ABSTRACT
Smuggling involves the illegal importation or exportation of goods either to evade the correct payment of duty or to undermine government policy on existing prohibition regulations. The major effects of smuggling include huge revenue loss, money laundering, exposure of local industries to unfair competition with their foreign counterparts and insecurity of life and property. The principal legislation for combating smuggling in Nigeria is the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) and the Nigeria Customs Service Board has the duty of controlling and managing the administration of CEMA. The main features of CEMA are the overlapping of offences, use of presumptions, the reversal of the burden of proof, forfeiture of goods and their means of conveyance, compounding of offences, the intriguing prescription of capital punishment for certain categories of smugglers and the limitation of time for the prosecution of offences under the Act. However, the provisions of CEMA, which was enacted since 1958, are largely outdated in terms of concept and punishment and are therefore, inadequate to cope with the sophistication of the new trend of smuggling in Nigeria. Unfortunately, an earlier CEMA Reforms Bill before the National Assembly merely seeks to subject the exercise of Presidential and Ministerial powers, over imports and exports to the approval of the National Assembly. Already the CEMA Reforms Bill now before the National Assembly seeks among others to grant autonomous status to Nigeria Customs Service, prohibits mandatory pre-shipment and post-shipment inspection and to prescribe tougher penalties and sanctions. The Reforms Bill also seeks to encourage the use of consultants and enhance better use of Information Technology. This thesis attempts to highlight the purport and application of CEMA in the light of constitutional developments and thereby expose the inadequacy of the current legislation. The thesis also takes a look at the factors that promote smuggling, examines the control measures and makes a case for a far-reaching appropriate legislative review that would enhance the fight against smuggling in its entire ramifications. The thesis is a product of literature review, comparative analysis of relevant judicial decisions and statutory provisions together with our experience on the job in this area of law.
CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA)1 was enacted in 1958 under her majesty, Queen Elizabeth II when Sir James Wilson Robertson was the Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria. The Act was enacted to regulate the management and collection of customs and
excise duties, and other purposes ancillary thereto, including prescription of penalties for any infringement of the laws.
The CEMA is the principal enactment for combating the crime of smuggling in Nigeria. It should be noted however that some other enactments2 which govern on some aspect of the crime.
The federal agency of the government in-charge of the administration of the CEMA is the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), which was formerly
referred to as the Department of Customs and Excise. The NCS is regulated
1 It was later published in Cap. 84, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN), 1990 and presently in
C 45, LFN, 2004.
2 Sections 78, 79 and 87 Criminal Code (CC), Cap. 77 LFN 1990 (now C 38, LFN, 2004), sections
423,424 and 425 Penal Code (PC) (Northern States) Provisions Act, Cap. 345, Vol. XIX, 1990, LFN (now Vol. 13, Cap. P3, LFN, 2004); sections 3 (1)(p), 8 (b) (c), 11(a) and 41 National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act (NDLEA) Cap. N 30 LFN, 2004 and sections 6(b) and 46 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act (EFCC), No. 1 of 2004 which repealed the EFCC
Act, Cap. E1, LFN, 2004 that was made in 2002.
by CEMA.3 This Act gives the officers of the NCS the authority to act, and any act not based on it is null and void. The law also prescribes punishment for any breach of its provisions. The Act is amplified by the various customs and excise regulations, which are published as legal notices and orders from time to time. The legal notices in fact seek to interpret the CEMA.
The Act provides for the establishment of a Board of Customs and
Excise, which is established, by the Nigeria Customs Service Board Act.4
The Board is responsible for the administration of the Customs and Excise
Management Act.
This chapter is anchored on the fact that the need for a sense of history of any society cannot be over emphasized. The evolution of NCS will enable us fully grasp the dynamism of the agency in recent times, especially vis-à-vis its role in the implementation of the CEMA and the other enabling laws made from time to time.
The various kings and rulers of chiefdoms, empires and states of pre- colonial Nigeria took charge of customs matters in their various domains. In 1861, Lagos was annexed by the British and the United African Company (UAC) was established. This company dominated trade and commerce in the Delta areas initially, and before 1891 exercised customs control to
ensure that traders not operating under their agencies paid taxes for the
3 C 45, LFN, 2004.
4 No. 45 of 1992, now in Cap. N 100, LFN, 2004, hereinafter “NCSB Act”.
services provided them. The UAC later metamorphosed into the Royal Niger
Company.5
I.E.S Amdii6 commenting on this further stated that what the Nigeria Customs is today is largely an extension of what the Royal Niger Company in the Mid 19th Century established and incrementally adapted by the Lugardian system.
