The Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) members have accused officials of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Nigeria Police of deliberately working against the Ease of Doing Business at the nation’s ports.
The association said what some officials of the Customs and Police officers do have been to create various ways in which they can extort importers and customs agents who have goods to clear at the ports.
The allegations were contained in a statement issued by the association and which formed part of the meeting between the leaders of ANLCA and the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman.
Acting president, ANLCA, Dr. Kayode Farinto who called for the intervention of the federal government particularly the NPA MD said the extortionist tendencies involving some customs officers and the Police were getting out of hand at the ports.
Kayode who added that the activities of the Customs and Police were affecting trade facilitation at the ports, called on the federal government to consider declaring a state of emergency at the ports or suspend the Ease of Doing Business policy.
He explained that this was because the customs and police have all refused to abide by the ease of doing business at the ports.
Particularly, Kayode accused the customs of double examination of containers at the ports while police officers posted at the ports were also interfering with movement of containers in order to extort money from importers or their agents.
Among the allegations against the customs were failure to “conform to the implementation of ease of doing business, double examination on containers, extortion of ANCLA members, Customs release and arrest and re-arrest of containers and above all, activities of FOU to query consignment base on low cargo and low value. The Controller General of the NCS, Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd.) is not bigger than Nigeria, they cannot continue to flout the executive order and no actions is yet to be taken”.
On the Police, Kayode said, “the Inspector General of Police should come to the port and see how the maritime police have left there statutory functions and now obtain manifest from shipping companies and stopping containers and are calling agents for settlement in which N150,000 is being paid per container.
Government agencies at the ports appear to be bigger than the federal government they are working for and also flouting orders given by Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) with impunity and no sanction is meted to them. Are they now bigger than the country?
“We cannot continue to pretend, there is total systems collapse in the maritime industry. Hence the FG should stop deceiving Nigerians and stop shouting about ease of doing business because it has been abused.”
The meeting with Usman according to the Publicity Secretary of the Association, Mr Joe Sanni was mainly to bring to the “notice of the MD/CEO some challenges faced by the members of the Association in the course of carrying out their businesses in the Ports, and seek her support in tackling them”
Enumerating some of the challenges, the Acting National President, Farinto pointed accusing fingers with supporting documents, at the Maritime Police, under the AIG Maritime at Moloney Street, Lagos, for interfering with cargoes that have been duly examined and properly released by Customs from the Ports, and then denied exit by the Maritime Police through letters to the Shipping Companies and Terminal Operators.
This practice has been sustained over the years despite countless complaints and, the fact that the Nigeria Police, through the Port Authority Police (PAP) Command participates in Customs Joint Examination of Cargoes, upon which they are eventually released.
Farinto pleaded with the NPA MD to kindly intervene by bringing the anomaly to the notice of the IGP, advising that both PAP and Maritime Police should be collapsed into one, if need be.
The ANLCA Ag. President had raised the issue of non-implementation of the Ease of Doing Business (EODB), as envisaged by the Executive Order signed by the Vice President – Professor Yemi Osinbajo.
ANLCA, he said, is willing to assist NPA in enforcing the order , using their Chapters structure, if NPA officially intimates stakeholders, especially ANLCA.
This inactivation of the EODB, according to the association has made the Ports home to several agencies that extort licensed customs agents, especially during cargoes examination in what according to them “escalates cost of transactions, delays and sometimes totally obstruct cargo delivery processes, thereby compounding the operational challenges in the Ports”.
A decision by a sub-committee of EODB constituted by the NPA had issued directives stopping further examination of Customs-released cargoes at the Exit Gate, but Customs has not complied with the order/directive.
The agents also told the NPA MD that shipping companies and terminal operators continue to charge for services not rendered, especially when the fault comes from their inability to provide equipment, or liaise with appropriate stakeholders to ameliorate situations that was not envisaged, during cargo clearance processes.
Usman had following the complaints from the agents requested for a formal letter to her office complaining about the Maritime Police interference with duly released cargo, by issuing a “STOP RELEASE/DETENTION OF CONTAINERS” letter to shipping companies and Terminal operators for her necessary action.
She promised to visit the IGP, in order to find a lasting solution to the unnecessary interference of the Maritime Police with cargo clearance.
Usman also promised to bring up the matter at PEBEC meetings, as a member of that committee that has the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, as Chairman.
On the Agencies approved to be present in the Ports, Hajia Hadiza Bala Usman directed her Technical Assistant- Ikechukwu Onyemekara to send the list of approved Departments and Agencies in the Ports to all stakeholders, for their information and necessary action.
About the multiple checkpoints and units of Customs performing multiple and, reexaminations of already released cargoes in the Ports, enroute their warehouses/final destination, the MD/CEO of NPA lamented the inability of Nigeria Customs Service and other approved MDAs, to key into the EODB Executive order.
The inability of especially Nigeria Customs Service, according to her, stem from the fact that Nigeria Customs has written an official letter to PEBEC, quoting relevant sections of extant laws, on why the Department cannot cooperate with PEBEC to implement the Executive Order on the EODB.
She demanded a further letter from ANLCA complaining about the unworkability of EODB to PEBEC, whereupon a request for the withdrawal of the Executive Order can be made in the circumstance. She promised to forward the letter to the appropriate quarters.
