Founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF); Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, has faulted customs examination officers, saying that they have become a clog in the wheel of efficient cargo clearance..
Dr. Aniebonam said recently in Lagos when a delegation of NAGAFF paid a courtesy visit to the Zonal Coordinator, Zone ‘A’ of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) ACG, Aminu Dahiru, that customs officers continually violate the Executive Order on Ease of Doing Business.
He argued that, a lot of people misunderstand the word trade facilitation.
According to him, ‘’it has to do with customs examination, what does it entail, look at the declaration made against the actual content and if it tallies, you go ahead and release, but when it does not, you refer to appropriate unit and the problem is over’’.
Speaking further, he told the ACG that, “it’s very unfortunate that the customs examination officers are not adding value to the ongoing reforms of the customs. When we discuss trade facilitation you must be seen to be doing the right thing, when you don’t do the right thing, trade cannot be facilitated’’.
‘’In other words, the essence of compliance is to ensure that we do the right thing. But a lot of people are misunderstanding that word trade facilitation. But as far as I am concerned, I think the Comptroller General of Customs is doing his job. He has a mandate to reform restructure and generate revenue. He has to do something very urgent. The solution is very obvious”, he advised.
He lamented about the frequent intervention of Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone ‘A’ of the service when the goods have already been cleared from the port is part of the problems.
“I think what is most important now is the intervention, the FOU ‘A’ statutorily has the prerogative of intervention; they are like a unit in charge of that responsibility. The CGC compliance team is also intervention force but then the expectation is that they should be a force where they come in and perform and go back. But some people are saying that it is becoming an embarrassing situation”, he added.
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