Lucky Amiwero (President, NCMDLCA)
Lucky Amiwero (President, NCMDLCA)
What is the conference coming out with, there are so many jobs in the port that have not been done properly, they should go for better training, training on classification, training on valuation is there, training on advanced ruling, post audits, there are so many things they are supposed to do for training, it should not be all about conferences, conference is just ceremonial, if you look at the past two years, there have been so many conferences in the maritime sector, nothing is happening, if the customs could go for training for once, by training most of their men, not political training, but capacity building training, technical assistance training, training that will change them and make them become better persons in the port, supply of tools, knowing about valuation, knowing about advanced ruling, knowing about post audits, there should not be technical barrier to trade because what is happening in the port is technical barrier to trade, it is not post audit.
Chief Achike Molokwu (Freight Forwarder)
The last CG conference that was held took place before a plane crash that happened during that period, this took the life of one of those that went for the conference and many others and since then they stopped the CG conference. I have not seen any benefits of the CG conference over the years, to me it is like a way of wasting money, probably if the government has been giving them nine percent of the total revenue and they want to burn away some billions, I have not seen any benefit of it. I think the management of customs should identify the stakeholders, from time to time they should call meeting of stakeholders, if it is the agents, you know the associations, if it is for two days, you meet with them, they will tell you their problems, and you will tell them your problems, and you will harmonise things, even the security agencies that operate inside the port, call them every month, sit down with them, I think that is important than the so- called CG conference, from that monthly meetings you will realize lots of things that go on the field, with that you will able to address issues properly.
O. A Vincent (Sec. Gen., AREFFN)
Yes, I will say the CG’s conference is a forum for the interaction among the stakeholders whereby there will be opportunities to advise customs and the Government on the things that are going on within the system, for example the agents have their own complaints, it is through that interaction that we can bring all those problems to the attention of the Comptroller General, importers also have their own problems, it is at such forum that they will be able to present their problems to the attention of the comptroller general, so when we present those problems to the Comptroller General against following year’s budget ,it is a vital instrument of concrete resolution to the industry, it helps you to wine and dine with the big guns of customs and in the freight forwarding industry, therefore, to me it is a welcome idea.
Oche Godwin (Member, NIS)
I am in support of it, but I would have preferred it to be held in one of the port states so that they can tour such a port and be able to further see where they are ‘lagging’ behind, so as to train them based on what is lacking in the various ports, they should not have taken it to Katsina. I am in support of it based on the solutions to issues affecting the industry and to bring in people that are well versed, to enlighten them, because it seems that the customs can’t just get it right.
Elufioye-Johnson Olusegun (Freight Forwarder)
Anybody that must go into any venture must have a vision, mission, aims and objectives, and if they don’t correlate with what we are doing in the industry, what is the annual CG’s conference all about? For all I care, I will rather prefer the normal grounds of learning or training centre to going to a place where what they do is to know how to cheat, check on one another’s status by downgrading one another, but if you go to conferences where you know that in the coming year, you will have something to write home about it, and you are looking forward to a subsequent one coming up, this would be better. Therefore, I don’t appreciate any forum where you don’t add anything to your knowledge.
Tunji Obagbo (POTEMAN)
There is no big deal in the CG’s conference, if properly conducted, it should be like a ground where customs can harmonize and make it a teaching centre, at least other industries do have relevant seminars and workshops to develop their various sectors. Therefore it should serve like a seminar or workshops for customs, where people with knowledge would be able to deliver lectures and papers to the younger ones, this is why I am in support of it. However, if the motive behind it is biased, then I do not support it.
Nwagbara Osuala (Maritime Lawyer)
I support the resuscitation of the CG conference, in the past it was a forum to articulate policy relating to clearance of CG’s reports, relating to tariffs, relating to various bottlenecks that freight forwarders encounter in the port system. Apart from these, it also created atmosphere for closer interactions between freight forwarders and other stakeholders in the maritime industry as well as with the Nigerian Customs service. I monitored closely the CG’s past conference, I know at such conferences, issues of tariff, clearance procedures were some of the issues that were addressed and not only the freight forwarders, but also the importers have their pulse felt by the Nigeria Customs Service, it was an opportunity for these importers and freight forwarders to make their inputs into the policy of government for years ahead, it shapes the policies of Government regarding imports procedures, goods and items, auctioning of good, it addressed issues of ports congestion issues in the past.
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