Cargo tracking note: Managing insecurity for a sustainable Nigeria

Nigeria has been besieged by the outbreak of violence and conflicts, which have over the years claimed thousands of lives and property. This is owing to the activities of kidnappers, armed robbers, sea pirates, political thugs, arms traffickers and the extremist group, Boko Haram.

Boko Haram has in the last decade killed over 25,000 people in North East Nigeria. The group has sustained its attacks on the nation, brutally killing thousands of people including soldiers, women and children. All these armed activities continue unabated, partly because of unchecked arms proliferation in the country. These groups also use locally made arms, but their most sophisticated arms are usually imported, concealed and smuggled into the country via seaports.

These ceaseless tragic developments have spurred the impression that the nation’s security intelligence has either failed or is heavily compromised. This therefore calls for new approaches to taming the monsters already casting a blight on the unity and future of the nation. To security experts, the precarious condition of the nation now, demands that technology be deployed since the security might has evidently failed.

It is estimated that 70 percent of over 10 million illegal weapons in circulation in West Africa are in Nigeria. In this light, the recent directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to reintroduce the Cargo Tracking Notes (CTN) at Nigerian ports may be regarded as a master stroke.

Buhari directed 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.

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 address the growing spate of banditry, kidnappings and restiveness fuelled by easy access to guns.

CTN or the ECTN (Electronic Cargo Tracking Note), is a system for collecting documents and processing information, when exporting by sea in order to obtain prior information, to participate in security measures, 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.

In Customs operations, activities of under declaration or false declaration, which leads to loss of revenue, would also be curtailed with the reintroduction of CTN at the ports.

Although, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has made giant strides in recent years in terms of revenue collection, CTN represents a new development to eliminate loopholes in port operations as cases of false declaration and under declaration will become history.

While efforts to get the data on false declaration and under declaration from top Customs Area Commands like Tin-Can Island Port and Apapa Port were futile until press time, 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. This, however, would be reduced with CTN in place and the Service could channel its efforts to more productive aspects of trade facilitation, revenue generation and anti-smuggling.