Apapa Customs Boss; Willy Egbudin Allege Clearing Agents Not Transparent, Evading Duty

Comptroller Willy Egbudin, Customs Area Controller, Apapa Customs has said that licensed customs agents are still not complying with customs regulations and that most times, they evade duties and make false declaration to the customs.
Egbudin made the statement while addressing officials of the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN) who visited him in his office in Apapa last week.
“We still have discrepancies in declaration. Most agents are still not transparent in their declarations. If they make honest declaration, it will make clearance of their cargo fast, safe them of incurring demurrage and help customs to facilitate 48 hour cargo clearance policy of the government.” he said
He maintained that dishonesty in the declaration by customs agents has been the bane of achieving 48 hours cargo clearance in the port, assuring port community of the commitment of the Service towards achieving 48 hours cargo clearance policy if honest declaration is done by customs agents.
“We will achieve 48 hours if honest declaration is done by the trading community,” he said.
The CAC said despite the low cargo traffic in the port at the beginning of the year, the command still recorded impressive performance in its revenue collection drive above the same period in year 2015.
He informed that the command collected a total sum of N24 billion in January 2016.
“We are not doing badly in revenue generation although there is low volume of import,” said Egbudin.
He assured that more revenue will be generated by the command as import trade in the country improves, charging importers to desist from importing prohibited items.
Answering question on the essence of pre-arrival assessment report (PAAR) in cargo declaration despite discrepancies being witnessed by the Service, Egbudin said importers are not being truthful with the information they provide in the PAAR as this contradicts the final documents submitted to Customs.
He said PAAR was designed by the Service to help trade facilitation, calling on the media to educate members of trading community to adhere to import guidelines at all times.
On the state of scanners, the CAC said only the fixed scanner is working while the mobile one has stopped working