Razaq Bamidele
A right organization, Civil Society Coalition on Sustainable Development (CSCSD), has petitioned the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari over seized vehicles rotting away in the custody of the Nigeria Custom, putting their worth at N50 billion.
The petition is dated December 20, 2021, and signed by the Coalition’s National Coordinator. Zakari Hashim formally wrote to demand the immediate intervention of the Federal Government in line with global best practices and standards to look into the waste of vehicles worth over 50 billion Naira in the custody of the Nigerian Customs Service.
The Coalition, which prides itself as one of the formidable civil society networks in Nigeria and the diaspora saddled with the responsibility of promoting accountability, transparency and good governance, in the petition that over 50 thousand of seized vehicles estimated to cost over N50 billion are currently wasting away at various warehouses of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) nationwide.
According to the group, the vehicles, including exotic brands and top models, were either abandoned by importers or seized from smugglers across the borders, seaports and other locations and dumped in the Custom’s care rotting away, mentioning some to include Mercedes Benz G wagon along with various Mercedes Benz models, Hummer Jeep, Range Rover Evolution, Ford Edge, Toyota Land Cruiser, Highlander, Toyota Hilux, various models of Lexus, Porsche cars and a host of other sport utility vehicles (SUVs) from Ford and Toyota brands.
There were also a variety of trucks, salon cars and buses that were seized, the Coalition disclosed, lamenting that, many of them have reportedly gone through the process of court condemnation and are awaiting auction, but are still being detained at the border stations, seaports commands and at the Federal Operation Units (FOU) in Lagos, Owerri, Benin, Bauchi, Kaduna and Kano.
It could be recalled that the Comptroller-General of the NCS, Hameed Ali, on July 3rd 2017 had introduced an e-auction platform (app.trade.gov.ng/e-auction), which recorded little progress due to some itches being experienced with the digital technology.
The last phase of the auction had only 806 vehicles uploaded on the platform and bought by 753 bidders. It generated about N346.1 million. Another phase began late May 2019, but the Coalition learnt that it did not last up to one month before it was shut. At present, the Coalition revealed that “the e-auction process has stalled, due to the banks’ e-wallet challenges as stated by the customs authority.”
Customs Public Relations Officer, Deputy Comptroller Joseph Attah, confirmed to The Guardian Newspaper some time ago that the banks’ e-wallet challenges posed difficulties for bidders in making payment for purchases.
“The e-auction is active and still on. Just that bidders at a point were experiencing difficulties in making payments through the e-wallet. The CGC had a meeting with the Managing Directors of the affected banks who promised to sort out the challenges at their own end. Uploading will continue immediately the banks are ready,” he said.
Attah had earlier told The Guardian Newspaper that some of the vehicles in their custody were due for auction, while others were still undergoing court processes.
“It’s not everything that you see there that must be auctioned. There are several conditions that are keeping some of them. There are those whose cases are still in court, and we have no right to auction them. We don’t have control over the court, and we don’t know how long the cases will take,” Attah stated.
The Coalition informed that some banks contacted reluctantly said the customs should sort out its problems and stop apportioning blame, saying The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) said the NCS should mention the specific problem for it to know how to intervene.
With the development, the question arising now is ‘why don’t we use the single treasury account of the federal government is selling off these vehicles for the benefit of the country?
Some of the vehicles at Seme Customs, FOU Zone A, Ikeja, Idoroko Command, and TinCan Island Command in Lagos are expectedly depreciating and losing value due to the wear-and-tear caused by the long period of parking.
In its reports, the NCS said some of the vehicles were intercepted during attempts to smuggle them into Nigeria while others were seized for being used to convey smuggled items.
The spokesman for Seaport Terminal Operators of Nigeria (STOAN), Bolaji Akinola, was quoted to have said over 10,000 vehicles were rotting away at the ports alone, taking over the space that could have been used for incoming goods.
“The available spaces in the ports are being overtaken by overtime cargoes, including vehicles, and this is unfortunate. For several years, the government has refused to auction the vehicles, and nobody can remove them except they are auctioned by the customs.
“The advantage of an auction is two-fold: it will make valuable space available in the port for other cargoes. The law provides that any cargo in the port, after 45 days, has become overtime cargo, and it automatically becomes government property, and in a move to free the space, the government auctions them. Apart from freeing the space and reducing ports congestion, it will also help raise the much-needed government revenue.
“What is the economic sense in leaving vehicles at a particular space to rot away for years? So, we appeal to customs that whatever modality they want to use, (e-auction or manual auction), they should auction them,” Akinola stated.
It is however regrettable that, while the customs decide how best to sell the vehicles, some unscrupulous people are taking advantage of the situation to exploit innocent Nigerians on social media, by posing as officers coordinating the auction, among others fraudulent claims.
“For economic development and revenue generation, we hereby call on the president and other relevant authorities like the National Assembly and the Ministry of Finance to intervene for NCS to sell all the cars in their custody and remit the generated funds to the government. These funds will go a long way in promoting the economic development of the citizenry, the Coalition submitted.
