The Apapa Area 1 command of the Nigeria Custom Service has said that lack of coordination and discipline among terminal operators is the main reason why the much-desired 48 hours cargo clearance procedure has failed at the port.
Speaking at a press briefing in Lagos yesterday, the Comptroller of the command, Mr. Muhammed Umar also pointed out that the activities of one of the biggest terminal operators in the country; APMT, has been brought to the attention of the customs as the terminal usually delay in dropping of containers for examination.
The Apapa Area 1 command of the Nigeria Custom Service has said that lack of coordination and discipline among terminal operators is the main reason why the much-desired 48 hours cargo clearance procedure has failed at the port.
Speaking at a press briefing in Lagos yesterday, the Comptroller of the command, Mr. Muhammed Umar also pointed out that the activities of one of the biggest terminal operators in the country; APMT, has been brought to the attention of the customs as the terminal usually delay in dropping of containers for examination.
Compt. Umar explained that this shortfall was one of the issues placed on the front burners when the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, visited Apapa port recently.
According to the CAC, “the minister was in Apapa and I was privileged to be in his company to the APMT offices, some of the issues mentioned by the minister were on the delays experienced by importers and agents on positioning of containers, even right now there is a stakeholders meeting going on in Abuja, I am supposed to be there, but the information came late” he said.
Before now, Compt Umar stated that the Custom headquarters has sent a high powered delegation which had two Assistant Comptrollers General on a physical inspection of how activities are being conducted at the APMT terminals. “I took them to APMT and the issue was discussed, I have written series of letters and I think headquarters is very serious about it”, he stated.
He maintained that the customs is ready to take a decisive action about the delays experienced in the 48-hour cargo clearance process because according to him, anything that happened in the maritime industry is usually attributed to Customs.
“The activities of APMT is seriously being looked into, even when the minister came he was not so happy, from his address, I can hear from his tone that he is not happy” he said.
The CAC also confirmed that some agents had come forward with verifiable documents to prove that incidences of delay in dropping of containers for examination actually do happen at the terminal and that APMT had no answer to the allegations after which the minister gave the terminal operators a matching order.
“What we have in Apapa is lack of coordination by the terminal operators in dropping containers for examination and the problem of handling containers, and these are actually the problem, even in Tin Can Island” he said
Going further, he said that, “achieving 48 hours clearance is not the responsibility of Customs alone, on the part of Customs we are always on our toes, agents can actually make their declaration and get their release the same day, getting release from Customs is not the end of the matter, you have the terminal operators to deal with and you have the shipping companies to deal with”.
“As far as Customs is concerned we have achieved 48 hours clearance because if you make your declaration in a day and get your cargo released within the same day, definitely on the part of customs they have achieved 48 hours, but whether or not that cargo can be exited within 48 hours is a different ball game”, he explained further.
“To achieve 48 hours clearance, there has to be synergy among all the stakeholders, the Customs, the importer, the agent, the shipping company and the terminal operators” he submitted.
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