The NCS is one of the oldest government departments in Nigeria. Its real origin dates back to 1862 when Thomas Tickel, British Vice Consul in Badagry was appointed as Collector of Customs for the new British Colony of Lagos.7 However, by way of reform in 1891, the Department of Customs Niger Coast Protectorate was created with Mr. T. A. Wall as the Director General. In 1900 a new head, Mr. H. L. Searle was appointed and the designation changed to Collector of Customs and Post Master General. This changed again in 1922 when Mr. F. A. Clinch was appointed as Controller of Customs and Excise Federation of Nigeria. Then the Department was charged with the responsibility of collecting import and export duties and
also providing postal services.
5 I.E.S Amdii and U. Birai, “The Department of the Nigeria Customs and Excise: Preliminary Report and Comment” in Report of Senior Officers Seminar for 1990, Department of Customs and Excise,
1991; p. 10.
6 I.E.S Amdii, “Introduction”, in 100 Years of the Nigeria Customs and Excise: 1891 – 1991, I.E.S Amdii (ed.) (ABUP, Zaria, 1991), p. 1.
7 M. Omale, Nigeria Customs Service Law and Practice (Shomolu Lagos, Cinnamon Press
International, 2000), p. 1.
In 1933, by virtue of the Excise Duties Ordinance No. 3, new duties were created for the Department, having relinquished its postal services duties.
As the department’s evolution continued8, there was the need to create a para-military arm to curb the activities of smugglers. In view of this, the Customs Preventive Service was formed to police the nation’s borders.
Beginning from Mr. Wall’s era to date, thirty-three (33) officers have headed the Department including Mr. Ogunbemile and Mr. Effanga who acted briefly but were not confirmed. Out of these, nineteen (19) were expatriates. The very first Nigerian head to be appointed in 1964, was Mr. A. Diyan. So far, thirteen Nigerians have headed the Department, including the incumbent, Alhaji Abdullahi, Dikko Inde.
In 1992 as a result of government reform the Department of Customs and Excise was renamed the Nigeria Customs Service and its ranking was realigned with that of the Nigeria Police. It should be noted that for convenience wherever reference is made to the Department of Customs and Excise, such reference is to the Nigeria Customs Service. The reform also re-named the head of the Customs as the Comptroller General and this has continued to be the status quo until date. There appears to be an oversight in that the NCS is not created under the CEMA unlike the cases of the
EFCC, the NDLEA and the Police.
8 For details see Appendix I.
The CEMA provides for the establishment of the Board of Custom and Excise without any reference to the creation of the NCS.9
Section 3 (1) of CEMA provides “The board referred to under this Act is the Board of Customs and Excise established by the Nigerian Customs Service Board Act”10
The EFCC Act, the NDLEA Act and the Police Act,11 on the other hand provides as follows:
Section 1 (1) of the EFCC Act provides:
There is established a body to be known as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (in this Act referred to as “the commission”) which shall be constituted in accordance with and shall have such functions as are conferred on it by this Act.
Section 1 of the NDLEA Act provides: There is hereby established a body to be known as the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (in this Act referred to as “the Agency”).
Section 3 of the Police Act provides: There shall be established for
Nigeria a police force to be known as the Nigeria Police force (in this Act referred to as “the force”)
9 Section 3 of the NCS bill, 2012 has now provided for the establishment of a body to be referred to as ‘The Customs Service’.
10 Cap. N 100 LFN, 2004.
11 Cap. P 19 LFN, 2004.
Section 5 of the Police Act further provides:
There shall be an Inspector-General of the Nigeria Police, such number of Deputy Inspector-General, Assistant Inspector-General as the Nigeria Police council considers appropriate, a commissioner for each state of the Federation and such ranks as may, from time to time, be appointed by the Nigeria Police Council.12
As pointed out by Ango,13 human organizations often have to undergo transformations in the form of reorganizations. Such reforms and reorganizations are meant to achieve greater efficiency, transparency,
accountability and effectiveness. The NCS is no exception to this assertion. The NCS as seen over the years have gone through many stages by way of reforms. The reforms in the NCS is aimed at achieving greater revenue collection, transparency and accountability on the part of officers and men, and promote efficient, effective, honest and reformed customs service in order to bring sanity to ports operations in all its ramifications.14
In 1970, by virtue of Decree No. 7 of 1970, additional members were appointed to represent other ministries like Economic Development and Reconstruction together with Trade and Industries on the Board of the
Customs and Excise.
