Proper Customs Examination at Ports Will Save Importers Billions of Naira Investments – NAGAFF Founder
*Says it is time importers obey trade regulations to avoid losses
By Francis Ugwoke
The massive seizures being recorded by the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on daily and weekly basis are clear indications that some resident officers at the ports and border stations have not done their job very well before releasing goods to the importers or their agents.
Founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Boniface Aniebonam said if the resident officers, specifically the examination officers had been thorough in their roles, goods okayed by them and released at the ports would not end up being impounded by operatives of the FOU.
Aniebonam who spoke to the League of Maritime Editors and Publishers in Lagos last week at its Forum argued that only a proper examination by those saddled with this responsibility at the ports will put an end to the interception of goods by the FOU after they had been cleared at the ports.
He said the situation was such that the leadership of the Customs at various commands need to also advise officers who carry out examination of goods to be more thorough in their job.
The NAGAFF founder equally called on importers to end the old malpractices of under-declaration, concealment and under-payment because of the consequences of losing their goods to the government.
Charging freight forwarders and importers to always make the right declaration in the documents being submitted to the Customs, he said this was the only way to save them from the nightmare of having their goods seized on arrival in the country.
He said a situation of perpetual false declarations by some importers in the documents being submitted to the Customs only to be discovered later with the attendant risk of losing such goods is a clear case of importers inflicting injuries on themselves.
Aniebonam pointed out that the worst scenario in the ports is that even as some customs officers may close their eyes to the importers’ false declaration, the operatives of the FOU could still seize the same goods on the high way.
He said it is time for the Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohaneze Ndigbo to be involved in educating Igbo international traders on the need to make correct declarations to save their goods from being seized.
Aniebonam also called on the management of NAFDAC to begin a sensitization programme to educate Nigerians on the dangers of tramadol and other illicit drugs being imported that are dangerous to the youths.
He expressed concern that even with the dangers of tramadol and its massive importation, the management of NAFDAC was yet to visit the ports to speak to importers and agents on the dangers of such importation.
He called on the management of NAFDAC to collaborate with the industry stakeholders on the issue of awareness creation on the dangerous of importing and using tramadol among other dangerous drugs.
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