Nigeria approves electronic cargo tracking note for Shippers’ Council

The Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday, ratified a resolution to allow the Nigerian Shippers’ Council to implement the controversial electronic cargo tracking note to rebase the current port system.

At the meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari, the cabinet members deliberated on the memo presented by the Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, where he affirmed that the cargo tracking note will contribute to detecting under-declaration of goods meant for import or export, ensuring accurate invoicing, concealment, wrong calculations and other dubious practices within the port corridors.

According to the Minister, the facility is to be deployed by a Belgium firm in conjunction with four other indigenous firms in Nigeria expected to prequalify via a bidding process.

He disclosed that when fully operational, it is expected to shore up the revenue base of the government from $90 million to $235 million per annum. He, however, did not specify the revenue stream in question.

Sambo, who briefed State House Correspondents on some of the deliberations at FEC, noted that the device, when installed, would also instill a regime of effective tracking of crude oil export, by eliminating oil theft, which in recent times has become rampant.

“We are looking at installing an electronic cargo tracking device that will take care of under-declaration, and secure our export and import cargo invoicing. Ghana, Benin Republic, and a number of other countries are already using it and they have all recorded improvement in their port services, especially issues of concealment and wrong calculation for cargoes,” Sambo noted.

Nigeria’s President, who has been shopping for ideas to beef up security in the country is convinced that CTN could play a crucial role in enabling the nation to address the growing spate of banditry, kidnappings, and restiveness fueled by easy access to guns.

Buhari had directed the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) to reintroduce Cargo Tracking Notes (CTN) in a bid to curb the proliferation of arms and increase in banditry across the nation.

ECTN has had two stints at Nigerian ports previously, under the administration of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and later NSC.

The former Executive Secretary, of Nigeria Shippers’ Council, Mr. Hassan Bello, had described CTN as “another instrument that will add value tremendously in shipping development”.

Although Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has made giant strides in recent years in terms of revenue collection, Electronic Cargo Tracking Note would accelerate revenue as well as diminish activities under declaration, a false declaration that leads to loss of revenue would also be curtailed.

Findings show that the need for 100 percent physical examination and numerous interceptions by different Customs units, is a result of non-compliance by freight agents and importers.

Recall that in 2017 alone, 2,671 pump-action rifles were intercepted at Nigerian seaports. The guns were legally registered for export in Turkey as pump-action rifles for hunting but the manifests were changed in Morocco to become steel doors to enable the container to gain entry into Nigeria.

CTN implementation in Nigeria would have been able to see the original manifests from Turkey and intercept the guns before the consignments arrived in Nigeria.

Already, over twenty-four African countries currently use CTN. Angola, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, and Guinea.

Others include; Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Togo et cetera.

CTN or ECTN (Electronic Cargo Tracking Note), is a system for collecting documents and processing information when exporting by the sea in order to obtain prior information, to participate in security measures, and statistics, and generally in order to participate in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Customs Organization (WCO) recommendations on trade facilitation and security.