The Murtala Muhammad International Airport (MMIA) chapter of the Association of the Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has lauded the Customs Area Controller in charge of the command; Comptroller Jayne Shoboiki Controller on the recent interception of concealed goods worth Billions of naira at the airport.
The Airport chapter chairman of ANLCA, Mr. Aloysius Igwe, who said this in a chat with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week, also said that as a Controller of a command, she has the right to carry out a random examination of cargoes.
He also disclosed that the owners of the cargoes have been informed to turn up and do proper declaration, even as he added that because the goods were discovered does not mean they have not been paid for.
“The fact that the Controller came to the warehouse for a random examination does not mean the owner has not paid; why not investigate if the owner has paid or not before you call it concealment. The Controller was doing examination and she saw all those things, so there is no need saying that the person has not paid”, he stated.
The ANLCA airport boss reiterated that nobody is diverting government’s revenue, insisting that the importers of the cargoes have been charged to ensure that they pay appropriate duties on those cargoes.
“There is nobody diverting the payment of duty, on a random examination the Controller saw all those things and their owners have been informed to go and make proper declaration. So they have been asked to make their proper declaration and pay the government revenue”.
Igwe also said that his members are complying in terms of payment of duties on imported goods, even as he stressed that since the cargoes are still at the warehouse, the owners are in the process of making the payment.
“My members have been complying in terms of paying their accurate duty; even the airport command of the service has been achieving their monthly target. As an Area Controller you can come into the warehouse and do random examination, the fact that they stumbled on some items does not mean that those items were not paid for. Are the cargoes not in the warehouse, have they been taken out? They are still there, so the owners are still in the process”, he concluded.
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