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By Kenneth Jukpor
Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) will join forces to eliminate loopholes in the Temporary Importation Permit (TIP) system often exploited by importers to avoid government levies.
The Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, stated this in Abuja yesyerday, when he visited the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd).
Jamoh said the temporary import permit issue was one of the biggest challenges in the nation’s maritime sector, stressing that it has denied the Federal Government huge revenue.
Ali shared similar views, stressing that it is important for the NCS and NIMASA to develop a common platform for dealing with problems arising from the TIP.
“We observed that people capitalise on the good gesture of government policies to abuse TIP. Those that are benefiting from this temporary importation bring in their own ship and after one year they will take it back to their country and import back with a different name. They do it constantly and this is to the disadvantage of our Nigerian shipowners,” Jamoh said.
He also stated that Cabotage trade, which falls within the core functions of NIMASA, was suffering as a result of the abuse of the temporary import permit, and the indigenous shipowners bear the brunt.
The Director-General said the Merchant Shipping Act provided that vessels used in importation should be registered with the Nigeria Ship Registry, but in most cases, the importers did not.
He called for greater synergy between NIMASA and NCS, and other agencies in the maritime sector, to address pertinent issues and improve the sector.
Jamoh noted that it was in pursuit of such cooperation that a regular meeting of heads of maritime agencies was recently initiated.
The meeting debuted on July 7 in Lagos at the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) and attended by the Executive Secretary of NSC, Mr. Hassan Bello; Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman; Managing Director, National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Dr. George Moghalu; and Rector, Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, Commodore Emmanuel Effedua (rtd).
Jamoh said the essence of the meeting was to identify and speedily tackle challenges faced by operators in the sector without the impediments of official bureaucracy. He invited the NCS Comptroller-General to join the heads of maritime agencies meeting.
“After the meeting, we decided to incorporate the Freight Forwarders’ Regulators to be on board. The Managing Director of NPA and I have both agreed to extend the fellowship to you and you have the liberty to join us via zoom,” the NIMASA boss said.
Responding, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Col. Hammed Ali (Rtd.) pledged the commitment of the service to pooling resources with NIMASA to address the TIP issue and other problems in the sector.
Ali expressed confidence that inter-agency rapport would ensure that if Customs registered a ship and gave it a TIP, NIMASA would also have records of that registration on its own platform.
His words: “We should have more identity of the ship beyond the name, as name can be erased and another name used. We must now collectively get some identity of the ship that goes beyond name that should be registered in our records and yours. So, if there is recycling of the ship using that platform, we should be able to identify the ship and be able to apply the law as it is.”
“We should create that synergy based on ICT. I request that your IT staff synergise with ours to develop a platform that will create that collaboration, such that everything we record or register will reflect in your own record.”
The Comptroller-General said the Customs was concluding the process of launching two patrol boats that would go beyond the creeks, to enhance maritime security.
“The security of our people is more important than the revenue, because no matter how much you collect, if our people are not settled, or not in peace, then the whole essence of the revenue is bastardised. So, it is our hope that we join hands with you and make sure that we work assiduously to ensure that our waterways are safe and profitable,” he added.
Ali also commended the NIMASA Director-General for the CEOs’ forum initiative, saying it would help to boost the sector.
