By Kenneth Jukpor
Amid the pushback and protests on the introduction of the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) digital duty valuation process, Tin Can Island Customs has referred to the challenges as teething problems that will be resolved over time.
The Public Relations Officer, Tin Can Customs Command, Mr. Uche Ejisieme made this appeal during a chat with MMS Plus newspaper yesterday.
Describing the recent uproar regarding the introduction of the VIN digital process as sad, Ejisieme expressed dissatisfaction with the disruption in port activities as a result of freight forwarders strike action against the VIN valuation.
Arguing that the VIN valuation remains the best option in a system that prioritizes automation, Ejisieme informed that though the disruption in the value chain as a result of the ongoing strike action by Customs Licensed agents could have ripple effect on the Command’s revenue and also fiscal implications on imports.
His words: “The deployment of VIN valuation policy has actually triggered some euphoria in the port operations leading to strike and mild protest from some of the agents and some of the stakeholders. We believe that some of these problems are teething challenges which are associated with the deployment of new policies don’t forget that VIN valuation remains the best option in a system that loves automation because automation has become a global phenomenon and with automation you have less human contact and you can achieve predictability and transparency”.
Ejisieme further argued that before the deployment of the VIN series of webinars were held to sensitive stakeholders regarding the policy, but most freight forwarders failed to participate in the webinar and as such there was no feedback from them before it was finally deployed.
“Before the deployment of VIN valuation there were series of webinars if not more than 10 webinars that the Customs headquarters organized through the office of the ACG and ICT Modernization. The PROs of all commands were mandated to make sure that they escalate it to the appropriate audience, unfortunately for whatever reasons we observed that in any day of those seminars you don’t have more than 10 persons attending the webinar.”
“The organisers were compelled to repeat the webinar over and over again but I tell you in all of this there were more than 10 webinars that were organised on this subject. Most of the responses that were expected then didn’t come and their responses would have been valuable feedback to send to appropriate authority for review. This is just one of those automation policies implemented sooner rather than later. All Customs dealings and transactions will be automated,” he said.
