Prince Segun Oduntan is the Chairman of Tin Can Chapter, Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agent (ANLCA). In this Interview with Anozie Egole, he speaks on issues affecting the ease of doing business at the port, how to resolve the crisis facing the association and other sundry issues.
“Bribery is also about the giver and the taker”
We learnt that Five Star Logistic Terminal are now taking other containers instead of RORO, making the place congested, what do you think can be done to stop this?
Every business has its requirement before you go into it, as a clearing agent you are supposed to have an office, a vehicle and other requirements before your license is issued, so if Five Star has gone out of their requirement, the NPA, which is the regulatory body are there to sanction, when this issue came to me in the first place I carried out my research and I was made to know that five star was license as a multi functional terminal, that means they can take both RORO and other cargoes, so if there is anything that is contrary to that that penalty for them shouldn’t be from me.
Is it true that most terminals do not have the required equipment for cargo handling?
Yes, that’s true and it’s not exception of any terminal, that I can tell you, there are various challenges that each of the terminal are facing, some of them have to do with mechanical equipment failure, their problems are multi dimensional.
There are reports of extortion by operators how true is this?
I don’t listen to hearsay; when somebody tells me something you have to back it up with facts, if any of our agents says some of the agencies are extorting them, let them come and report to me, if any agent say his container is being held by the State Security Service, I will call the Coordinator of SSS, I don’t even need to talk to his boys on the field, if you say NDLEA is holding your cargo, I will call the person in charge to ask what is the problem with the cargo. If it has to do with going against their regulations, so be it, but if not they have to release it. But I won’t tell you there is no issue of extortion, your own is to resist, you must know your right as a player in the industry, if you decide to give them, they will take, and you must also understand that bribery is also about the giver and the taker, because it takes two to tango.
Looking at the policy of ease of doing business, do you think government should ban its agencies at the port?
Some of these agencies have been banned from the port, some are still there because of one thing or the other, they will remove them today, you will see them back in the port tomorrow. We are still not ripe for that clearing process where you can take-off all these agencies, how will you remove NDLEA, and tomorrow somebody will bring in drugs in a container, or how do you take away SSS, when somebody is bringing a gun, those people would have been automatically been out of the system where we have a standard running process, if our lighting, and our equipment are working, where we don’t even need to do manual examination on containers. You don’t need to go to the port before you can clear your consignment. I have been opportuned to travel out to more than 20 countries and we see how it is been done over there. Our procedures of clearing still go with the way the country is going.
Recently NAFDAC in collaborations with Customs destroyed Tramadol worth N14.7bn with others yet to be destroyed, how do you think the menace of importation of these hard drugs can be checked?
I learnt that the Comptroller General of Customs said that they are collaborating with the country where these drugs are produced, which is India, at the top government level they are trying to do their best, they have to kill the source where these things are coming from and I think the Federal Government with the recommendation of the Customs are doing that.
As a chieftain in ANLCA what do you think can be done to put an end to the crisis rocking the association?
It is a family issue, of course you know that families quarrel, and they will still settle it, they will not go outside to go and settle it, like you have said the president is the number one citizen of the association and he has to take charge and be able to face those who went wrong and let him take his decision no matter who went wrong. If Buhari can sack is Chief of Staff, so he has to make use of his side mirror, the closet person to you can be your undoing, and I think he will do that, the ball is on his table.
Some months back, there were move to involve the elders in the association in this issue….
(Cuts in…) Let me tell you, the President of the association was once a Chairman of a chapter, he was once a National secretary of the association, now he is the president, so the experience is there for him, I just told you that he has to be in charge and to be able to make use of his side mirror and his inner mirror, I cannot divulge more than that, this is in parable. What is going on in ANLCA will soon be a thing of the past, God is going to intervene and we will come out stronger.
Recently, the CRFFN went on a Dubai trip for training, was your take on that?
Well, I don’t have any take on that, they can decide to go to America for recess, it depend on them, you can decide to take your breakfast in Sheraton and go and take your dinner in intercontinental, it depends on your pocket. if you are buoyant.
But do you think that is necessary?
I don’t want to go into that.
Last week, the CRFFN Registrar said by 2021 any freight forwarder that has not obtained the basic training will be deregistered, what are your plans to ensure that your chapter members are properly trained?
This association came into existence in 1954, and this profession has been on before then, what we had then is not what we have now, and you know this profession is not for mediocre, most of us even have graduates in our offices, at least the least you can have is diploma. In my office here, I have more than six graduates, so we will continue to talk to people, because this is an association where we can have more than five or six Directors so that’s not an issue, and we are watching, we don’t need to talk to people to go to school, it is their livelihood, if some of them do not have OND, maybe there is one of their daughters or sons who is taking over as a director from them, who have a Masters degree, so I believe this now depend on individual members not corporate members like us.
The Federal Operations Unit has been known for intercepting containers on the roads in the form of checkmating what the customs officers at the port did not see, what is your take on this issue?
This still boils down to the issue of the crisis in the association, if by the time we resolve our issues we will be able to sit down with the Customs hierarchy and tell them our take on that, it’s not something we can do at chapter levels.
How you will access the performance of the task team on the Apapa road, and what do you think can be done to solve the perennial gridlock?
I think the Governor is just settling down, and the Minister are going through screening , so I think perhaps when the Ministers are given their portfolio, the work will improve.
Do you think the appointment of these ministers is a good appointment?
They have not given them their port folio yet they are still going through screening and it’s too early to criticize.
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