Mr. Charles Edike is Zonal Comptroller of ‘Zone A’ and an Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs. In this exclusive chat with MMS Plus, he discusses several pertinent issues ranging from Customs revenue to the ban on importation of rice as well as the reasons behind his frequent visits to Commands in ‘Zone A’ and his opinion on how the Customs could foster Nigerian youth empowerment. Read on.
Excerpts…
You had wonderful visits to Commands capping it up with a new reward system. What motivated your movement and what are your findings?
You will observe that in December we went round and also in January. In December we knew the year was coming to an end and we needed to do all that we could bring all revenue into the coffers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We also went to appreciate the officers and at the same time to tell them that there was still a lot to be done and they appreciated it.
In January, we went round to appreciate what the various commands did in the previous year and to prepare for the new year bearing in mind the dwindling oil revenue and dwindling imports. Thus we needed to gather every kobo collectable into the federal government coffers. We didn’t stop in Lagos, because ‘Zone A’ has 16 commands which are in Lagos, Idiroko, Ibadan, Ikpeti, Ishehin, Akure, etc. We visited these places to gather support as well as to appreciate those that have supported our officers such as the local chiefs in these communities and other government agencies working with us.
You can see that these visits is paying up as an enabling environment has been created for us to operate in terms of generating revenue, natural security and also trade facilitation. If not for the visits these Commands would not have done this much. If someone is doing well and you appreciate the person, he will do more. If someone is doing fine and you don’t appreciate him but abuse him, he will lose morale and produce negative results.
So have these positive results translated into increase in revenue?
Of course, compared to the level of imports and the revenue that is coming in now. For example in 2014 and 2015, import via Apapa APMT dropped by 25% and between last year and this year, about 15% further drop but even at that there are no big differences in terms of revenue. You would have expected that our revenue should have fallen but we are pushing as much as we can to get to the level we are at.
You will observe that at Idiroko and Seme, about 18 check points along the road have been removed because all our efforts are now in the bush and the bush has been tightened. Few weeks ago four speed boats full of marijuana were arrested at Western Marine. Previously they would not try the water ways but use the roads, but the roads have been tightened and as a result they were caught. About 48 jumbo bags of marijuana were seized by Western Marine Command, not to mention the loads of frozen poultry products that we keep arresting every day. We are talking a cue from the Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC) Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd) especially his zero tolerance for corruption which keeps everyone alert to do what is right.
The reward system you put in place for ANLCA and possibly NAGAFF although I didn’t see that of NAGAFF, I only saw ANLCA been rewarded. Was NAGAFF also rewarded?
What happened at NAGAFF was that the P.R.O didn’t bring enough plaqs and we had other places that we were taking the ones we had to. I didn’t know you noted that, but we will send NAGAFF theirs. It doesn’t mean that they are less important.
We have always known that bringing rice through the land borders worries the Customs, now there is a ban again. People keep struggling to bring in rice even with the ban. What changes are we expecting?
If you put a policy in place, you have to monitor the policy and begin to fine-tune the policy for the general good of the populace. Sometimes it is better to change the policy for the public good. If we want to talk about pride, the CG could say he wouldn’t change it because of how people who perceive his actions, but the CG has the interest of the people at heart. An action was taken in the past but the action has outlived its usefulness, so what is the need of keeping the policy? So that was what happened with the rice issue.
Recently, you talked about the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) partnering with the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) to empower the younger generation. What is it going to look like and what is the idea behind that?
That was the export seminar during the Maritime Summit organized by the Nigerian Shippers” Council (NSC). I was just suggesting that since we have so many youths that are unemployed after schooling. The organizers of that seminar could select youths by any criteria from all state to train them on the potentials for export free of charge and let them know that there is so much they can do. Thereafter, get them mentors; they could be in groups of three, four or five in one company. So while one could be expert custom and NADAC documentation, another could be pursuing their markets, another could be sourcing their products and they could all work in different areas to enable them achieve their goal.
You will notice that there were some young ladies that studied in Britain in different fields but when they returned, they quickly learnt Event Management and even Decoration. Some of them specialized in decorating halls, others in managing the event itself, others tailoring, e.t.c once you meet any of them, there is a fine linkage between all of them and these girls are doing well. Ordinarily, they would have sat at home waiting for jobs but they started thinking and came up with something wonderful.
We can bring this to the Nigerian Export promotion Council (NEPC), Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) and other government agencies to gather Nigerian youths and train them so that when you ask them to go work in Shell, Mobil and other big companies they will refuse because they will be more fulfilled with themselves. I was just thinking aloud.
I don’t mind the Customs partnering with NSC on this but that will be for the headquarters to approve. If the CG approves, the Customs will also train these individuals on documentation and Export procedures, etc. but that will be subject to the CG’s approval.
The idea is line with the times as the President Muhammadu Buhari and CG Col. Hameed Ali are looking in this direction to generate more revenue. Do you think the Custom’s revenue target for 2016 is attainable?
Of course, it is only a dead man that doesn’t have hope. You remember that there was a time in Nigeria when people were queuing to buy breads, milk and several other commodities in around 1983. People had cards to buy these essential commodities, but we have passed that phase and this phase we are going through will also go by and things will go back to being good and fine. For everyone that takes a journey on the sea, you will observe that waters are not always calm, there are usually turbulent times but they don’t last forever. I believe you saw the Economic summit that the President hosted recently. All of these efforts are to stabilize the economy and these efforts will soon begin to yield dividends. Imports will come up again and the revenue will also increase.
