Farinto Kayode (Stakeholder)
Farinto Kayode (Stakeholder)
I need to tell Mr. PAAR, because Dikko is Mr. PAAR now, we need to tell him to soft-pedal and tread courteously because there are saboteurs within the system and outside the system, even those that handed over to you are not happy about it, don't forget that the Webfontain is still going to power this system, so Mr. PAAR should be very careful. Secondly I am advising Mr. PAAR to make it a zonal issue so that there would not be a total collapse, two days ago, we sent documents and we had to scan all the documents to them in Abuja and each one cost a lot of money, and the banks are now saying that who will bear the cost, there are teething problems that we may encounter, but Mr. PAAR should do more of working than talking, he is talking too much, if there is a total system collapse it will affect the economy of this country and government will not take it lightly. So let him do more of action than talking, I want to commend him anyway because these are the things we have been praying for, we feel that the money we are paying to the multinationals is enough, the customs have come of age and this is something we can implement, but there was not enough sensitization, there was eleventh hour sensitization.
Simeon Olua (Financial Secretary, NAGAFF)
I believe Customs is prepared to handle destination inspection and I know they will deliver. From the seminars so far attended and the briefing from the Comptroller General of Customs, we believe they can deliver. The CG last week held a town hall meeting with stakeholders and he gave us assurances that customs is prepared and that we are not going to witness anything like server failure or alerts, he even went further to give us assurances that customs arresting containers on the highway is going to stop. But if they are deceiving the public then it is best known to them, we know that the Cotecna and the other destination inspection agents that were issuing RAR are not happy about the PAAR and the taking over of the Nigeria Custom Service, but the Federal Government has asked them to take over from service providers and we intend to observe them for a period of six months to see how they will perform, maybe they will deliver or not, we are watching, we witnessed the one they issued within 58minutes and they have assured us that it is going to be like that.
Jude Maduka (Freight forwarder)
I believe they can handle it because on Tuesday last week, the first PAAR was issued by Customs and the time frame was 58minutes, from this we can see that customs has actually taken over and they are really working, they have what it takes to operate the destination inspection scheme, the Comptroller General has shown to the whole world that they have the capacity to take over from service providers and we can see them do it right away. If you look at the present Customs formation you will find out that a lot of their personnel has been trained overseas to do this work, and if you look at the various commands, you will see that new intelligent and young officers have been deployed to do damage control in the command, if there are challenges which I believe will always be there, they are very active to surmount these challenges.
Segun Bakare (Licensed customs agent)
I am not doubting the capability of the Customs, but I have some advice for them, when you know that you are having a new and robust system, why don't you subject it to constructive criticisms, but because they have looked at it as a husband and wife system and that is why we are likely to have problems. If you are implementing something you need to sensitize people, you cannot shave my head in absentia, the licensed customs agents and the freight forwarders are the ones that will make use of the PAAR and yet they are not carried along, what the customs are doing now by going round commands is just an afterthought. I am of the opinion that instead of totally switching off the RAR, we will advise a situation whereby PAAR goes simultaneously with RAR, so that if there is system collapse in PAAR, people can quickly go over to RAR, but as it is, if there is a system collapse with PAAR where do we run to? If there is system collapse, I bet you the CG will run away.
Chiedu Nwugbe (Ex-Chairman Apapa ANLCA)
Corruption has been the major problem we have in this country and indeed port operations is not an exemption. If the customs is sincere with the introduction of PAAR, then all will be well with customs formations, though I am comfortable with the customs takeover from the service providers, but the only thing there that I am praying for is transparency because the whole thing boils down to the customs operations and I wouldn't want a situation whereby the ports will experience congestions again because of this PAAR and if we can have in place a uniform payment on consignment, then PAAR will be a great document that has happened in the industry.
Chief Reuben Onyejike (SNFFIEC)
The introduction of PAAR is a welcome development because overtime RAR, in a way has affected the speedy clearance of goods from the ports and before now we have passed different purposes of destination inspections and with PAAR, I don't think agents will lose their jobs though it will definitely affect some agents because some greedy importers will now want to do the jobs themselves having known that they can do it themselves by declaring 100% of their invoices which is where we the agents are expected to have challenges. But again I believe in practical terms, I want to follow the policy of the government and to ensure that PAAR succeeds.
Cosmos Ndimkora (Chairman PTML NAGAFF)
First of all, I will like to say a big thank you to the federal government, the President and the minister of finance for finally giving the customs a chance to do their job and I must say it is a welcome idea because the Comptroller General has told the general public that his men now has the capacity to do a better job than the service providers and as it is now, all hands must be on deck to give him support. From there we know where to start from as regards the introduction of PAAR.
Olorogun Andrew Ugwi (ANLCA PTML)
It is the right step in the right direction for customs to take-over destination inspection from the service providers. This is because as it is now, government will now know who to hold responsible whenever we experience any sort of hiccup or complications during the clearing procedures in the ports. It will interest everybody to know that the introduction of PAAR into the system is highly a security matter and if customs try to hide anything that will expose Nigerian security to the outside world, then other security agencies like Navy, Army and Air Force will deal with them criminally. The bottom line however is that the federal government now knows that if there is problem that comes up eventually, all fingers will be directed to the Nigeria Customs Service. At this point, I will say that the introduction of PAAR is very good and we wish the customs well.
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