… Threatens more sack, sanctions against those involved in frauds***
Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has denied claims of compromise in the auctioning of seized and overtime cargoes, particularly vehicles.
The Customs National Image maker, Deputy Comptroller Timi Bomodi said this in Abuja, warning that the Service would also intensify the use of its “big stick” on officers found to be involved in fraudulent practices.
Industry watchers had observed pronounced inconsistency in the Customs vehicle auctioning process and alleged that the procedures were already, seriously compromised.
But, Timi Bomodi said the fact that bidding for vehicles was not as frequent as expected did not amount to compromise.
HAMEED ALI
He highlighted there were procedures for having full authority to dispose of seized cargoes, adding that the service would necessarily follow such procedures to the letter, to avoid any breach.
“All these seizures that are made as a result of long stay at the port among other reasons, have prescribed ways of disposing them.
“If you make seizures, you have to seek condemnation in court.
“It is after the condemnation that you have the authority to auction them out,” he said.
Bomodi said, “all these things are stated by law and as a service, we are mindful of falling short of the law.
“So, we want to do everything as prescribed by the law and these things take time.
The Customs National Public Relations Officer, Deputy Comptroller Timi Bomodi,
“You have members of the public that think the process is slow but they do not know what happens in the back end. So, we are trying to dot the ‘t’s and cross the ‘i’s.
“This is so that when we put these vehicles out there we will know that we are meeting the aspirations of the people and expectations of government.”
Also Read: CUSTOMS sacks 2000 Personnel, Distributes Seized Rice to IDPs- Ali
He said it was in a bid to be as transparent as possible that the service introduced the E-auction platform.
On the next batch of auctioning, Bomodi said Nigerians should be on the watch out as the service was in the process of aggregating the numbers before opening the portal.
“The portal is not open right now for Nigerians to apply but we are in the process of aggregating the numbers.
“Once that is done, it will be there on the website, under which you have a drop-down of e-services, under e-services you have e-auction.
“There is a guide on how you can avail yourself of that. You have to have a Tax Identification Number (TIN) and fund an electronic wallet among others,” he said.
Speaking on discipline, Bomodi said the Customs Service would continue to wield its “big stick” on officers found to be involved in fraudulent practices because the present administration has zero tolerance for corruption.
He said officers who had been found culpable over time had been punished in various ways depending on the level of culpability.
Customs warehouse
According to him, the service will continue to fish out “bad eggs” until the system was sanitised as much as possible.
The Image maker said officers, who had over time been investigated and found guilty, had either been suspended, de-ranked, sent on compulsory retirement, or summarily dismissed.
“Under this administration and the leadership of retired Col. Hameed Ali, we have seen the full enforcement of laid down rules in the service.
“As such, we have been able to cut down on culpable behaviour among officers and this has impacted greatly on the level of revenue generation,” he said.
On other measures put in place to fight corruption, Bomodi said the service was working toward ensuring full automation of the service.
He said the service already had a concession agreement with Trade Modernisation Limited to help with the automation process.
“The concession agreement spans 20 years and for every era, there are certain deliverables that are ascribed to it.
“When you talk about full automation of all our services, you are talking about pre-clearance, clearance and post-clearance.
“You are talking about introducing some facilities that prior to this time did not exist.
“The way modernisation works is that it is going to incorporate all of our functions into one platform to make it easy for officers anywhere in the country to access anything that is happening,” he said.
The spokesperson said with automation, transactions could be viewed in real-time, making it easy to trace any form of compromise.
He said with the level of infrastructure and technical know-how required in the project, Huawei, one of the leading Information Communication Technology (ICT) companies, would be providing technical support.
“The whole modernisation process is hung on ICT and Huawei has shown that they have the capacity to actualise this project.
“With the automation process, at the click of a button, if I want any information from Lagos for instance, I will get it.
“We are already making a transition as officers are being trained locally and internationally and some of the equipment are beginning to arrive.
“The fantastic thing about the modernisation process is that we are using multiple layers of interaction to get data.”
Bomodi said the layers of interaction it would deploy to get data include geospatial information, information from drones, and body cameras among others.
He said the full automation, besides fighting corruption, would ensure more secured borders and more revenue generation among others.
Bomodi said beyond punishing culpable officers and ensuring full automation, the welfare of staff had been greatly improved upon to serve as incentive.
He said remuneration was a lot better than it used to be and officers can attest to it.
According to him, with such remuneration, officers still involved in fraudulent practices are doing so at their peril, as they will be punished when caught.
