The Federal Government has been charged to consider giving a percentage of the Customs Revenue to customs brokers so as to enhance their productivity.
Iju Anthony Nwabunike, a Maritime Consultant and Pioneer Chairman,
Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) gave the charge while speaking virtually at the 2023 Conference and Awards Ceremony organized by the Association of Maritime Journalists of Nigeria (AMJON) in Apapa on Thursday, December 14, 2023.
Nwabunike while speaking on the topic ‘The Role of the Customs Brokers in Sustaining a Viable Trans Border Trade for National Economic Growth’ also noted that “This will be a win-win for government and the brokers as more revenue would be collected. It will also reduce the stress of deploying risk management tools like post clearance audits, alerts and demand notices (DN) to prevent revenue loss”.
Also Read
He made the call against the backdrop of the comment made the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi.
In his word, “For 2024, the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service recently said the service aims to collect N6Trillion for government.
“Out of this projected collection, 4trillion naira will likely be made through customs brokers”.
According to him “Giving them a percentage will solidify their stake and would enhance their productivity as their benefits would be dependent on what they made for the government” he concluded.
Also speaking, President AMJON, Paul Ogbuokiri expressed concern over the poor state of the Country’s mono-cultural economy which needs urgent attention of the Federal Government to steer the country away from its crisis state, while delivering
Speaking on non-oil Export as Panacea to Nigeria’s foreign exchange crisis, he stressed that “Until recently, when economists listed the dangers of a mono economy, it had sounded like a song meant mainly for entertainment; even with the occasional fall of the price of crude oil in the international market which usually shocks our economy whenever it happens. But we normally forget once the price goes up again and things normalize. As such, beyond sloganeering, we have never seemed to bother ourselves with the fact that our Balance of Trade year in year out has been unfavorable to us.
“Now the shock has become permanent because our crude oil has become encumbered, a large portion of it now goes into payment of debts acquired and squandered by politicians, while the other portion is being stolen by powerful people; we are therefore left with little or no foreign exchange to finance our necessary and unnecessary imports.
“We are aware that our president, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu since he assumed office has never rested on his oars to find a solution to our economic quagmire, he has used the opportunity of every foreign trip he has attended so far to canvas for foreign investment in Nigeria. But, while we are waiting for all those presidential engagements to start bearing fruits, AMJON is of the opinion that this an auspicious time for us as a nation to sincerely look inwards and commence full domestic production for our consumption as it was in the 70s and 80s. The excess, we should sell to other countries for our forex needs.
“As we strongly believe that trade in non-oil exports holds the key to Nigeria’s economic survival, particularly with regard to intra-African trade. With platforms like Economic Community of West Africa States-ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS), African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the recent deal between the Customs Administrations of Nigeria and Benin Republic. We believe that discussions should center on trans-border trade between our country and its neighbours with the view to identifying any encumbrance that could hamper trade now or in the future, he concluded.
Highpoint of the event was presentation of awards to deserving perdonalities in the maritime industry such as HRH Eze, Dr. Oliver Chinedu Ohanweh, who was presented with the 2023 Excellent Leadership Award, Oluwadamilola Emmanuel, General Manager, Lagos Waterways Authority (LASWA), Ubong Essien, Dean, School of Eloquence among others.
By Ajibola Adedoye