The Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMARTO) has heaved a sigh of relieve as the Nigeria Customs Service headquarters in Abuja ordered its Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone ‘A’ in Ikeja, to release more than 40 trucks belonging to members of the association which were impounded.
The trucks were impounded by officers of the FOU while conveying unprocessed woods into Lagos ports for exports.
Chairman of AMARTO, Chief Remi Ogungbemi told journalists in Lagos on Monday that the trucks were seized between October 2015 and February 2016 on their ways to the port.
Unprocessed woods are onCcustoms export prohibition list.
However, to protect its members, AMARTO has equally disclosed that it is introducing an indemnity form for them, which will exonerate them from wrongdoings whenever they are accosted by the customs for carrying contraband. This is to be done in collaboration with the Association of Woods Export and Processing and the Nigeria Customs Service.
The AMARTO chair; Chief Ogungbemi also took a swipe at Nigerian shippers and clearing agents, saying that most of them are dubious and unscrupulous, he further alleged that they were the cause of problems faced by truckers, because most of them fail to declare correctly what they were carrying for export or import.
He expressed gratitude to the Comptroller General of Customs and officers of customs at the headquarters in Abuja for their magnanimity in releasing the seized trucks. He said that owners of the trucks and their businesses have been badly hit since the trucks were impounded.
“More than 40 trucks were impounded, some were seized at FOU, Tin Can and Apapa, but majority of the trucks are at FOU Ikeja. Tomorrow (Tuesday), we will go to Ikeja to take inventory and take stock of the trucks there and process their release. This will require us hiring a crane to put the container down”
“Management of the customs intervened, after findings and investigations, they discovered that truck drivers are not the shippers and the response from the drivers convinced them that the drivers were not involved. Out of their magnanimity they ordered the release of the trucks”
“Our members are suffering and falling victims of these because unscrupulous clearing agents will not tell customs what they are exporting or importing. I am highly impressed that the management of customs deemed it fit to send somebody from Abuja, the person came to brief and educate us on what and what we should be carrying”, he explained.
Speaking on the introduction of indemnity form for truckers, Chief Ogungbemi said the form is free.
“Our members would not know which one is legitimate and which one is illegitimate this is why we have come up with an indemnity form which will contain all the information about the agent, the importer, the loading point and the agency name. This is to ensure that if our trucks are accosted, through the form the authority will know all the information about the cargo”
He stated further that: “Most times, truck drivers do not know their importers or the agents of the cargoes, but with the indemnity form they will know all information about the cargo they carry. We want to indemnify our members and this is why we are embarking on the use of forms”
“We will go further to seek audience with the management of Nigerian customs for them to approve and authorize the form, so that it will become a condition by which all trucks would be allowed into the port to load or discharge cargoes”.
“Importers should declare correctly what is going out or coming into the country, they are the people giving us all these problems and not the customs, they are not honest. If all shippers can be honest, there will be no need for customs to arrest our members” he said.
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