By Stephen Ubanna
It is no longer business as usual for the over 20 designated Banks that had been approved by the Federal Ministry of Finance with the responsibility of collecting import and export duties including fees and levies for the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS.
The over 20 Banks saddled with responsibility of collecting import and export duties including fees and levies for other sister agencies in the over 40 Customs Commands across the country may have realized the honeymoon is over.
The Banks which had been collecting import and export duties over the years for the Nigerian Customs, NCS, over the years includes First Bank of Nigeria plc, United Bank for Africa, UBA, plc, popular, Pan African Bank, Union Bank plc, Zenith International Bank plc, ECO Bank pc, and Access bank plc.
This is in addition to WEMA Bank plc, Unity Bank plc, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria, plc, Sterling Bank plc, Fidelity Bank plc, Heritage Bank plc, Jaiz Bank plc, and SUNTRUST Bank Nigeria Limited, and Providus Bank limited, Others are Keystone Bank limited, and Stanbic, IBTC, Bank plc.
For years, most of the designated Banks involved n collecting import/export duties had repeated defaulted in making remittance to the NCS, for onward transfer into the Federation account as at when due. Pas and present, Customs Authority were said to have drawn the attention of the guilty Banks severally to turn a new leaf but the problem remains unresolved.
With the N6.1 trln, revenue which had been set for the Service this year, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, Ph.D, led Management Team, appears to have realized that mere talking without taking decisive action would not solve the problem.
Signs that the designated Banks will run into trouble with the NCS, began to manifest in 2021, when the Hose Committee on Customs accused some of the banks of avoiding investigation of revenues they collected on behalf of the NCS.It was a matter of time for the bubble to burst.
Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, Ph.D, the Customs Comptroller General appears to have sent a message to the designated Banks that it can bark and bite in 2023, when it took a decisive action against some of the selected authorized dealer Banks that had failed ”to meet service-level agreements, SLA”, as related to Customs duty and statutory charge remittances.
The CGC and his Management team, may have taken the bold decision following a thorough audit and due process, aligning with the Service Commitment of upholding transparency, accountability and efficiency in revenue collection.
Thy may have taken the bold initiative, with ‘’to ensure the accurate and timely remittance of Customs duties and other essential funds for national development but that was how far they could go.
Although some of the designated banks were ‘’deactivated’’ to force turn to turn a new leaf but were however reactivated when they met all the regulatory requirements and further settled outstanding remittances.
Many had expected that with the punitive action taken by the Customs Authority in 2023, the issues of Bank remittances to Customs purse would be a thing of the past. The problem was said to have continued unabated.
Given an insider information, the Customs Authorities, noted that ‘’there had been continued instances of delayed remittance of Customs revenue by some of the designated Banks following reconciliation of collections processed through the B’Odogwu Platform.
An official of the Accountant General’s office, in Lagos, the nation’s Commercial nerve centre, who spoke to The Value News on Condition of anonymity, had said that ‘’such delays constitute a breach of remittance obligations and negatively impact the efficiency, transparency and integrity of government revenue administration’’.
It was not surprising that in line with the provisions of the SLA, that was said to have been executed between the NCS, and the designated Banks, the Service, have no option but to take a decisive action to force the guilty designated Banks to make amends this time around.
The Customs Authorities were said to have already notified stakeholders, particular, the Leadership of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF, National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents, NCMDLCA, Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria, APFFLON,, , who in turn are expected to pass the information down the line of ‘’the commencement of enforcement of actions against designated Banks found to have repeatedly defaulted of agreed remittance timelines’’.
Abdulahi Aliyu Maiwada, an Assistant Comptroller and Customs spoke spokesperson, may have spoken the CGC, when he stated in an issued statement that ‘’any designated Bank that fails to remit collected Customs revenue within the prescribed timelines shall be liable to penalty interest calculated at three percent above the prevailing Nigerian interbank Offered Rate, NIBOR, for the duration of the delay in the Customs revenue remittance.
The Customs National Public Relations Officer, NPRO, may have given a soft landing to the defaulting designated Banks involved in collecting Customs duties, and statutory fees and levies for other sister agencies that ‘’they will receive formal notifications indicating the delayed amount, applicable penalty and timeline for settlement’’.
He had said that that ‘’persistent or repeated non-compliance with the terms of the SLA, may attract additional sanctions, including regulatory and administrative measures, as provided under the SLA and other relevant Laws guiding Customs revenue collection.
Perhaps to forestall the designated Banks playing into the hands of the NCS Authorities, the agency had reiterated that ‘’prompt and complete remittance of Customs revenue is a fundamental obligation of the banks, insisting that any payment of collected revenue from importers with their agents and other stakeholders , into authorized accounts, whether deliberate or erroneous will be treated as ‘’a serious violation and addressed in accordance with the SLA and applicable legal frameworks’’.
This may have informed why the designated Banks had been advised ‘’to strengthen internal controls, ensure strict adherence to remittance timelines and comply fully with the provisions of SLA’’ . The Service remains committed to enforcing accountability, safeguarding government revenue and promoting a transparent and predictable financial system in support of national economic development’’, AC. Maiwada, had said.