12 Section 14 of the NCS Bill, 2012 provides for the office of Comptroller-General and Deputy Comptrollers General. Section 15 further provides for appointment of other staff of the Customs Service.
13 S.O.G Ango: The Role of Nigeria Customs Service in the Realization of Vision 2010, (Ibadan, Spectrum Books Limited, 1998) p. 3.
14 See Nigeria Customs Service, Monthly Order Nos. 1 – 5 (January – May, 1996), p. 4.
The expansion was intended to broaden the scope of the decisions of the Board. When the CEMA of 1958 came into being, the chairman of the Board was also the Chief Executive of the Department of Customs and Excise. In 1975, the Murtala Mohammed regime abolished the position of the chairman and conferred all the powers of the Board on the Director of
the Customs and Excise.15 Alhaji S. A. Musa being the first Director
undertook the task of reorganizing the Customs and Excise Department so as to assume its supposed international character and bring about better performance and image for the organization. To this end, the two parallel areas of the Service which were the revenue (technical) and the preventive (enforcement) were unified.
The unification led to the restructuring of the Department into five major directorates namely:
i) Revenue
ii) Enforcement iii) Investigation iv) Inspection
v) Economic Relations, Research and Planning
At this stage of the evolution, the Department of Customs and Excise has always been under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Finance. In 1985, it was removed from that ministry and taken to the Federal Ministry
of Internal Affairs. As a follow-up the Board of Customs and Excise was
15 Decree No. 41 of August 28, 1975.
abolished in 1986 and the Customs, Immigration and Prisons Board (CIPB)16 was established. This Board also absorbed the functions of the Federal Public Service Commission as regards appointment, promotion and disciplinary control over the officers of the Customs and Excise Department. The CIPB embarked on an extensive and intensive reorganization of the three services in pursuit of the objectives of the reforms.
In spite of the fact that most significant changes took place at this stage of the evolution, we submit however that the policy of transfer of service, which was introduced by the reforms, became a problem to the Department at a later stage.
The restructuring continued and the functions of the Department of Customs and Excise were decentralized to Zonal commands in order to quicken and smoothen decision-making process. Six zonal offices were created at Lagos, Kaduna, Bauchi, Minna, Owerri and Ibadan respectively. The then Minister of Internal Affairs, Col. John Shagaya while justifying the creation of the Zonal Offices stated thus:
The main purpose of the reorganization which divided the whole country into Six-zones is to enhance the efficiency of the department by decentralizing authority for quick decision-making, this has resulted in greater efficiency and high level of performance by each Zone.17
16 Decree No. 14 of January 11, 1986.
17 J. Shagaya, “Keynote address by the Honorable Minister of Internal Affairs, to the participants in the 1989 Department of Customs and Excise Seminar, at the Concord Hotel Owerri, Imo State, 6 –
10 November 1989” in Report of Senior Officers Seminar for 1989 Abuja, Department of Customs
and Excise, p. 7.
Under this arrangement Dr. Bello Mohammed became the Director.
In 1992, the Department was removed from the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs back to the Federal Ministry of Finance. A new decree, the Nigeria Customs Service Board Decree No. 45 of June, 1992 was promulgated to establish the Nigeria Customs Service Board (NCSB). This decree vested in the new board the sole authority to administer and formulate general policy guidelines for the NCS.
The decree made the NCS an independent paramilitary service that it is today. As put by Ango18, the Service is very grateful to the government, which saw the need to remove the Department of Customs and Excise from the civil service structure and restructure its grading and salary formats to bring it in line with the situation of things in the paramilitary organizations.
Today, the NCS is a full-fledged paramilitary organization geared towards operating with discipline and dispatch. In view of the 1992 decree19, the administration of the NCS came under the control of a Comptroller- General assisted by Six Deputy Comptrollers-General who were in charge of the newly created six divisions as follows:
i) Customs
ii) Excise and industrial incentives iii) Enforcement and Drugs
18 S.O.G Ango, “The Customs and Excise in National Revenue Drive”, A lecture delivered to the participants of Senior Executive Course No. 18, NIPSS, Kuru March 12, 1996, p. 1.
19 Decree No. 45 June, 1992.
iv) Investigation and Inspection
v) Economic Relations, Research and Planning
vi) Finance, Administration and Technical Services.
