Stern-looking operatives of the Customs Federal Operation Unit, Zone A in Ikeja have been deployed to ensure safety at both the Tin Can Island and PTML commands of the Nigeria Customs Service, where some licensed customs agents have been staging protests since Monday against the phased-implementation of Federal Government auto policy by the Nigeria Customs Service.
The implementation has caused duty collectable by Customs on imported vehicle to increase.
Stern-looking operatives of the Customs Federal Operation Unit, Zone A in Ikeja have been deployed to ensure safety at both the Tin Can Island and PTML commands of the Nigeria Customs Service, where some licensed customs agents have been staging protests since Monday against the phased-implementation of Federal Government auto policy by the Nigeria Customs Service.
The implementation has caused duty collectable by Customs on imported vehicle to increase.
Our correspondent saw five teams of enforcement officers from the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) that were stationed permanently at the PTML command.
Freight forwarders have however condemned the fact that they were made to operate in trepidation.
Even though Shipping Position Daily correspondent who visited the PTML and the Tincan port yesterday gathered that skeletal activities were going on, some of the freight forwarders alleged that customs has cowed them into going back to work.
But, the protest has divided freight forwarding associations, with two of them accusing the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) of being bribed to stage the protest.
Coming on the heels of various protests that have been staged by a freight forwarding association port operators have said that the policy spells doom for Nigerian economy.
While condemning the protest, the leadership of two freight forwarding associations; Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN) and the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) questioned the rationale behind the action.
President of AREFFN, Dr. Frank Ukor in a chat with Shipping Position Daily correspondent in his office yesterday said that every indication pointed to the fact that the protesters were sponsored by somebody who has a vested interest.
Apart from this, in a message forwarded to our correspondent and signed by the Board Chairman of NAGAFF, Chidiebere Enelama, and Dr. Basil Nwolisa, the association warned agents to be sensitive to the security situation in the country, and not to allow themselves to be used.
AREFFN and NAGAFF argued that, the 35% duty on imported cars that is being demanded by customs is not paid by freight forwarders, but by the importers, therefore, it is the importers that should protest and not the agents.
Dr. Ukor said that he had instructed his chapter chairmen that on no account should they join ANLCA in carrying placards at Tin Can port on Monday.
"We are freight forwarders, we clear goods for our clients, it is the importer's responsibility to pay whatever duty government asked him to pay, I don't see why we allow another person’s headache to disturb us"
"The importers have associations, if they are not satisfied with government policies, let them protest and government will answer them, why are they instigating us to do it for them".
"It might be freight forwarders that are being instigated by somebody who has a particular interest, somebody somewhere is sponsoring somebody, they are giving some people money so that they can protest" he said.
On his part, the NAGAFF BoT chairman called on importers of cars to organize themselves in partnership and support freight forwarders to present their grievances to government.
He urged the freight forwarders to understand the state of the nation and realize that government may not tolerate irresponsible actions from any quarters at the moment.
"The kidnapped girls are now a global concern and any action to the contrary may be treated as insurgents", he warned.
But, the Secretary of ANLCA at Tin Can Port, Mr. David Chuks Kanikwu in a chat with our correspondent said that the customs has continued with its operations and is issuing value to agents to go and pay. He however said that most agents were not ready to pay the duties.
Speaking, Kanikwu said members of the association are unrepentant about their action. "The protest is still on subtly because it only involves valuation issues, so most people are not going to collect the value, people are just nosing around to find out what it will transcend to, with a view of telling their importers what is on ground, they might collect this value without even paying it"
Shipping Position Daily learnt that the duty of vehicles and buses have been shot up to meet the 35% duty which customs is demanding. The implication is that a 2014 car, bus and jeep are expected to pay the same duty irrespective of their CIF.
Meanwhile, when our correspondent contacted the PTML Customs Controller on telephone for further explanation on the presence of armed custom officers at the command, he simply responded with a terse text message saying: "Full work in progress, come tomorrow please"
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