There has been palpable tension in the ports system for the past one month, especially at the PTML, Tin Can Island and Apapa Commands of the Nigeria Customs Service over what operators describe as persistent server breakdown which has led to accrued demurrage for importers and crippling of port operations.
Port operators have also alleged that the server failures is in connection with the sanction placed on telecommunications network provider; MTN by the Federal Government.
The development has led to operators asking questions about the sincerity and efficacy of the new customs boss, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) on his given mandate. Some described him as a CG that 'talks much and does nothing".
Speaking with Shipping Position Daily, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA); Aare Sanni Shittu noted that nothing has changed since the customs boss assumed office.
He said that the old order of corruption still persists in the ports and at various commands of the customs.
Shittu said server breakdown is unfortunate, even as he advised customs to create an alternative measure for management for its server. The ANLCA chieftain cautioned that there should be manual arrangements for work to get done, lamenting that the aftermath of accrued demurrage on cargoes is borne by the agents.
He lamented to our correspondent that last week, the server went out for three days, and this has been the trend in the past one month.
"Personally I have not seen any change since he (Ali) came in, the old order still persists, the multiple tables are still in existence"
Also speaking with Shipping Position Daily, Mr. Simon Olua, National Chairman, Ethics, Complaints and Discipline of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) alleged that the server failure is a gang-up within the customs service against the new regime.
According to the NAGAFF top man, since the exit of Abdullahi Dikko Inde, there has been confusion in the customs service. He said that business was not thriving as it used to and that customs revenue is fast dropping.
"We can't say if this is a gang up or a set up among officers of the service, since Dikko left, things have not been okay in the port, the server will work for one day, and for the next three days it will not work, they will tell you it is from Abuja, the business is not flowing the way it was doing before. We still don't know what is wrong with the service" he said.
Describing the CGC, Olua said "He is not a customs officer by profession so there is little he can do, if you access everything now the revenue is low", he said.
Also speaking with journalists in his office, a freight forwarder, Mr. Paul Ibe said that despite threats of jailing corrupt officers and agents by the CGC, corruption has soared higher in the past months since he assumed office.
However, the Customs Service have admitted to Shipping Position Daily that the server has been down because the service was carrying out some upgrading.
Speaking with our correspondent, Public Relations Officer of the Tin Can Command of Customs, Mr. Chris Osunkwo
"We have a little challenge, and in the course of trying to fix the challenge, we had to upgrade, but as I speak with you it has been rectified, any issue concerning server is general because we have one server in Abuja that services all the commands"
"We are trying to get it better, we are not yet there but it is natural, it is technical"
Osunkwo said that the transmission network used is MTN, but it is not connected to the sanction that was slammed on the company by the federal government.
He assured that the situation has been normalized.
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