The National Assembly, apparently worried by reduced revenue from sea port operations in Nigeria, has mandated its committee on Customs and excise duty to do a review of the agreement entered into between the federal government and terminal operators across the country.

Addressing maritime stakeholders in Lagos, the chairman, senate committee on Customs and Excise, Senator Hope Ndozima said the reasons canvassed in 2006, leading to concessioning of the sea ports in Lagos and other parts of the country have either been forgotten, compromised or completely disregarded by the concessionaires.

“This committee is not on the usual oversight visits many of you are familiar with. We are on a fact finding, evaluation/assessment mission. We have been mandated to do a thorough appraisal of sea port operations. We want know why government is losing revenue, why are ports are the most expensive and cumbersome to transport cargo through in the West African sub region, we want  to know why Nigerian bound cargo have to go the ports of neighboring countries and then smuggled into Nigeria.

Lamenting the downward turn in revenue and how unattractive, un-competitive Nigerian ports have become, the senate committee called for revenue profile of all customs commands in the last three years.

Also demanded are list of seizures, over time cargo, processes of disposal, list of waivers and amount forfeited/lost by government therefrom, cases in court with emphasis on those concerning customs officers.

Noting that government revenue has declined drastically from all sources, Senator Hope Ndozima stated that his committee is seeking ways to do things differently, establish a new roadmap for Customs, because, according to him “there are necessary and compelling reasons to do so”

Expressing displeasure with and anger at the poor regulatory environment in the ports, the senate committee asked all terminal operators, Bonded terminal owners and all container depots, to make available to the committee copies of their agreements with the Federal Government.

The Committee Chairman said the Senate wants to find out if concessionaires, terminal operators and all service providers in the ports are complying with terms of the agreement they have with the government and people of Nigeria.

The committee is also interested in the quality of investments made by the investors and the facilities they have provided in their respective terminals/operational areas.

Number of employees and terms of employment offered by terminal operators are also among list of items requested by the Senate committee.

On the provision of facilities, the Senate is of the view that the terminal operators are to provide scanners at the terminals for use by Customs. The chairman of the committee, apparently irked by the non-functionality of scanners in the ports wondered why the operators could buy cranes and fork lifts but fail to provide scanners.

In his words “if these terminal operators or concessionaires as you called them are not ready to invest as expected, we shall send them packing and bring in investors who are willing and able to manage the ports efficiently. The responsibilities of NPA was transferred to them so that NPA became a regulator, where do they expect a government that is in already in recession to get money from to buy scanners for them”?

Citing sections 13, 20 and 84 of CEMA that provides for fines of N200, N300, the senate committee chairman said “No law is cast in stone that cannot be amended. Once we see that a law has lost its relevance and no longer conform to present day realities, we must amend such laws in the general interest

Drama

There was a mild drama at the Apapa Command hall when President of the Council of Managing Directors of Customs Licensed Agents of Nigeria, Mr. Eyis Lucky Amiwero disagreed with the senate committee on the provision of scanners.

According to Amiwero, it is not the responsibility of terminal operators to provide scanners because scanner are very sensitive equipment. In his word “scanners are not for revenue. They are for security purposes”.