The Chairman of the Tin Can Island Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Prince Kayode Oyinlola has cleared the air on the recent insinuations about deployment of some officers to the port.
Putting the records straight, the ANLCA chapter chairman said that the Comptroller General of Customs; Dikko Abdullahi Inde did not introduce any task force to the port to examine cargoes.
The Chairman of the Tin Can Island Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Prince Kayode Oyinlola has cleared the air on the recent insinuations about deployment of some officers to the port.
Putting the records straight, the ANLCA chapter chairman said that the Comptroller General of Customs; Dikko Abdullahi Inde did not introduce any task force to the port to examine cargoes.
Oyinlola said that the Customs officers who were sent to the port were those in charge of PAAR and whose assignment is to assist the releasing officers to input their findings during cargo examination.
The ANLCA Chairman was reacting to a statement made by the Secretary of the chapter, Mr. Kanikwu Chucks Davies who had told Shipping Position Daily last week that the Customs boss introduced multiple task forces.
Our correspondent gathered that there was tension at the Tin Can Ports last week when some lower cadre customs officers were deployed to the terminals. They were erroneously believed to be supervising the release of consignments alongside some Assistant Controllers who are the statutory releasing officers.
But Oyinlola blamed the tension on lack of communication between the Customs and the leadership of the association, especially at the chapter level.
Speaking about the new officers, he said, "they are not task force, they are PAAR officers from PAAR office in Abuja, they were sent down to the port to help officers to input whatever they want to put in the inspection Act"
"When PAAR started we had cases of officers using ‘camp boys’ to input whatever they found out during examination into the system, but now that most of them have gone for computer training, they can do it on their own"
"The PAAR officers are merely here to guide them on how to do it, not to take over their job" he told correspondent.
He added that, "when our people were complaining, we went to the Customs Area Controller and he explained the same thing to us. He said the PAAR officers do not have anything to do with agents and they are just attached to releasing officers"
"On our way to the terminal to explain to our people, that was when we saw the circular sent from CG office and this had doused the tension", he explained.
"The communication gap caused the tension in the port"
Also speaking with Shipping Position Daily on Monday, Vice Chairman of the chapter; Ada Akpunonu said that since the executives of the chapter assumed office, they have had recorded no disagreement with the Tin Can port Command of the Customs.
He explained that the chapter had co-existed very well with its stakeholders.
She however reiterated that the chapter is ready to cooperate with the Federal Government in its move to block every revenue leakages at the port.
"Since our administration started we have not had any crisis, we are experts in crisis management. The present government is concerned about revenue leakages and we are ready to assist."
"As I am talking to you, there is no task force inside the port, there is nothing like CG Task Force again." she said.
Also speaking with Shipping Position Daily, the Secretary of the Tin Can Chapter of ANLCA, Mr. Davies Chucks Kanikwu pleaded for understanding, saying that he was largely misunderstood.
He admitted that he didn’t have a clear understanding of the mission of the junior officers.
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