Group Wants CEMA Bill Withdrawn From National Assembly

The National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) has asked the Executive arm of the government to expedite action by withdrawing the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) Cap C45 of 2004 from the National Assembly to forestall a total collapse of the nation’s economy if passed into law.

National President of the group, Lucky Amiwero, told newsmen recently in Lagos that the component of the bill presently at the House of Representative was defective and could mar the country’s trade facilitation on the international stage.

According to Amiwero, the CEMA bill has passed through the first and second reading in the House of Reps, adding that it has also been subjected to open hearing, where the various lapses in the bill were found.

He said the CEMA bill was a critical bill that promotes international trade at the world stage, pointing out that such bill was against the country’s constitution to allow a private member to sponsor the motion for a repeal of the bill.

Amiwero explained that apart from the constitution, the CEMA law was another document that is very paramount to the nation in terms of her economy, process procedures and security, adding that it was an all encompassing document that structured the nation’s governance of trade.

According to him, the present draft bill at the National Assembly was defective because it removed Presidential powers, ministerial powers, 70 per cent of Nigeria Customs Service control, board powers and also the functions of agents.

The NCMDLCA’s helmsman said that the bill did not need to be totally overhauled, rather, the bill needed some amendment in certain areas, adding that 80 per cent of the existing laws in CEMA were still relevant and operational in present trade facilitation.

Amiwero, however enumerated that those areas that need amendment are: the electronic system and the use of information technology; the application of risk management techniques; mutual administrative assistant; post clearance audits; rule of origin; protection of intellectual property right; and, advance ruling.

“The consequence of the repeal process of CEMA is that it’s going to have an advent implication that is very grave to the economy, in terms of import and export, because the regulatory aspect of import is always done by the Ministry of Finance, while the implementation of the import and export is always done by the Customs. Then policy initiation is from the board and the Presidency. That is how it is done all over the world. There is nowhere in the world that powers are conferred the way it is done in the bill. I think the bill needs a redraft. Because there are provisions in the bill that have been excluded from the bill.

“Almost 70 per cent of Customs functions were removed. That is 70 per cent of control and enforcement were removed from the bill. Customs themselves don’t have many powers as far as the bill is concerned. So the draft of the bill is watery and needs redrafting completely. And I think there is need for us to withdraw the bill completely from the House of Representatives and called in government to take over the bill, because Cema for instance, cannot be sponsored by a private member, because there is nowhere in this world a bill like CEMA is sponsored by a private member. I think the best thing is for the Executive to take over the bill, redraft it and send the bill back to the House of Reps, so that we would have a better bill,” Amiwero added.

He noted that a bill such like CEMA cannot be toy with or assumed as a political bill, thus lamenting that no maritime stakeholders were called to make any input in the drafting of the bill.

“There was no input from maritime stakeholders. It was a privately sponsored bill. We are only seeing the bill for the first time during the public hearing and that is where we discovered all these defects. That bill is supposed to be an inter-ministerial bill, which is being processed as a member of the Presidential Taskforce on port reform. It is not a private member bill. The CEMA bill should be sponsor by the Executive, because it supposed to be an Executive bill. CEMA is an integral part of our economy and looking at the importance of CEMA, apart from the constitution, the second bill that is paramount in the country is CEMA. So, it cannot be toy with by politicians,” Amiwero added.

Shedding more light on the CEMA bill, the freight forwarder said that freight forwarders are presented as representatives, faulting that nowhere in the world that agents are known as representatives.

“Apart from removing the functions of agent. It also refers agent has representatives, and agents are not representatives anywhere in the world. They are either called Customs licensed agent, customs house agent, customs broker or clearing and forwarding agents all over the world. And the authority of licensing is giving to the minister of finance. In America, it’s the treasury department. In Ghana, it’s the minister of finance. And in India and all over the world it’s under the treasury department or finance department.”

On the way forward, Amiwero said: “I think the way forward is for the Minister of Finance to withdraw the bill from the House of Reps through the President, so that the bill could be redrafted. It is not a political bill. It’s a bill that brings the North, the West, East and South all together. It controls the borders, the seaport, aviation, vehicles, security personnel, excise manufacturing, it controls everything in the country. It is not a bill that we have to play with, so it is not a Customs bill. It is an Executive bill that has to do with the whole country, because everybody is involved. Every country in the world, what they do is to amend it not repealing it. In America, you have the 1930 trade bill and it is still being operated till date. In India, you have 1944 trade bill still in operation. In Ghana, their trade bill was just amended in 2003, so that is how it is done all over the world. So, when you say you want to repeal, you still

have some areas that are relevant, but now, almost 70 per cent of the areas that are important in the CEMA have been removed,” he concluded.