Determined to have a direct feel of what transpires at the terminals and what customs licebsed agents are often subjected to, the Zonal Coordinator, Zone "A", Assistant Comptroller General (ACG) of the Nigeria Customs Service, Charles Edike last week visited the ports in Lagos unannounced and dressed casually.
A statement sent to Shipping Position Daily by the Public Relations Officer of the zone; Mr Ephraim, Joseph Haruna disclosed that the ACG “dressed in plain jeans and tin T-shirts, the ACG was in Apapa in the morning to see if reports that customs officers come to work late were true. He walked around unrecognized by agents who had also arrived waiting to be attended to”
“Without escorts nor aides, he mingled with agents and customs officers inside customs offices in order to ascertain the level of efficiency and quality of service rendered by Customs officers to port users”, the spokesman said.
According to him, the Customs ACG was shocked when he got to the APM Terminal in Apapa port, where to his chagrin a lot of clearing agents were seen unattended to.
“At the APMT office in Apapa, Edike met a huge crowd of agents who were begging APM officials to attend to them. This drew the ire of the Zonal Coordinator. He had to reveal his identity in order to address the situation. He asked the APMT officials to avoid delaying agents unnecessarily”, he added.
He quoted the ACG as telling the APM Terminal officials that: “Time is money, every second counts, by delaying these people cost of doing business is increased. It also makes our ports unattractive to customers. We must eliminate delays to reduce time and costs if our ports are to be competitive and attractive to port users within the West African sub region”.
According to the PRO, not done yet , the ACG proceeded to Tin Can Island port, where he also met groups of agents. He interacted with them, made enquiries on what their challenges are before entering Customs offices to inspect officers and men of the Service.
“Having done his undercover findings, the ACG then met with the CACs of the two commands to find lasting solutions to the identified gaps. He charged the Area Controllers to be on their toes and ensure that ports users enjoy efficient services. Edike also tasked the CACs to ensure that not a kobo accruing to government as revenue is lost under any guise”.
“These are very trying times for everybody; government needs funds to carry out developmental projects and to meet its obligations locally and internationally. The Nigeria Customs has a mandate to collect revenue on all imported cargoes. We must work hard to ensure that there are no leakages and every kobo must be collected as revenue”, the ACG Edike was quoted as telling the Area Controllers.
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