The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has condemned moves by the Federal Government to acquire fifty operational vehicles for the Nigeria Customs Service, saying that the move will not stop smuggling, rather it will further endanger lives of Customs officers.
National President of NAGAFF, Increase Uche stated this in a chat with Shipping Position Daily last week after the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun disclosed that government has approved the purchase of 50 operational vehicles for Customs to checkmate the persistent rice smuggling into the country.
The NAGAFF president described the move as merely scratching the problem on the surface.
According to him, what the government needed to understand was that the stiffer the policies, the more sophisticated the smugglers will be, even as he urged that the government should encourage local production.
“This latest arrangement to allocate such a huge amount of money to purchase 50 operational vehicles for the customs’ anti rice smuggling unit alone is outrageous. What the government needs to do at this juncture is this; you know there has been this move by the government to encourage local rice producers in Nigeria.
"For a very long time now, we have so much depended on rice importation to feed the people, but the government is inventing draconic laws that don’t actually give the required space for both those that are interested in local rice production to go into full business and to discourage imports. Buying 50 vehicles to the tone of N1.1b, will not stop smugglers because the more sophisticated the government try to get, the more determined the smugglers and the more the importance they will attach to that particular item or product.
"The government has not come to understand that the stiffer the policy when the government start buying vehicles, arms and equipping officers to go after smugglers the smugglers on their own, will device means of not only defending their trade but to short change the system”
Increase advised the government to give incentive for importers to go to the farm adding that the policies should be flexible enough for the importers to be able to access these funds.
He also urged the government to be less aggressive on issues like this most times so as to get the importing public understand that the government mean well for them.
“So what the government needed to do at this stage is for them to see how the policies could be reduced. Give enough time for people to change their approach either the importers of these bags rice to have a rethink possibly you are giving them incentive to go to farm. Make the policy to be very flexible, let people have access to these funds and then put your money in a platform or arrangement whereby you ensure that this money is given to farmers or importers and smugglers of these bags of rice. You can convert them because change is very difficult for people to abide by. Government should be less aggressive most times in some of these issues so as to get the importing public understand that the government actually have the intention to enhance the society”
Speaking further, the NAGAFF president said that this move by the government will put the lives of these officers at risk adding that the smugglers will do all they can to save their businesses.
“It is a very big challenge now the lives of these officers are being risked the more, you risk their lives the more you buy all these things and asked them to go to war against the smugglers. The smugglers you see they are not the real owners of the cargos these are just carriers; people that are ready to die the original owners of these cargos are somewhere. So those people you are fighting are just carriers that are ready to die you cannot see the original owners of the cargos. So that is why it is important for government to go back again and make more inquiries of what is going on. So the idea of purchasing vehicles is just scratching the surface of the issues” he said
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