Amidst $3.1bn automation project, job loss looms in customs

…70% Customs workforce may be sacked…

By Ezurike Ugochukwu

The recent approval of $3.1 billion by the federal government for the automation of all aspects of the Nigerian Customs Service’s revenue business as laudable as it appears obviously may not come without great number of job losses in the service.

 In the words of Hamman Bello Ahmed, a former comptroller general of the Nigeria Customs Service, has cautioned that the project portends a great danger to the country and mostly against the common man.The retired customs boss stated that about 70 per cent of the current workforce of the service will be retrenched if the contract should come into being, emphasized that the federal government should jettison the belief that the concessionaires would retain the present work force of the Nigerian Customs the moment they come in.

Ahmed who spoke in a telephone conversation decried the entire process which he said was a flagrant violation of the Public Procurement Act in the other words, was shrouded in secrecy.

He stated: “You don’t expect that the Concessionaires would retain the present workforce since the new arrangements would imply that officers would no longer be involved in revenue collection duties.”

Ahmed said, if the company that won the concession is also to generate revenue for the government, then, the revenue generating unit of the Customs service has no doubt been concessioned to foreigners.

“The contract document is not a public document but it is also the right of Nigerians to get the details of that contract. So, the federal ministry of finance or the Customs Service should come out to tell us what the details of the contract are. We should also know if the contractors are coming with their equipment such as scanners or customs which will be using the facilities provided by the contractor to generate the revenue or the company will use their own equipment to generate revenue for the government,” he retreated.

He asked further that, “Is it the company that will be generating revenue on behalf of customs? If yes, then, the federal government has concessioned customs revenue generation unit to a foreign company.”

The former CG, however, said the revenue projected by the contractor to generate in 20 years is too meagre compare to the leakages the service has recorded in 10 years.

He further inquired, “Is it the money to be made for the total year? If it is for the 20 years period, then, it is nothing because the senate investigating committee had said that from 2007 to 2017, revenue leakages in customs is about N30 trillion.