BusinessDay 22 Oct 2017

42 BD SUNDAY
C002D5556 Sunday 22 October 2017
Travel
How customs rip-off auto
importers, travellers
IFEOMA OKEKE
Despite the seeming efforts
to sanitise the activities
of Customs, auto
dealers and travellers in
the country complain
that many Customs officials have
continued with the illicit activities
of extortion and seizure of their
vehicles, forcing many of them to
close their businesses, BD Sunday
findings show.
Alleged extortion, forced seizure
of vehicles on the highways on illicit
grounds and harassment of motorists
by officials of Nigeria Customs
and Excise have exacerbated in the
last two years, contrary to expectations.
It is believed that the new management
in Customs would rein the
excesses of the organisation known
over the years, but some of the officials
have allegedly adopted a nefarious
means of making money by
using arbitrary criteria to seize vehicles
imported by auto dealers and
also stopping motorists who drive
new vehicles on the highway and
forcing them to part with money or
seizing their vehicles.
Travellers are the ones who are
suffering the high handedness of
Customs officials on the highways.
Some of the motorists who spoke
to BDSunday said to confirm the
authenticity of their documents
they took them to Customs office
after they purchased their vehicles
and the officials confirmed that the
documents were okay, “but when
you are travelling they will stop you
on the way and tell you that your
papers are not right.
“They will give you a bill there
and then. Of course, the bill will not
be anything less than N3 million.
Then they can ask you to settle
when you plead and plead with
them. My customer had parted with
N500, 000. He was going to Ibadan
from Lagos when they stopped him.
He didn’t have money. It was his
wife who does electronic banking
that used her phone to transfer that
money to the account given to them
by the Customs people,” a car dealer
narrated to BDSunday.
The source said the most notorious
areas are Benin, Ijebuode, Ibadan
and Lokoja in addition to many other
places in the southern part of the
country.
“If you don’t part with money
they will seize your car and it will
take about a month before you will
get it back. Any relatively new car
from 2010 is not safe from them.
Between Benin and Ijebuode there
are about 10 Customs check points
answering different names, as coming
from different commands. They
collect minimum of N500, 000. Most
Hammed Ibrahim Ali, (retd), the Comptroller General of Nigerian Customs.
often they demand millions. Most
people who own new cars don’t put
them on the highway any more.
Those who are not flying travel with
commercial vehicles because of the
menace of Customs officials on the
roads,” the source said.
However, BDSunday learnt that
this reprehensible activities are
giving Hammed Ibrahim Ali, (retd),
the Comptroller General of Nigerian
Customs, sleepless nights and he had
sent the word round that anyone
who is able to bring evidence of the
actions of these Customs officials
would be doing the organisation
a favour, as those involved in the
extortion would not only be sacked
but they would also be prosecuted.
Automotive Policy
In accordance to new regulations,
importation of a new vehicle
attracts 35 per cent duties and 35
per cent levy. This was to encourage
local manufacture of vehicles
against importation. But car dealers
said that besides Innoson, there is
no other company that is doing any
kind of vehicle manufacturing in
Nigeria now.
The 35 percent for duties and
35 percent for levy means that if
you buy a vehicle for $100, 000 you
pay $70,000 for clearing it. After
the dealer has paid this amount of
money, calculated on the cost of the
vehicle, a dealer is free to take his vehicle
to his shop and sell. But despite
the fact that there is evidence of the
cost of every vehicle brand on the Internet,
Customs officials are alleged
to have their own vehicle prices
which are computer generated and
which they call benchmark.
Unfortunately for vehicle dealers
and those who buy new cars, there
is no defined criteria that guides
Customs benchmark; it is computer
generated at whim and despite the
fact that you can verify how much
a car is bought from the suppliers
and manufacturers on website,
Customs still stick to their computer
generated prices, which are usually
far higher than the actual prices the
vehicles were purchased.
This means that even if you buy
a vehicle for $100, 000 and calculated
your 35 per cent duty and 35
per cent levy on that cost, which is
$70,000, some Customs officials will
stop you on the way and tell you that
the car you bought for $100, 000 is
$170,000, according to computer
generated prices, so the duty and
levy you have paid are below what
you ought to pay. This payments run
into millions of Naira.
