Comptroller Dera Nnadi is the Customs Area Controller, Tin Can Island Command of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS). Recently, he fielded questions from journalists on some salient issues in his command. He speaks on the challenges and measures put in place to tackle them. ANDREW UTULU was there for DAILY INDEPENDENT. Excerpts:...CONTINUE READING
Congratulations on your appointment as Area Controller, Tin Can Island Port Command. Why is Customs paying such huge attention to Tin Can?
Sometimes, I find it a bit bewildering that someone should be congratulated for being posted to carry out an assignment.
Nevertheless, I understand the sentiment considering that Zone A of NCS contributes to over 70 percent of the Service revenue. Tin Can specifically is ranked to contribute the second highest revenue for the NCS. In that light, I see my posting here as a measure of confidence in my ability from the leadership of NCS. However, this doesn’t mean that I am being sent here to be congratulated. I’m delighted that I can be trusted to carry out this crucial role for Customs as this Command, for that reason, I think your congratulations is in order. Thank you.
In your first 11 days, you set a new revenue record at Tin Can Island Customs Command. It seems revenue generation is effortless with you as you also guided Seme Customs to exceed its 2023 revenue by over N100 million in 9 months. What’s the secret?
Let me start from Seme Border, we were able to surpass our target by collecting 125% of the 2023 target.
However, we didn’t do anything different apart from encouraging and motivating officers. We also deepened our relationship with stakeholders by making them understand their role after the border was reopened for trade. They knew that they had a strategic partner in Customs because we showed empathy for their pains as they were just coming out from several years of border closure which led to tough economic times.
So, we encouraged the people to have confidence in their environment. In Tin Can Port, the revenue target that was surpassed was for a single day. The target given to the Command on daily basis is N3.3 billion; but for that day we collected N5.2billion.
People were excited because for a very long time that didn’t happen at the Command. Nevertheless, we have gone beyond that figure because we recently collected N7.6 billion in one day. We are making steady increase in our drive to generate revenue.
What we have done is to motivate the officers to understand that so much is expected from them. The truth is that so much confidence has been reposed in us and we mustn’t just live up to, but seek to surpass this expectation from the NCS management.
Nonetheless, revenue generation is a function of cargo throughput. In recent times, the volume of cargoes coming in has dropped, but we are maximizing the few that have come in by blocking the previous loopholes. Some infractions are so obvious that we just have to address them. Issues of undervaluation, concealment of high-duty paying items, among others. When such items are identified, we issue them Debit Notes to pay for the shortfall.
The compliance level is increasing and we keep educating the stakeholders that payment of duty isn’t the same thing as compliance.
Compliance is paying the correct duties at the prevalent exchange and declaring the correct quality and quantity of items in a container.
Upon resumption, I went round the port and observed that we still suffered from the old issue of late resumption to work. Why should we have a maritime system where we find people resuming work by 10am or 11am? I stressed that it was unacceptable.
To lead by example, I offered to come to work by 8am and when agents come to complain about delays in examination, firstly I ask them when they resumed for the day.
Previously, stakeholders reached an agreement for examination of cargoes to start by 10am, but I pushed for us to start by 8am. I later listened to their counsel that 8am was too early as some officers and operators needed an hour to be set for the day; do we adjusted to 9am.
Some of the encumbrances that made people come to Tin Can Island Port late like the deplorable state of the road has been addressed.
It may not be perfect at the moment but it has improved by 70%-80%. There is relative free movement into the port environment and everyone within the port can come early.
Currently, terminal operators, freight agents, banks, even food sellers resume work by 8am at Tin Can. Port business is a supply chain; if one unit comes on time and the other service users or providers aren’t around, then there is a problem. If Customs resume by 8am but the agents only show up by 10am, it becomes an issue.
However, if we find that there are infringements during the earlier random examination, then, we have reason to examine the rest. This rule only applies to homogeneous products.
Aren’t we negating the 48hours clearance time which we have been talking about for more than a decade at ports? Can’t we achieve less than 48 hours clearance time with some of these initiatives?
I would rather save someone two days in the ports than to allow him pay demurrage at the ports for two months.
Quick delivery is what we are pursuing now and we are convinced that it will encourage people to pay the correct duties. I have also spoken to my officers, stating that should there be any delay on their part they will have me to contend with. Luckily, they have accepted these ideals that I preached and we are all driving the new process.
Following these strategies introduced at Tin Can Island Port, how long does it take to clear cargoes within the Command?
Since I resumed at Tin Can, I’ve never left the office earlier than 10pm. I’m not celebrating it and I’m glad to be leading my officers by example. They have also not attempted to abandon me in the office. It doesn’t mean that I’m punishing them, but I’m leading.
While I’m preaching electronic transfer of documents between Customs and stakeholders, most of the things we do here are still largely manual. This is why the Customs Modernization Project is so dear to me.
When I was the DC Enforcement at Tin Can, I had to lead teams onboard vessels when ships call at 1am. A ship may have finished loading outward and we must go onboard.
Someone may load his container and wants to exit the gate and we must exit that person. For these roles which weren’t time-bound, we were always at the ports.
If we receive containers and ships 24hours daily and 7 days a week; why can’t we discharge cargoes within 24 hours. This is why I’m experimenting 24-hour operations starting by the number of hours I’m already spending at the office.
Recently, the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mr. Mohammed Bello-Koko invited port stakeholders for a meeting and I asked at this same question about 24-hour cargo delivery from the ports. I also shared with the NPA Managing Director the encumbrances to 24-hour port operations based on the challenges we are experiencing at Tin Can.
We need lights, security, good access roads, among others. He also admitted that there is a need for us to change to some of the approaches that I have already implemented.
Some stakeholders have observed the need for banks to work on weekends, but the question I asked is – How do people who travel via airplanes, pay their airfares at weekends or after banking hours?
Don’t flights arrive at 2am and officers are on ground to clear them? I worked at the airport as a much younger officer and I recall that people can pay duties at any time day or night. So, if we can achieve that at the airport, we can also replicate it at the seaports.
Banks can provide apps that enable people transact business with them even we they’re not physically in their offices. This has already been done because with most of our banking apps we can transfer millions in one transaction.
Why can’t freight forwarders come to examine and clear their goods on Saturdays? The habit of devoting Saturdays to ‘owambe’ should stop. TICT is already in partnership with Customs by positioning containers at any time of the day. I expect other terminals who are in competition with them to adopt it, otherwise they will lose customers.
Illicit trade is seen as an organized crime; besides intercepting the cargoes at the ports, does your Command work in connection with the headquarters to flag those countries known for illegal substance?
Every Customs outfit all around the world understands the concept of supply- chain and risk management.
Sometimes you hear about multiple checks and multiple alerts, it is because we can’t legislate people’s character. I am here because we have to checkmate port users. There is a zonal office to also supervise me and Federal Operations Unit (FOU) does its level of checkmating.
There are also other enforcement and investigation units put in place to ensure that the right thing is done at every level.
Customs also partners with international like Interpol and local organizations like; National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON), National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigeria Police, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), among others, share intelligence with us.
Recall that some years ago, we seized three containers of arms. It was as a result of intelligence shared. Two were direct information from other agencies, while the third one was because I started looking closely into documentation similar to the first two.
Nevertheless, I wouldn’t have seized the third one if Customs didn’t receive intelligence for the first two. Some of these things are already being utilized, but we don’t put everything out in the press
