Curbing Ports Fraudulent Practices with Technology

Francis Ugwoke

The role of technology in human lives in recent times appears to have no bound. In the past, the story was about technology taking the role of humans in big time factories, doing even better and tireless jobs than what humans can do. Today, this is no longer story. Technology has continued to advance to do anything as much as humans can desire. In advanced countries, robots now perform such roles in homes ranging from house helps to such as expected of the opposite sex. There now exists technology that helps couples to have babies outside the ways one is used to. An author,

Trung Tran, writes that under artificial intelligence,   “robotic companions can keep people company when they’re alone, providing social interaction and making those who feel lonely less likely to become depressed”. Tran adds, “Whether it’s a robot that performs tasks with the person or one that simply provides companionship, robotic “friends” can make life more fulfilling for people of all ages”. This is as far as robots can go.  

In Nigerian situation and as it affects the ports industry, the use of technology is desirable and most imperative now. Already, automation is playing a big role in checking unnecessary human interface, which over the decades has led to corruption in the ports. Until the ports were concessioned, clearing of goods was one in which everything was manual that the agents had to visit one table after another in the Customs long room as part of the processes. Today, the processes of clearing of goods have advanced that such human traffic has gone down. But despite this, the issue of fraudulent practices have remained which is where technology comes in. There are such issues as under-valuation, under-declaration and outright concealment. These are malpractices adopted by importers and their customs agents to evade payment of some duties. Customs personnel who detect such practices have always moved to check the importers and their agents but not  without some of them taking advantage of the situation to line their own pockets.  Such malpractices heightened following the distortion of the  Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) regime in the past few years. PAAR was introduced  on December 1, 2013  but was  enhanced  on March 2014  under what was known as PAAR Platform. It was used to  determine the   duties payable on imports. But it was later dumped for the policy of benchmarking owing to issues of fraudulent practices. It is sparingly used in determining duties except in cases involving big time manufacturers whose credibility could be attested.  In other cases, like the general importers, Customs could just determine duties to be paid with the policy of benchmarking.

CTN to the Rescue

One of the technologies that has come to the rescue of the government in checking all forms of practices that lead to evasion of payment of correct duties is the Cargo Tracking Note (CTN).   Also known as waiver certificate, it is used in a number of African counties to “provide local custom authorities with the required information and visibility about the import shipment”. Saloodo, logistics body, describes CTN as having the advantage of “controlling, supervising and managing import and export traffic..”  CTN, according to the experts, “contains details of the exporter importer, shipment value, the method and type of shipment, freight cost, and the name of the vessel”.  In Nigeria, CTN is expected to check revenue losses as the importers and their customs agents will be confronted with   advanced information on   their goods. In effect, it becomes an uphill task trying to doctor documents already stating the true and exact content of containers and value of such goods. CTN   gives information on the goods coming into the country from the ports of departure and everywhere the ship may have to visit before finally coming to deliver the goods. In other words, the technology monitors the movement of the goods in any part of the world. Beyond this, the   technology will also help in checking arms imports at a time like this when Nigeria is waging war against insurgency.  

NSC, CTN Revolution

As part of the efforts to sanitise the ports environment of obvious malpractices, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council  (NSC) as the ports economic regulator is the agency assigned with the task of deploying CTN. The NSC is   saddled with the statutory obligation of enthroning efficiency in ports system for a more business friendly environment. The Council believes that with CTN   decades of fraudulent practices at the ports can be checked. The ports economic regulator also says    the technology can be used to reduce crude oil theft,

The Executive Secretary of the Council, Hon. Emmanuel Jime while describing CTN as very useful tool in a number of ways, said it will also address the problem of proliferation of small arms.

According to Jime,  “CTN is a very useful tool in a number of different ways.   We all know that part of the problem of this nation is the proliferation of small arms, and how do they find their ways into our shores?. Most of it through our ports, also we have to remember that our borders in most cases are porous, but you can drastically reduce the capacity and ability of people with bad intentions from accessing our country with this (CTN). Jime added,  “CTN will enable this country to be able to identify what is contained in a cargo from a port or origin to any port of destination in Nigeria and throughout the course of journey. What that does is that it prepares our security apparatus from the very beginning where that ship is to set sail, from that port of origin,  so as to know exactly what are the content.  In other words, if you for some reasons take off from that particular port and decide to divert some places so that you can now go and change what actually is the content of the vessel, the tracking device is able to give us the very  ‘get go’ so we are able to get tract, that is the first thing.  That will then allow us to be able to alert our security agencies and let them know that this particular   ship, this is exactly what it is carrying and also soon as it comes into our waters it can be apprehended. That helps.

“We are also looking at the possibility from the tools that are available from this particular CTN to be able to identify the movement of crude from our ports to different destinations worldwide.  Part of the problem again as you know is that crude theft has constituted big big obstacle in our ability to sufficiently get the revenue that are due to our coffers. Again, we have now a tool that will be available which will enable our security agencies to know from the beginning there is particular activity that is being undertaken in our waters.

“If we can stop or at least reduce substantially   the incidence of such occurrences, whether it is the area of small arms finding their way into our nation or the theft of our crude, that I think is substantial.

“There is also the incidence of under-declaration which over time has been part of the challenge that we have. Imagine bringing in quantity or certain kind of goods or may be contraband and then pretending that what is in the vessel is different from what actually were seen”.

“I know of course, people can argue that with scanners in our ports that obviously will substantially stop… but we are talking of our ability even when the ship has left the particular port in any part of the world and heading into our waters, we are able to identify it and stop it from that point. So, those and many others, actually, we are talking about the efficiency of our services, we are talking about cargo clearance, we are talking about delays into substantial demurrages.

“Before the ship has left, the manifest and every identification that is needed is supplied to us ahead of time, in some cases even two weeks or three weeks before that ship comes into our water, already the clearance can proceed while the vessel is still at sail. By the time the ship finally arrives, all you need to do is simply walk in and clear the goods that have come. That will enable the efficiency that we have been looking for in an even much better way that we operate at the moment. So these are some of the advantages of CTN I can remember now”.

 .Ugwoke, Publisher of Shipping Day Online/Magazine writes from  Lagos..