Exploitation
Checks by BDSunday show that
these Customs officials will force
you to negotiate and if you fail to
pay the amount they asked you to
pay, they will seize the vehicle and it
would take you at least three weeks
to get it back. This would also cost
you about N4 million, which would
include the extra money you ought
to pay on their arbitrarily generated
vehicle price and the cost of
visiting relevant Customs offices
and personnel that would give you
approval to take back your vehicle
after the new payment.
Indifference
As revenue generating agency,
which is aggressively striving to
meet target set for it by government,
there is strong suspicion that
Customs management is indifferent
to the arbitrary price benchmark,
which its officials generate as cost of
vehicles, but some of these officials
are using it to make huge monies for
themselves.
A car dealer who spoke to
BDSunday said that some of the Customs
officials would stop vehicles
on the highway and extort huge
monies from their owners; they
would raid car shops and using their
own computer generated prices as
benchmark, charge the car dealer
extra millions of naira as official
cost of duty and levy or “the dealer
will settle the people and this will
cost less and they will boldly give
you account number. Our enquiries
reveal that almost all they account
numbers they give are accounts of
Bureau de Change,” a car dealer told
BDSunday.
Customs Management
But a Customs official who
craved anonymity confirmed the
obnoxious activities of some of the
Customs officials, but said the management
of Customs is desperately
looking for them and anyone that is
caught would not only be expelled
but would also be persecuted.
“Customs management is aware
of all these but they are waiting for
the person they will catch. If those
who pay the money to these officials
can get the teller of the payment
to the authority, it will be instant
dismissal for those involved and possible
persecution. The Comptroller
General is a no-nonsense man. They
are doing this with impunity.
Regular requirements
“All over the world there are regular
requirements needed for you
to clear a vehicle and these include
the chassis or vehicle identification
number, but in Nigeria Customs
will give you computer generated
papers, which is called Customs C
number. If you dare lose this paper
it will be assumed that you did not
pay anything to them. They do not
have the data system where the
payment is reflected; they do not
have your payment number, which
they can use to recall your payment.
But other agencies have evidence of
such payment beyond the issuance
of a document,” a car dealer told
BDSunday.
He said that this explains why
there are not too many cars on the
Nigerian highways. According to
him, many Nigerians who would
otherwise travel with their cars
now prefer to travel by air, charter
vehicles or use commercial buses.
“This has affected us so much.
You can go and check this out yourself.
Many well-known car dealers
who you know in the past, most
of them have closed shops. Also,
many of those artisans who work
for us, from electricians, mechanics,
painters, panel bitters and even
shops that we patronise for spares,
many are now out of business. In
fact, over 15,000 people have lost
their jobs because many car shops
nationwide have closed their businesses
and this will increase crime
in the society because many of them
are youths who do not have jobs
now,” the source said.
Executive Order
Recently as part of the ease of
doing business policy, the federal
government ordered Customs to
leave the highways but sooner was
the directive given than the number
of Customs officials multiplied on
the highways, thus repudiating the
directive. This, many say, is a direct
affront to the federal government
that issued that directive.
Car dealers who spoke to BDSubday
expressed shock in the way the
Customs officials who literally raid
the dealers’ shops and the highways
defied the rules, as if “they know
that no authority can do anything
to them.”
“The impunity is too much,” the
car dealer quipped.
The Customs official who spoke
to BDSunday also lamented about
this defiance, which “makes some of
us feel that they are above the law,
but I know and I am convinced that
anyone caught by the Comptroller
General will pay dearly for it.”
The car dealers are of the view
that many more of their members
would close shop and thousands of
people who are engaged in one way
or another in the auto industry will
also lose their jobs, “and you can
agree with me that this won’t be
good for this country now.”
The car dealers have urged the
federal government to ensure that
Customs officials are removed from
the highways. They urged also that
government should remove the 35
percent levy charged on imported
new vehicles, saying that people
should be guided properly because
“this policy has given Customs officials
an opportunity for extortion.
Government needs to look at this
in order to stem the thousands of
people who are losing their jobs on
daily basis, especially as Nigeria is
not yet ripe to manufacture vehicles
in such commercial quantity to meet
local demand.”