A chieftain of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Mr. Uche Nerus has blamed vested interests as the major reason some exotic vehicles seized by customs at different warehouses, car marts and residential homes are not being auctioned.
Nerus, who said this in a chat with Shipping Position Daily last week in Lagos, also accused the service of not doing enough in terms of sensitization of the electronic auction platform, even as he added that only a few know the process.
The chairman NAGAFF, Electoral Committee (NECOM) also charged the service to do more in terms of educating and enlightening the general public on the bidding process, adding that importers of such vehicles failed to show up because they are afraid of the penalty they will pay.
He reiterated that the bidding process of such vehicles should be made open for all those interested to properly participate.
“Anybody that imports exotic vehicles from 2016 model upwards without going through the appropriate quarters should be able to pay the penalty and I think that is what is discouraging them. You know some of them before now they have been having a field day playing in the areas of smuggling activities but now that all the end have been tied up, that is what is paining them. Vested interest is the reason some of these exotic vehicles are not made known to the public, but just to a privileged few”, he argued.
“So the bidding process should be open, they should also go into adverts, radio jingles and newspaper publications that will help”, he concluded.
Meanwhile, the President of the Shippers Association Lagos state, Rev Jonathan Nicol, said that the first people to call when Customs seizes such vehicles are still the real owners of the vehicles and when they fail to show up, you can place a fee on them and sell them off.
“We have always said that the first people to call are the owners of the vehicles if you seize a vehicle and you want to sell it why don’t you call the owners, let them come and buy. If the owners don’t show off, then place a fee on it and sell them. It is not new for customs so why are they doing all these. Like I said auctioning of goods didn’t start now it has started before now, so they are supposed to have been used to it, if they are not doing it they have their own reason. Because at the end of the day they will all those exotic vehicles at a giveaway price”, he said.
Discussion about this post