Though the Comptroller-General exercises general control over management and administration of the service, he is however responsible to the Honourable Minister of Finance who is the Chairman of the Nigeria Customs Service Board.
It is submitted that the performance of the duties of the Comptroller- General under the control of Minister of Finance does not augur well for good administration, more so as the NCS is a paramilitary outfit, it ought to be taken out of ministerial control. This suggestion is without prejudice to the role of the Ministry of Finance, which is the formulation of polices on economic matters.
In regard to the six Deputy Comptrollers – General who are in-charge of the six divisions, it is submitted that it will be more relevant to have just one Deputy Comptroller-General who shall be the second in command to the Comptroller-General. This will finally resolve the tussle that always exists among them as to who is superior. If this is achieved, the six divisions will be headed by Assistant Comptrollers General.
The above arrangement unfortunately was scuttled when the then Head of State, General Sani Abacha instituted a probe panel (Paul Tafa Panel, 1994) sacking all the management team of the NCS. S.O.G. Ango was
appointed as an administrator in 1994 and was later in 1997 made a sole administrator with wider powers thereby abolishing the NCSB.
The status quo was however restored with the appointment of Alhaji Aliyu Ahmed Mustapha as the Comptroller-General (C. G) in 1999. He held forth until he honourably retired from the Service in 2004. The same year via a presidential reform headed by the then Minister of State for Finance, Mrs. Nenadi E. Usman, Elder Jacob Gyang Buba was appointed as the Comptroller-General. This particular reform was lethal, claiming almost about seventy-five officers of the rank of comptroller who were retired to pave way for a new management team.
The new structure provided for only three main departments as follows:
i) Corporate Service and Economic Relations ii) Enforcement, Investigation and Inspection iii) Revenue.
The Departments as usual were headed by Deputy Comptrollers General.
Another interesting but unfortunate aspect of this reform was the reduction of the Zonal Offices from six to four. The Area commands were reduced to twenty-five. Under this arrangement some States were merged to form one area command. The activities of the NCS definitely were reduced to the lowest ebb. People wanting to do business in such states have to move longer distance before they can have access to a command of the NCS.
This restructuring, it is submitted, has done more evil than good. It not only offends a policy of the federal government that each federal agency should maintain offices in the State Capitals, but have led to serious politics of exclusion. This presupposes that as contended by the federal government reformists that some States are not viable to have Federal offices established there.
The 1999 Constitution20 provides that Nigeria shall be a federation consisting of States and a Federal Capital Territory. The States so created are listed in the First schedule Part I to the Constitution. By necessary implication, there should be a rethink of this aspect of the reform that have deprived some States from having the presence of customs area commands.
A maritime paper21 captured it succinctly when it stated that the presidency was set to clean up the customs. Like a recurring decimal, specifically on May, 27 2008, Gyang Buba had to bow out paving the way for a new Comptroller-General, Ahmed Hamman Bello. Characteristic of past reforms, two Deputy Comptrollers – General (DCG’s) and six Assistant
Comptrollers-General (ACG’s) were retired.
20 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Cap. C 23, LFN, 2004, as amended in Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, (first alteration) Act, No. 1, 2010 and Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Second alteration) Acts No. 2, 2010, hereinafter, “1999 Constitution as amended” section 2 (2) thereof.
21 “Presidency sets to Clean up the Customs” Maritime International, January/February, 2004, p. 19,
The Federal Government this time approved the re-structuring of the NCS into four departments following the acceptance of a recommendation of the World Customs Organisation (WCO) strategic plan to review the structure put in place by the presidential committee in 2004.
The departments are:
i) Corporate Support Services
ii) Strategic Research and Policy iii) Tariff and Trade
iv) Enforcement, Investigation and Inspection.
In no time, specifically after six months, the tenure of Ahmed Hamman
Bello came to an end having attained the statutory age of retirement.
The succession bid was fraught with controversies as to who should take over among the Deputy Comptrollers General. On January 15, via a presidential directive one of the Deputy Comptrollers General in the person of Dr. Emeje Benard Shaw Nwadialo was appointed as the Acting Comptroller General of Customs. He acted for about three months and was confirmed on March 23, 2009.
