STAKEHOLDERS in the Maritime sector have appealed to the President and members of the Senate to reject the amended Customs & Excise Management Act (CEMA) bill recently passed by the House of Representatives.
According to them, the process leading to the passage of the bill at the House of Representatives was shoddy, as interest groups were not carried along.
A statement signed by its Executive Director, Mr. Sesan Onileimo, and Executive Director, Port Gists on TV, Kayode Farintos Collins noted that "Captain Ihenacho Ebubeogu, NPA General Manager in charge of Marine and Operations advised the Senate to consider the Ports and §Harbors Bill presently lying in the National Assembly side by side with the new version of CEMA and address various areas of duplication or an attempt to cede the authority's status as embedded in the Ports Acts.
"Representative of the SON Director General, Mr. Yunusa Mahammed, described some aspects of the Bill as an infringement on SON's responsibility which may cause delays in the goods clearance process at the Ports and approved border stations".
Mohammed noted that since Customs have no mandate to declare any product as being of acceptable or unacceptable standards, "a Customs Laboratory for testing which the Bill provides for will create duplication and subject importers to avoidable delays.
He added that the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) should concern itself with importers' compliance with import guidelines, quality and value of products for the purpose of detecting violation and collection of duty payment.
"Customs, which has no mandate or technical know-how on quality control, shall not prohibit SON from performing its Quality and Control Mandate, including performance of Confirmatory Test, since these functions are way beyond the scope of Customs", Mohammed added
Besides, the stakeholders resolved to meet with the Leadership of the National Assembly with the aim of making the lawmakers "fashion out laws that will (better) advance the cause of the national economy"
Rising from a meeting put together by the Maritime Industry Advocacy Initiative (MAIN) in Lagos, the Stakeholders explained that the bill as passed by the House of Representatives conflicted with other exact legislation and functions of sister agencies of government, including usurping the power of the President and the Minister of Finance.
A press statement issued by the organisers and made available to The Guardian Saturday said: "Agencies like the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), National Agency for Drug Control and Administration (NAFDAC), Central Bank of Nigeria and Federal Ministry of Finance also have their functions remove even when their enabling laws are subsisting".
Apart from allegedly distorting the post Port Concession arrangement between the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE), NPA and various concessionaires, the meeting, which, according to the statement, was attended by representatives of the NPA, SON, NAFDAC, Seaports Terminal Operators Association (STOAN), National Association of Chambers of Commerce Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Licenced Customs Agents, viewed some amendments as obnoxious and not in line with best international practice.
