FACT CHECK: FG did not concession entire Customs operations to Chinese firm

Many online websites posted a story, suggesting that the federal government has concessioned the entire operations of Nigeria Customs Service operations to a Chinese and Nigerian firm for the next 20 years. Verdict: MISLEADING Full Text: The post which went viral has the headline: “Finally, FG concessions operations of Customs to Chinese, Nigerian company for […]

Many online websites posted a story, suggesting that the federal government has concessioned the entire operations of Nigeria Customs Service operations to a Chinese and Nigerian firm for the next 20 years.

Verdict: MISLEADING

Full Text: The post which went viral has the headline: “Finally, FG concessions operations of Customs to Chinese, Nigerian company for 20yrs.”

The report added that “Despite the outcry of stakeholders against the concession of the operations of the Nigeria Customs Service, the federal government, Monday, signed a tripartite concession agreement with a Chinese company, Huawei Technologies, and their Nigerian counterparts, Trade Modernisation Project Limited with Africa Finance Corporation as the lead financiers.

The agreement was facilitated and midwifed by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC).

“The concessionaires, under the agreement, will drive the modernisation project for 20 years,” it said.

The post also suggested that with the concessions, many Customs officers will lose their jobs.

Verification: Checks by Daily Trust revealed that the federal government, through a public private partnership only concessioned the customs operational portal as part of government’s drive to boost revenue.

Also, the operations of the Nigeria Customs Service cannot be concessioned as it is a security outfit of the federal government.

 

Background

Daily Trust findings also showed that the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) which midwifed the Nigerian Customs Modernisation Project, a public private partnership (PPP) will generate over $176 billion to the federal accounts in 20 years.

The Acting Director-General of ICRC, Michael Ohiani, disclosed this at the signing ceremony of the concession.

The concession agreement was between the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and Trade Modernisation Project Limited, with Huawei Technologies as the Technical Partner and Africa Finance Corporation as the lead financiers, all under the regulatory supervision of the ICRC.

According to the D-G, ICRC, the project, which is a presidential initiative on customs modernization, will attract an investment of over $3.2 billion.

“Having gone through all the PPP processes satisfactorily and obtained ICRC’s Full Business Case Compliance (FBC), the approval of the Federal Executive Council and the final vetting of the concession agreement by the Honourable Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, the parties are today, ready to execute the agreement and commence implementation of the project,” he said.

On his part, Daily Trust reported that the Comptroller General of the NCS, retired Col. Hameed Ali, had allayed fears that the implementation of a modernized and computerized service will lead to job losses, stressing, however, that the NSC would rather require an additional 15,000 staff for optimal operation.

“There are rumours that this project is going to weed off officers, let me allay those fears: we are even in need of officers. We have only about 15,000 and by the mission of management we need nothing less than 30,000 to effectively carry out the mandate,” he said.

The CG also hinted that the project was going to quadruple the monthly revenue of the service.

“As of today, we are making a collection of over N210 billion to N225 billion per month. It is our hope that by the time we put trade modernization in place, we would triple this figure if not quadruple it,” he added.

Conclusion: Checks by Daily Trust found the post to be misleading as only the portal of the Customs Service has been concessioned and not the entire operations of the agency.

This Fact Check was done in collaboration with the Center for Democracy and Development