FEC consents to digital cargo tracking in seaports
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Engr Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, Minister of Transportation
The Federal Executive Council, FEC, at its meeting on Wednesday, 15th February 2023, gives the nod to a digital cargo tracking system, which will assist in capturing the maximum revenue accruable to the federal government from all shipments in and out of the country.
The Minister of Transportation, Alhaji Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, made the announcement in a chat with the State House Correspondents after the FEC meeting.
Sambo explained that the deployment of the digital tracking equipment “will ensure the elimination of loopholes on border operations and boost the revenue of the Nigerian government in form of duties, Port charges, and levies.”
Other daunting challenges the digital tracking will help resolve effortlessly include, “the problems of under declaration, concealment of imports, and wrong classification of cargo, which are the primary causes of revenue leakages, insecurity and general security issues at the borders”, Sambo argued.
He explained that when the equipment is fully deployed, it will generate between $90 million per annum to a peak of about $235 million per annum.
On the sharing formula of proceeds from the tracker, Sambo said revenues derived from the small margin of charges would be shared in the ratio of 60 percent to the government and 40 percent to the consortium of companies that will be involved in the procurement, deployment, and operating the state of the art digital tracker.
According to him, 26 African countries are already implementing the tracking scheme, which will equally tackle declaration at ports, secure imports, and exports, and provide transparency in cargo invoicing and declarations
According to Sambo, the initial investments will be borne by the consortium of private investment companies that introduced the noble concept to the federal government.
The minister said about 26 African countries have already begun implementing the tracking scheme. He added that additional benefits of the project include the prevention of false declarations at the ports, making imports and exports of goods more secure, and enhancing transparency in cargo invoicing and declaration
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