Months after the Federal Airports Authority (FAAN) directed freight forwarders to evacuate from the popular NAHCO complex at the airport, the agents have finally been pushed out to a permanent site provided for them by the airport management.
Speaking with Shipping Position Daily correspondent at the airport on Monday, image maker of the airport command of the Nigeria Custom Service, Mrs Thelma Williams said that the move has reduced the ever-present crowd at the NACHO-Hajj Camp complex.
Months after the Federal Airports Authority (FAAN) directed freight forwarders to evacuate from the popular NAHCO complex at the airport, the agents have finally been pushed out to a permanent site provided for them by the airport management.
Speaking with Shipping Position Daily correspondent at the airport on Monday, image maker of the airport command of the Nigeria Custom Service, Mrs Thelma Williams said that the move has reduced the ever-present crowd at the NACHO-Hajj Camp complex.
Thelma told our correspondent that, contrary to what was obtainable in the past where freight forwarders loiter around the SAHCOL and NAHCO warehouses, they are now allowed into the premises only when they have genuine transactions.
She revealed that after the closure and re-opening of NAHCO and SAHCOL warehouses, few months ago by the Customs, activities have picked up and the revenue profile of the command has equally increased.
Customs had in September closed down the two warehouses allegedly for consistently failing to produce customs release documents and evidence of payment of import duty and other statutory charges on the consignments in their custody .
The Customs had also closed down the warehouses for their failure to explain why goods were taken out of the warehouses without proper documentation.
"The structures they are putting in place is to assist the agent, they have been moved out, now it is when you have business that you come in and do your work, they are trying to reduce that crowd and their clustering in one place doing nothing, there is a lot of sanity over here now, before now a lot of things were happening which supposed not to be" she said.
Thelma added that before now, agents enter into SAHCOL warehouse at will, but now, a space has been provided for them. “If an agent requests for an examination, it’s supposed to be brought out and agencies invited for examination", she pointed out.
She said that the warehouses have an examination bay which hitherto was not being made use of by stakeholders.
Also speaking with Shipping Position Daily, Chairman of the Airport Chapter of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Custom Agents (ANLCA) Mr. Alloy Nze Igwe confirmed that the agents had moved out of the NAHCO complex about a month ago.
"If you go to NAHCO now, you will discover that FAAN is building a lot of structures there and the place we were before is where they are building a car park now, so we felt there is no need to remain there since we have gotten a place we are building”, he explained.
He said that the associations' permanent secretariat, which our correspondent noted has been completed, is ready for commissioning by second week of December.
Also speaking, the Secretary of the association, Mr. Davis Ben told our correspondent that the association had moved out of the airport, because FAAN has provided a place to be used as a cargo village.
"The persistent harassment has been on for so many years, but now we are having a relief, by the time our people are accommodated here, you will only go to the complex when you have something to do, I think this is a better arrangement" he said.
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