By Stephen Ubanna
For years, the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, Ogun II, Lagos Industrial Area Command s and other Customs Formations across the country that depend mostly for much of their revenue collections from distillery Companies licensed by the NCS , have been smiling to the Banks.
Take for instance excise Factories like Inter- Continental Distillers Limited, KI Flusher, Supreme Distilleries Limited , JERUTI Distilleries &Beverages Limited, and Nigeria Distilleries Limited, among others were said to have been paying their duties to the Ogun II, Command Command without waiting for the Authoriteris to chase them around or threaten to seal their premises over alleged non -payment before rushing to do so.
The excise Factories, particular, the distillery Companies which has high turnover because of the production and sale of sachets and 200 ml, PET bottles of dry gin, which are in high demands by the Youths and lower rund of the society particular may have made the Ogun II, and other Excise Area Commands in the state
The Leadership of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, had said that there are about 25 of such distillery Companies across the country. The excise Factories involved in the production lines to manufacture the sachets and 200ml PET bottles of dry gin between 2019 and now.
Invest locatedigations by The Value News shows that much of the distillery Companies operating in Nigeria are at Sango Ota, the Commercial nerve centre of the south western state of Ogun, former President Olusegun Obasanjo home state.
It was not surprising why the Command made a total revenue generation of N4,63 billion between September ad October 2023, which was said to be 2.8% higher than the amount generated within the same period in 2023, Fiscal year.
An insider informed The Value News that the Command could generate that much fro excise Factories duty payment, particular the distillery companies because Compt. Bisi Alad
Given the corruption of the Youths, across the country with such sachets and 200 of Ml PET bottles dry gin, may have informed why former President Olusegun Obasanjo on the recommendations of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration, NAFDAC, under the close wach of Mojisola Adeyeye, had planned to ban the production and sale of the sachets and 200ml bottles of dry gin1999.
The Katsina state born Nigerian President’s Administration could not implement the policy due to pressures from several quarters including the Leadership of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, that the distillery Companies, particular, had invested so much to procure the production machines. It was not surprising why p the sachets and 200Ml, PET dry gin bottles had been described as Economic Community of West African States, Monitoring Group, ECOMOG, because the distilleries Companies hadstarted manufacturing the products at the same time at the same time that the West African multilateral armed forces was established in 1999 to restore peace in war -thorn Liberia .
On February 5, 2024, Mojisola Adeyeye, Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administraion, NAFDAC, had announced the ban on the production and sale of the alcoholic beverages in sachets and 200Ml PET bottles. The , Director General may have taken the bold initiative to ban the production and sale of sachets and 200 Ml PET dry gin bottles because the January 31, 2024, deadline given to the distilleries Companies to cease manufacturing the products had elapsed.
The worry of many was that that the ban on the production and sale of the sachets and PET bottles of the dry gins by the affected distillery companies would amount to rehabilitation of the business of local and multinational investors who through thick and thin have kept faith with the Nigerian economy over the years and which will also affect their payment of excise duties into government coffers.
Notwithstanding the new government policy on the ban of the production of sachets and 200 Ml, PET bottles of dry gin, Comptroller Bisi Alade, Area Controller, Ogun II, who took over from Compt. Shuaibu Ahmadou Bello,, now overseeing Ogun I, had said that it will not affect the Command excise duties, which 2024 target remained a closely guided secret. Efforts to get the figure from the relevant Units of the Command through phone Calls proved abortive.
Compt. Alade, Area Controller, Ogun II, who do not think that the Command would lose substantial part of its excise duties collections in the state is from the distilleries companies is optimistic that just as the distilleries Companies could change their production machines to produce sachets and 200 Ml PET bottles of dry gin, the companies could as well revert back to the old production lines producing in big size bottles and still pay their excise duties. He is right.
This is because of the so many incentives that are being enjoyed by the Licensed excise Factories and other Companies operating in the country’s Free Trade Zones, FTZs, labelled as Authorized Economic Operator, AEO,
An AEO, for being involved in the international movement of goods in whatever function that had been approved by past and Present Customs Management team led by Adewale Adeniyi, MFR, ”as complying with the World Customs Organisation, WCO, or equivalent supply chain security standard.
The AEOs, the online Magazine was informed include Manufacturers, importers, exporters, brokers, carriers, consolidators, intermediaries, ports, airports, terminal operators, integrated operators, warehouses and distributors.
The incentives that had been enjoyed by the AEOs, operating across the country in as well as the FTZ Areas, including companies operating in Gungdong FTZ, in Sango Ota , Ogun state and and FTZs, include tax free operations, free fiscal duty for imported raw materials, machinery and equipment .
Until NAFDAC, took the bold initiative to ban the production d sale of sachets and 200Ml ET dry gin, there were about 56 excise Factories including the distillery Companies in Ogun state but only 36 of such factories are currently operational .Recall that a at May 2023, 11 of such excise Factories were still undergoing documentation process at the Customs Headquarters while ten had remained moribund till date due to the high exchange rate of the naira to the North American country of the United States , US, dollar. This is in addition to the exemption from payment levies and export incentives to help the Companies manufacturing for the local and export market in keeping their products competitive.
A document obtained at the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC, in Lagos , the nation’s Financial and Commercial nerve centre gave an insight to export incentive like financial grants which gives the companies room to expand more easily, cost of production and financial support to facilitate the Companies greater and market penetration. This may have informed why the NEPC is currently administering the country’s Export Development Fund and Export Expansion grant.
Aware that Ogun state has the highest number of excise Factories across Nigeria may have informed why Compt. Alade, the Ogun II, Area Controller, has fully deployed the Command officers to the Factories across the state to effectively monitor their activities to ensure that the right thing is done.
Some of the excise Factories were said to have provided offices for the Customs personnel which is helping them to do their job An insider had informed The online Magazine that the Customs Comptroller had made it clear the excise Factories operators that whenever they change their production lines they must intimate Command about it for proper checking .
Efforts to ascertain the amount that had been recovered from some of the excise Factories that had been noted for making underpayment proved abortive. . The Ogun II, customs Controller may not hard have been on the excise Factories operating in the state because the problems which many of them are faceing in the distribution of their products due to the country’s bad roads, epileptic power supply, making the companies to spend heavily on diesel, to power their private generators and return of some of their products which had expired due to late arrival at the distributors depot.
