Following last weeks' passage of the Nigerian Customs Management Bill which provided for the re-introduction of pre-shipment examination of cargoes, clearing agents in the Nigerian maritime sector have condemned the law, saying that it would lead go retrogression at the ports.
Speaking exclusively with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos yesterday, Publicity Secretary of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Mr. Kayode Farinto raised alarm that the lawmakers had sneaked – in the pre-shipment inspection clause into the customs bill.
He alleged that it is an avenue for the lawmakers to create jobs for their cohorts and that stakeholders would not accept to go back to pre-shipment era, which according to him was abandoned five years ago.
Even though he agreed that the setting up of a Nigeria Customs Service Commission which was also another provision of the amended Act is laudable, it is wrong to return the port five steps backwards.
"I was reliably informed that the legislators have smuggled a clause into the bill which means that destination inspection is coming back to the port again, if that is the case then we would kick against it because we have passed that stage"
"They said they want to give jobs to the boys, it then means that we are still on rigmarole, it is not in the best interest of anybody in this country for us to go back to pre-shipment era when we are talking about destination inspection"
Farinto lamented that the Lawmakers did not touch some of the recommendations given to them by stakeholders at the public hearing especially on the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO)
He said that expunging the AEO is not in the best interest of this country because the AEO would look at trade facilitation and profiling of compliant importers.
"If this was also expunged then what kind of laws have they passed? But we would have to look at it properly before we take any step"
Also speaking with our correspondent, a senior special adviser to ANLCA President, Mr Bolade Lawrence said that reintroducing the pre-shipment regime is like taking Nigeria back to the ‘Armageddon’.
He noted that pre-shipment inspection would also disrupt the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) currently being run by the Nigeria customs.
"Pre-shipment will take us back to about six years ago, what we are practicing now is destination, but if we are now talking about pre-shipment agencies now it is like taking us back to the Armageddon. We have to be sincere to ourselves, if we are practicing pre-assessment report (PAAR) and you are bringing pre-shipment, it would cause an lot of problem because it cannot fit into PAAR run by customs", he argued.
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