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N12bn funding: Solving infrastructure decay in Customs
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Workers welfare and the need to create a better working environment should be addressed in order to get maximum output in the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
The Customs, which is a Federal Government agency charged with trade facilitation and revenue generation, have over the years been neglected. The agency works in an unconducive environment, which does not match the amount of revenue it generates for government.
Most of the Customs offices built over 30 years ago have remained untouched even as government is reforming the port industry. If not for the help of some concessionaires that have offered to refurbish or construct new offices for the Customs, the Federal Government has deemed it a wise venture to give the agency befitting structures as a way of creating enabling environment for work.
Reacting to this neglect, the comptroller general of Customs, Jacob Gyang Buba, said the service was in urgent need of over N12 billion to address the problem of infrastructure, accommodation, equipment and other necessary instruments to enhance their operations. He regretted that the Customs had been in a state of neglect over the years, stressing that there was a generational gap due to lack of recruitment for the past 15 years on account of inadequate funding.
The Customs boss said the present funding system of seven percent cost of total revenue collected by the organisation was not only inadequate by its manner of implementation, but was also being threatened by the law suit instituted against it by the Revenue Mobilisation and Allocation Commission and the likely effect of the Economic Partnership Agreement, with its zero-duty implications when operational. Buba explained that seven percent was not enough to address the problem of Customs, stressing that of about N1.5 billion meant for the organisation, over N600 million went into salary payment.
He called for increase in salary as a way of encouraging customs officers. Unfortunately, some of the Customs offices are still using the manual type of equipment, which makes electronic documentation impossible. At the Apapa Customs Command, which is the only office with state-of-the-art equipment and refurbished structure, most of the materials used were provided by concerned maritime stakeholders, who believe that the organisation deserves better than what it has.
The Customs is also accused of being corrupt. However, one would wonder if government should expecting anything better if the workers are not paid well.
Most of these officers embezzle as much as they can because their fate is not determined when they leave the service.
Even some who retired from the service are still have their pension hanging.
Sad enough, little or no activity is going on in some of the commands, especially at Western Marine Command because virtually all the enforcement officers have been retired, without subsequent recruitment. Now, the Customs is left with only 13,000 officers to man a country of over 140 million people, in which one border station like Idiroko in Ogun State has over 1,000 unapproved routes.
Responding to poor attitude of recruitment and training of the Federal Government, the managing director of Atlantic Shipping Company, Uche Ohafia, said that was why proper documentation and wrong classification of goods have been a problem in the organisation. “You cannot train what you do not have” Ohafia stated.
The Customs, which is a Federal Government agency charged with trade facilitation and revenue generation, have over the years been neglected. The agency works in an unconducive environment, which does not match the amount of revenue it generates for government.
Most of the Customs offices built over 30 years ago have remained untouched even as government is reforming the port industry. If not for the help of some concessionaires that have offered to refurbish or construct new offices for the Customs, the Federal Government has deemed it a wise venture to give the agency befitting structures as a way of creating enabling environment for work.
Reacting to this neglect, the comptroller general of Customs, Jacob Gyang Buba, said the service was in urgent need of over N12 billion to address the problem of infrastructure, accommodation, equipment and other necessary instruments to enhance their operations. He regretted that the Customs had been in a state of neglect over the years, stressing that there was a generational gap due to lack of recruitment for the past 15 years on account of inadequate funding.
The Customs boss said the present funding system of seven percent cost of total revenue collected by the organisation was not only inadequate by its manner of implementation, but was also being threatened by the law suit instituted against it by the Revenue Mobilisation and Allocation Commission and the likely effect of the Economic Partnership Agreement, with its zero-duty implications when operational. Buba explained that seven percent was not enough to address the problem of Customs, stressing that of about N1.5 billion meant for the organisation, over N600 million went into salary payment.
He called for increase in salary as a way of encouraging customs officers. Unfortunately, some of the Customs offices are still using the manual type of equipment, which makes electronic documentation impossible. At the Apapa Customs Command, which is the only office with state-of-the-art equipment and refurbished structure, most of the materials used were provided by concerned maritime stakeholders, who believe that the organisation deserves better than what it has.
The Customs is also accused of being corrupt. However, one would wonder if government should expecting anything better if the workers are not paid well.
Most of these officers embezzle as much as they can because their fate is not determined when they leave the service.
Even some who retired from the service are still have their pension hanging.
Sad enough, little or no activity is going on in some of the commands, especially at Western Marine Command because virtually all the enforcement officers have been retired, without subsequent recruitment. Now, the Customs is left with only 13,000 officers to man a country of over 140 million people, in which one border station like Idiroko in Ogun State has over 1,000 unapproved routes.
Responding to poor attitude of recruitment and training of the Federal Government, the managing director of Atlantic Shipping Company, Uche Ohafia, said that was why proper documentation and wrong classification of goods have been a problem in the organisation. “You cannot train what you do not have” Ohafia stated.
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