By Stephen Ubanna
President Muhammadu Buhari, appears to have known that the Nigerian government may no longer be able to service the China Development and Exim Banks unpaid $3.3.4 billion debt that he may have given Hameed Ali, a retired Army Colonel and Comptroller General, Nigerian Customs Service, NCS the nod, to sign a working agreement with a Consortium of firms , Trade Modernization Project Limited. The Consortium comprises of African Finance Corporation, AFC, and Huwei Technologies Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of China based Huwei Technogies Company Limited.
The $3.2 billion investment to digitize operations of the country’s land border security and the revenue collection outfit, according to the Customs boss would generate the country over $176 billion from the deal in the next 20 years. The Consortium is expected to take over control and management of the country’s seaports and land border areas from the NCS, and subsequently, remit revenue collected to the Federation account within the 20 years and seven years of grace period of management and control of the outfit.
Going by their Calculation, the Chinese State owned digital firm, Huwei Technologies, which is expected handle the digitization project, has a yearly payment of about $8.8 billion, equivalent of N5.2 trillion, annually, or a monthly payment of $0.733 billion or N210 billion to pay into the Federation Account which translates to a whopping sum of $176 billion in 20years and a seven years grace period. At present the Consortium had said that it would need 30,000 people to be able to effectively and efficiently carry out the mandate given to them but currently have 15,00 personnel.
In spite of the fact that the NCS Authorities and the Consortium had signed the agreement as at May 10, 2022, for the digitization of the revenue generation outfit operations across the country, the Consortium personnel are yet to take over control of the revenue collection services and remittance into the Federation Account from the NCS personnel who are anxiously waiting for them to resume while they watch from the sidelines.
Many believe that the Chinese government which is hiding under the cover of the state owned firm, Huwei Technologies has technically taken over the NCS , which controls the operations at the technical seaports, airports and the nation’s land border Areas as the Nigeria government has proved incapable of servicing its $3.4 billion loan owed to the country.
They had maintained that the Nigerian government has practically surrendered the country’s seaports, airports and land border areas to the Chinese government through the state owned Huwei Technologies firm. Like Uganda, which surrendered its Entebe International airport to it over a $207 million unpaid debt, the Nigerian government has surrendered the NCS, to it with a maturity period of 20 years and a seven years period to repay the $3.4 billion loan used for the construction of the dual railway tracks Construction in Nigeria.
There have been several other African countries that have handed over one asset or the other to the Chines government to manage over alleged unpaid loan. Indeed, Nigerian has joined the league of these countries that have played into the hands of the Chinese government to control and manage the NCS, which is a revenue generating agency for the next 20 years and grace period of seven years based on the agreement.
Industry stakeholders fears that the 20-year deal may give the Chinese firm room to know much about the Nigerian sources of income in the nation’s maritime sector which could be exposed to a third parties and thus compromise the country’s security.
The worry of Industry stakeholders was that the engagement of theChinese state owned Technology firm, which recently had ‘’security issues with the North American country of the United States, US and Canada was not the best option for Nigeria for now. They noted that since the Chinese firm currently has the country’s trade database while working on the $3.2 billion e-Customs project, it is not too goo good for the country.
The argument in both official and unofficial circles was that the same way the Chinese state owned Exim and Export Banks had plundered the Uganda Entebe International Airport to recover their $207 billion loan, the same way the Chinese state owned Huwei Technologies would plaunder the Apapa Customs Command, Tincan Island, Port Multi-services Terminal Limited, PTML, Kirikiri Lighter Terminal Limited, KLT phases, I and II, including the South east Customs Commands of PortHarcourt Area 1, Port Harcourt Area II, Onne, to recover their unpaid loan.
There are fears that the same approach adopted in the Lagos Customs Area Command to recover the unpaid $3.4 billion debt may also be extended to the other south east Customs Commands of Calabar, Warri Command, Murtala Murtala Muhammed Command Area I and Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja. This is in addition to Aminu Kano International Airports and other Airports across the country as well as the Land border areas across the country.
More worrisome to maritime experts was the fact that the $3.2 billion e-Customs project is skewed against promoting export of agricultural and Made in Nigeria goods to other trading partners thus making Nigeria a consuming nation that imports are targeted to pay more duties and levies, a development that may further trigger inflation in the already battered economy.
In the implementation of the 2022 Fiscal Policy Measures and Tariff Amendments, the Nigerian President was said to have approved Supplementary Protection measures for the implementation of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, Common External Tariff , CET, 2022-2026 and Excise duties on Non Alcoholic beverages , Cigarettes and Tobacco products as well as Telecommunication facilities.
The ECOWAS CET, according to an informed source comprise of Import Adjustment Tax,IAT, with list of additional taxes and levy on 172 tariff lines of extant ECOWAS CET goods. There is no gain saying the fact that the NCS, Authorities may have prepared the ground for the for the development of the e-cutoms through ASUCUDA.
Ali, the Customs helmsman, may have alluded to this when he hinted that over the last seven years the following electronic Applications : e-manifest, e-payment, e-remittance, e-notifications, e-Government Platform, for single window to stakeholders in the international trade, e-release, e-provision of NCS national private telecom network, have been developed.
This clearly shows that that the Chines firm, Huwei technologies Limited personnel would have little or nothing to do in the $3.2 billion e-customs project in Nigeria but ostensibly to make money for their home country and plot how to recover the $3.4 billion loan from the Nigerian government.
