologies Company Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of the Chinese company Huawei. Technologies Co.Ltd.

During the signing ceremony, Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Hameed Ibrahim Ali, said that $176 billion in revenue would be generated in the federal government’s coffers within 20 years through his e-project. Customs.

He disclosed that the $3.2 billion e-customs project to be funded by the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and managed by Huawei Technologies Limited under a 20-year concession window, would quadruple the collection current monthly revenue of N210 billion. Ali added that the project should have started two years ago but could not be launched due to unforeseen requirements.

“The journey was long and winding. But we ended up signing the dotted lines. I would like to thank the ICRC for its commitment to see the project come to fruition. I appreciate our partners, Huawei Technologies Limited.

“They were part of it. We had to go to China several times. Today, we will become a fully digitized service. I thank AFC for funding this project on behalf of all Nigerians.

“The success of this project will be on the world map. We’ll hit the ground running. It is a very beneficial project especially since it will bring in 176 billion dollars for the concession period.

“We are likely to get past that. It is a 20-year project during which all aspects of it will have been rolled out and Nigerians will decide whether to own it or let it operate as a concession,” he said.

However, since the deal was struck, it has stoked the fire of contention among shipping industry players who have complained that no career Comptroller General of Customs would agree to such a suspicious deal struck in secret, even though he said stakeholders had not been drilled during the exercise.

Given the breakdown of the deal, the figure of $176 billion, at an exchange rate of 590 naira to the dollar, shows that the project will generate $8.8 billion (about 5.2 trillion naira) per year, compared to NCS’s current annual revenue of N2.52 trillion. with the threshold of 210 billion naira generated monthly. This represents an increase of more than 100% of the current customs revenue figures.

Conversely, the Chinese company earns a total of $12.32 billion in the form of 7% commission in 20 years with an annual revenue of $616 million, or 363.5 billion naira while garnering 30, 3 billion naira.

That was when stakeholders blamed the numbers which they described as unsustainable in a bleeding import-dependent economy. The project is not intended to promote export but targets importers at more duties and levies, which will invariably lead to inflation.

The implications are that there will be a rise in the prices of goods and services which will certainly affect the purchasing power of the common man on the street.

Speaking to the Daily Sun, the National Chairman of the National Council of Chief Executives of Licensed Customs Brokers (NCMDLCA), Mr Lucky Amiwero said that the Chinese company to which the contract was awarded is not a member of the ‘OMD, adding that the company is an expert. in customs, but the project is only an ICT affair.

“What are they coming to modernize? What did they know about e-Customs? You talk about the company that is just a telecommunications company that was rejected in America to modernize customs. What are they doing here? He asked.

He said Nigeria already had the system, which is e-Customs. He wondered why it is now duplicated when even America had two now has one. “Customs is a procedural service. Customs is not a matter of politics. This Chinese company is only concerned with telecommunications. We are not talking about telecommunications here, but about electronic customs,” he said.

He explained that customs is import, export, manufacture, transit and transshipment, adding that all these things are procedures and customs are not supposed to be governed by people who do not have the necessary knowledge.

“The people who signed the contract are not customs experts, but politicians, saying that all the companies to which the contract was awarded, none of them are customs experts. How to modernize customs? Just like telling the head of customs, the one they call CGC to come and modernize customs, he can’t because he doesn’t know anything about customs,” he added.

He said Customs is not police, immigration and jail, Customs is a process, saying that Customs has more than 100 conventions in CEMA and CEMA is not national law.

Meanwhile, the former national president of the National Association of Government Licensed Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Eugene Nweke, said the contract award was not transparent and therefore asked the Federal Department of Finance to explain to Nigerians the bidding process leading to the Concession.

He therefore expressed his displeasure in a press release dated June 3, 2022 titled “Subject: Concession Agreement of Modernization Project Signed by Customs to Facilitate Trade – Nigerians Still Seeking Clarification on Pertinent Issues and Problems of national interest.

He also accused the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (CICR), set up to oversee and regulate public-private partnerships (PPPs), of staging what he called a one-man show in the awarding of the contract.

According to him, the agency that awarded the project is a public agency and not a sole proprietorship, as such Nigerians have a right to know how and when the bidding process was advertised and who are the bidders and what criteria were used to arrive. chosen by Chinese firms.

According to him, the Nigerians were tricked into the contractual agreement because an unprofessional customs officer was in charge of the affairs of the service; therefore, the initiators of the agreement had their way.

“Furthermore, may I state the obvious, the current scenario became possible due to the absence of a seasoned career Comptroller General of Customs. I can bet you that no career officer, however unintelligent and corrupt, would accept or succumb to the concession of any aspect of customs duties or operations,” he added.

However, the National Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Customs Service, Assistant Comptroller Timi Bomodi, allayed stakeholders’ fears over the recently signed $3.1 billion e-customs contract, saying that when it comes in effect, the cargo alert challenges would end. .

He also disclosed that with this new system, examinations and release of import and export cargoes will be subject to live streams on multiple platforms.

He assured that this would prevent arbitrary decision-making at all levels and also prevent unnecessary interventions by officers.

The $3.2 billion e-Customs project is to be financed by the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and managed by a Chinese company; Huawei Technologies Limited under a 20-year concession window.

The Customs spokesperson denied insinuations by stakeholders that Customs’ tax functions have been handed over to a private company.