Comptroller Tenny Mankini Daniyan is the Customs Area Controller (CAC), Ports and Terminal Multipurpose Services Limited (PTML) of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS). He fielded questions from journalists in Lagos recently on the achievements of his command in the third quarter of 2024. He speaks on the need for compliance to trade rules by importers and their agents to be able to enjoy the 2-hour clearance of cargos as emplaced by TRS mechanism.ANDREW UTULU was there for Daily Independent Excerpt:
Congratulations on the impressive revenue record you have presented. What were the measures you put in place for a smooth trade facilitation and what was the compliance level of the stakeholders in your command?
I can conveniently tell you that if there is no compliance, it will be littered with seizures or seized goods. The compliance level of our stakeholders are very high and that is why you can see that we have less seized goods. We have put a profiling mechanism in place to ensure compliance. That is why you see that even the arms and live ammunition were recovered, even though they were hidden in places where they will be difficult to locate.
Can we say that the high exchange rate was the contributing factor to the high revenue generated?
We are all aware the exchange rate has gone up, but I can tell you that both ways. Yes we have a high exchange rate with low cargo throughput. What that means is that you have a lot of money chasing a few goods. At the end of the day, as at this time last year, I can confidently tell you that we have about 64,000 declarations. But now, we have about 33,000. That is to tell you that the cargo throughput has really-really gone down. Minimally, it is not actually affecting the revenue collection. Rather, we are shooting up. We are collecting more with the little we have, because there are other mechanisms put in place as I mentioned. I commend the CIU, commend the Valuation Unit, and commended the TCA here, for all the integrations of the Nigeria Customs. When you even look at all the declarations that they made, if there are infractions, we still address them. All these contributed to the total revenue we made.
On the seizures you made, what will happen to the means of conveyance that is the vehicles used in concealing, and also the containers as well as arms and ammunition?
On the fate of means of conveyance, the CGC graciously after a lot of investigations, and our case study sent to him, which they went through and satisfied that yes, because before they got those purchases that were made online, we interrogated the agents, and there were evidence that these things were purchased online. We saw the documents that were presented. We found out that those agents on this side of Nigeria don’t know anything about the vehicle contents. So with the recommendations, the CGC says, what is the motive of this importation? You found out that the motive of this importation was not for the arms and ammunition, when you are bringing in the Tacuma, you are bringing all these big vehicles worth millions and you have about a little ammunition or expended, that is not the essence of the importation. So, graciously he permitted us to release the owner of that vehicle, to continue the clearance processes of the vehicles, while we apprehend and seize the offending articles or items.
On the seized ammunition, we should commend Customs. It I could be a trend like you said, but does not want to plunge Nigeria into evil, that is why, Customs by grace of God and by the ethics of their work, using all sorts of mechanisms, either through the use of INTERPOL connections, to intels from everywhere, either from our sister agencies, we are able to apprehend most of the cargos with arms and ammunition like the one you saw in Onne, Port Harcourt recently. So it is like that, where there are intelligent reports, we are always in touch with our sister agencies, the DSS is here even the NDLEA, all of them, even before the containers arrive, at times, we have information on them which we ensure we do serious checks on them. That has been very-very useful to us. So we try as much as possible by our actions and making seizures to dissuade members of the public from taking such actions.
What were the challenges you went through in the process of generating the huge revenue you mentioned and making seizures of offensive goods?
The milestone we attended was due to the hard work of officers and men of the command and the Nigeria Customs Service as a whole. However, there were challenges and the challenges are so many. Thank God we are surmounting them. I will say, first and foremost, the challenges faced were how to return our members and members of the public to this terminal. We sensitize them on the need to continue to use this terminal. When I came, we discovered that so many agents were leaving this terminal, we don’t know why, but, somehow, we were able to get around the issue, talk to the terminal operators, had a series of dialogue with agents and importers that are using the terminal and they started coming back. So if you see this increase in revenue generated, it is the work that was done by the command, and the encouragement from some stakeholders like the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarder (NAGAFF), Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and all other relevant stakeholders in the maritime sector. They bought into our ideas that we want to make here an efficient, effective and friendly port for them to use. So, that is why you are witnessing the much increment in revenue we are recording.
You also spoke about the arrest of three suspects, were they arrested in the third quarter, or since the beginning of the year?
For the arrests, they were made in the third quarter of the year. All these we are seeing are for the third quarter of the year. I can tell you that all these seizures you are seeing are so small compared with when you go to some other commands.
Under the Time Release Study (TRS), what is the fastest release time for cargos in PTML command?
Beautiful! I just read in the report that we had a 2-hour cargo clearance of RoRo. That is what TRS is all about. This is because the essence is to hold a seat accountable. If the lodgment is made in my name, how many minutes am I spending on it because it is clocking in sort of. You clock me in, yes I am working on this. Because I am conscious that something is monitoring me and that I can be seen anywhere, I do my job as fast as possible. And I say one thing, that the TRS is fulfilling its mission. It does not depend on Customs only, mainly, it depends on the compliance of a trader. When the trader is compliant, you will enjoy all these things. You don’t come to my table with a wrong declaration. That is the HS Code is wrong, valuation is wrong, quantity is wrong. You have discrepancies. You cannot enjoy it. Like one of the meetings I held some time ago, I told them that, all this 48 hours clearance you enjoy, does not only depend on the Customs. That the onus is on the importer to be honest with you. This is because at the Destination Inspection we are practicing, depending on your integrity level, to make sure that all your declarations are proper and with the accompanying documents that are not doctored, like your packing list, every other thing must be right. Right from all you produce, to the production of PAAR, you must write all the information you supply. The moment you miss it, you don’t enjoy it. You have no right to it again. So, it is not every trader. That is why graciously we have other products that are lined up now like AEO-Authorised Economic Operators coming on board. This is because these people have been verified, tested, seen over the years that they are on integrity level. And that is why they admitted some of them.
Your TRS will gauge Customs, tell Customs, monitor the Customs, so that you don’t do the least. But the other aspect of TRS says are being delayed unnecessary? That is why TRS makes a provision that if you come here, you say you are going to make a query, and quickly send it to the query. Don’t allow it to stay more than necessary on your desk. If you are confused with the documentation, send it to CPC, where it will be attended to. So always try to escalate to the next level of responsibility that you feel you cannot handle. That is the essence of TRS, it is to put you in check. Gone are the days when an entry will come to your desk and you put it in your locker. The system is recording you. The system is timing you.