In less than one month, specifically on April 16, 2009 a presidential task force was set up to reform the Customs. It was the contention of the Honourable Minister of Finance that in the last decade, the federal government had made efforts to reform the Customs administration but
without much tangible result. The then administration therefore deemed it necessary to reposition the NCS to play its statutory role in a more effective and efficient manner consistent with the changing country’s objectives and
global demands.22
The presidential task force had the following terms of reference:
(i) To oversee, on behalf of the Nigeria Customs Service Board (NCSB), the implementation of an agreed action plan for the structural transformation of the NCS into an efficient, world class organization, involving an overhaul of governance, organizational and leadership structures, systems, processes and procedures;
(ii) To make appropriate recommendations to the NCSB in relation to leadership selection, capacity building, recruitment, promotion, discipline, retirement as well as dismissal of officers and men of the service in line with the Customs and Excise Management Act;
(iii) To assist in overseeing the implementation of reforms aimed at improving operational efficiency and effectiveness, focused on key aspects of customs operations, drawing on international
best practices;
22 Remarks by the Honourable Minister of Finance – Dr. Mansur Muhtar at the inauguration of the Presidential Task Force on the reform of the Nigeria Customs Service held at the Conference room of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Abuja, on Thursday April 16, 2009.
(iv) To liaise with relevant government agencies to pay particular attention to the implementation of reforms, aimed at speedy achievement of 48-hour cargo clearance in Nigeria ports; and
(v) To carry out other duties as may be assigned to it by the president, commander-in-chief, and/or the minister of finance.
From the terms of reference, the powers of the NCSB tend to have been taken over by the task force, as it is to oversee all the powers on its behalf. Though, the task force is to carry out other duties assigned to it by the President or Minister of Finance, it has by its operations whittled down the powers of the C.G. It was submitted that with the mandate given to the three-man task force, it was a deliberate attempt to whittle down the powers
of the C.G.23 The arrangement then, which we submit is unfortunate is for
the C.G. to report to the task force made up of two Former Comptrollers- General of Customs. The arrangement lasted for two years and whether or not the objective of the task force was achieved, is yet to be seen as events that so far followed has necessitated the need for more reforms.
By August 6, 2009, the tenure of Nwadialo came to an end and Abudullahi Diko Inde was appointed. A new human resources department was created to be headed by a Deputy Comptroller-General. While the task force was still in place, on August 20, 2010, the Minister of Finance,
Olusegun Aganga inaugurated a reconstituted presidential task force on the
23 G. Umunnakwa; “Sidelining Nwadialo”, the Source Magazine, May 11, 2009, p. 40.
reform of the NCS. The minister acknowledged the earlier presidential task force which was set up with an elaborate terms of reference and came to the conclusion that its interim draft report showed no great cohesion and co- operation, hence the need for another one.
Like previous reforms, there have been no positive results; they have not yielded any positive results as the committees never submitted any recommendations that could have assisted the government to carry out the desired result. What the committee submitted was a status report and account of its activities. 24
Suffice to at this point refer to some other jurisdictions and see what is obtainable. In the United Kingdom (UK), His Majesty Customs and Excise (HMCE) was, until April, 200525 a department of the British government in the U.K. It was responsible for the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT), customs duties, excise duties, and other indirect taxes such as Air Passenger Duty, climate change levy, insurance premium tax, landfill tax and aggregates levy. It was also responsible for managing the import and export of goods and services into the UK. HMCE investigators guarded the borders of the UK from smugglers. This was done in
conjunction with the former water guards.26 These functions however in
24 “Status Report and Account of Activities” being a statement made to the NCSB by Dr. Bello
Mohammed Halliru, Chairman Presidential Task Force on Custom Service Reform on 24th August,
2010.
25 The Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act, 2005 combined the Inland Revenue and HMCE
into a single government department HM Revenue and customs.
26 This was as a result of a 1971 Amalgamation.
recent time have been transferred to the UK border agency of the Home office.27
In the United States of America (US), the origin of the Customs dates back to around 1789 when the first United States Congress passed and President George Washington signed the Tariff Act of July 4, 1789. The fifth Act of Congress established the United States Customs Service at its ports of entry. For nearly 125 years, the U.S. Customs was the primary source of funds for the entire government, and paid for the nation’s early growth and infrastructure.28 In 200329 there was a reform creating the U.S Customs and Border Protection by combining employees from the U.S Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and the U.S Customs Service. The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was then headed by a commissioner.
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THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR COMBATING THE CRIMEOF SMUGGLING UNDER THE NIGERIAN CUSTOMS ANDEXCISE MANAGEMENT ACT>
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