Customs, Minister Trade Blame Over 33 Containers Of Expired Rice

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  Containers arrived in 2016, unconnected to border closure – Masters Energy

• They weren’t declared, we discovered them two months ago – Customs

By Kenneth Jukpor

Few hours after the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) showcased 33 containers of rice, as part of 54 containers recently seized, the Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Uche Ogah’s Master Energy Group, has claimed ownership of the product lambasting Customs for telling lies.

Customs had given indication that the rice was seized recently and linked the development to the closure of the land borders, even as it noted that the bags of rice were either ‘expired’ or about to expire, however, Masters Energy Commodities Trading Limited said that the items were imported since 2016 and abandoned following the withdrawal of forex on rice.

The Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hammed Ali (Rtd.) said during the press briefing that the 33 containers bearing ‘expired’ rice were imported from Thailand and China, and added that the seizures were as a result of the partial border closure which took effect few months ago.

“One significant finding about this seizure is that all the rice are expired or about to expire,” Ali told journalists in Lagos, noting that the impounded containers had a duty paid value of N2.7 billion.

However, Masters Energy Commodities Trading Limited is a subsidiary of Masters Energy Group published its account via Mr. Monday Ubani, a lawyer to the company.

“It is important we point out here that this parboiled rice was purchased from Thailand from a company known as Asia Inter Trade Rice Export Co. Limited with a disclosed address and there is bill of lading to that effect.

“The quantity imported were 60 containers in all. Thirty (30) containers were seized due to the under-declaration by the agent while the remaining 30 containers arrived later at the port by which time the Federal Government has put rice as one of the famous 41 Items that will not enjoy forex of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“Due to this policy as aforementioned, the remaining 30 containers remained uncleared and abandoned. We have a letter from Customs Authority asking Masters Energy to seek the approval of Central Bank of Nigeria before they can clear the remaining rice. All these events took place in the year 2016.”

According to Mr. Ubani, the rice containers were impounded in 2016 due to the inability of the company’s clearing agent to pay the correct tariff on the commodity, thus he lampooned Customs for attempting to attribute the containers to the recent border closure.

The Customs appears to have grown weary in shopping for reasons to support the border closure with early controversial reports that the Service has been raking in N5billion daily following the exercise; while an Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs had said that the Customs daily revenue had grown to N5billion daily more than two months before the border closure.

In another perplexing revelation, a Deputy Controller in charge of Tariff and Trade at Customs headquarters had revealed that the entire land border posts in Nigeria do not account for more than 2% of Customs revenue, posing to more concerns on the possibility of increased revenue at sea following land border closure.

Mr. Ubani, who is also a former vice president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), said, “It was even reported that Masters Energy then petitioned The House Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff that its agent Messrs Destiny Impex Limited, a clearing company registered and licensed by the Customs made a false declaration in order to cut tariffs for the 30 containers of rice. The company indicated willingness to pay the correct tariff as the agent was paid full money but decided to cut down the tarriffs in order to avoid paying full value of the tariffs.”

Mr. Ubani said Masters Energy later learned that the seized rice had been taken to internally displaced people (IDPs) in the north.

However, reacting to the claims, the spokesperson of Customs, Mr. Joseph Attah, stated that Customs had only recently discovered the items after profiling of all unutilized bills of lading in the last few months.

Attah asked why Masters Energy never came forward with these details prior to the seizure, noting that the company may have been nursing the idea of smuggling the items out of the ports.

Accusing the company of engaging in propaganda, Attah said, “They brought about 30 containers of rice initially and declared it as yeast. As a result of that the containers were seized and those containers were among those given to IDPs. That batch of rice has been consumed long ago. However, recently there has been general surveillance and all Commands are profiling unutilized bill of lading and manifests that aren’t closed”

“This led to the discovery of some containers that had been stacked somewhere but were never declared or brought forward to the Customs. It was a painstaking profiling of unutilized bill of lading that led to physical examination of these containers stacked somewhere. From the point of view of Customs, until a container is examined and intercepted, we haven’t intercepted it. So, the question to Masters Energy is –why didn’t they declare it when they brought it in 2016?”