Licensed freight forwarders have decried what they described as the proliferation of Customs units at the Lagos ports, alleging that the units are being used to extort them and make the cargo clearance procedures more cumbersome.
In addition, the concerned agents also alleged that the multiple Customs units aside complicating the clearing process, but have also added to the cost of doing business at the ports.
The Vice-President, Western Zone of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Tanko Ibrahim, who spoke on behalf of his members on the problem, lamented that apart from the resident Customs officers and Federal Operations Unit (FOU), the Customs authority had created what it called Strike Force team and Customs Police.
He said: “We have never witnessed what is happening now in customs clearing process. Apart from the traditional resident Customs officers and the FOU, which are involved in cargo clearing process, there are other units newly created by Customs hierarchy to muddle up cargo clearance procedures.
“They are CG strike force and Customs Police. All these units are doing the same thing. They all want to be part of cargo clearing process. When your goods have been cleared by the resident Customs officers at the ports, these other units, which are alien to the cargo clearance procedures, will delay your goods through issuance of indiscriminate alerts and inordinate engagement in arrest of containers.
“This frustrates quick clearance of goods, make nonsense of ease of doing business initiative of the Federal Government and add to the cost of transactions”, Ibrahim added.
However, the Customs authority has flawed the allegations of the freight forwarders, saying that any freight forwarder who does not have anything to hide should not be agitated over the new structure.
In his reaction, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Joseph Attah, said it was not within the jurisdiction of any freight forwarder to question the structure in the Customs or how Customs should perform its duty.
He pointed out that the strike force team was not involved in cargo clearing process but to act on information that may lead to impounding containers that did not go through the laid down regulations for cargo clearance.
Attah clarified: “The Customs Police is just like military police. It was created to restore discipline within the service. They can invite, arrest and detain Customs officers based on any disciplinary breach.
“They do not interfere in clearance procedures but unless there is a reported case and need for their intervention in a case that involves agents and customs officers. Their primary duty is to restore discipline in the service.
“The authority created three layers of security to check abuses of clearing process and plug revenue leakages. The first layer is the resident Customs, the second layer is the FOU while the strike force is the third layer. If you beat one, you can’t beat the others. There is no way you can beat all the three layers”, the spokesman maintained.
He stressed that rather than condemning or accusing the Service for creating the units, the freight forwarded should identify and report any officer in any of these units who is involved in any form of malpractices for appropriate sanction.
