By Oluyinka Onigbinde
Amidst growing scarcity of Naira notes, freight forwarders and truck drivers operating along the Seme and Idiroko international highways have alleged that security operatives operating at the various multiple checkpoints along the roads that lead to the border stations now accept transfer and make use of POS machines for payment of bribes from truck drivers and clearing agents.
Shipping Position Daily gathered that the security operatives which include officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the Nigerian Police, Nigerian Army and the officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) at the various checkpoints that lead to the borders now accept transfers and as well make use of the POS machine in a situation where the clearing agents or truck drivers do not have cash at hand.
The haulage operators and the clearing agents who in a chat with our correspondent, alleged that they are compelled to make transfer or use their Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards to make payment in some situations where they could not give cash, this is even as they particularly accused an officer of the Nigerian Army along the Seme border in Lagos of being in the habit of demanding transfers from agents and haulage operators.
In a chat with our correspondent, the Chairman Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Seme border, Mr. Onyekachi Ojinma, lamented that the security formations on the roads leading to the border have become torn in the flesh for freight forwarders and truck drivers, who operate within the axis.
According to him, “the constraint is still the multiple checkpoints and extortion, over extortion is hampering businesses in that place. Importers are not finding it easy. You will see police fighting motor boys, stopping vehicles and forcefully collecting money from them and using guns on them.
“The worst is the Army, there’s one Army that is in charge of the road. They call him “Zack”. He is a pain in the neck of drivers. How can the Army abandon their barracks and they are all on the road extorting money from people telling you to call Zack?.
“I learnt he is a Sergeant operating on that road and has been at Badagry Barracks for donkey years. He owns a lot of eateries at that axis. He is the problem, he keeps stopping vehicles. What has the Army got to do with export and import goods?, he asked.
“There are a lot of problems. This cash crunch has no much effect on goods because what we do is transfer to the government. We don’t have physical cash
“But the issue is with the multiple checkpoints, they now have POS. You can transfer to their account. You transfer to the Police and Army.
“Even yesterday, one Customs man took it upon himself and was mad at Zack. When they called me, my assistant secretary lambasted Zack for obstructing vehicles coming to the border with goods.
“If Diplomats are passing here, they find it difficult to move freely. They even stop their vehicles before they find out they are Diplomats. It is embarrassing to the nation. From Ghana to Nigeria, you only find four or five checkpoints. But in Nigeria, from the border post to Badagry, I am not even talking about Mile 2, we have over 70 checkpoints of Police, Army and Immigration officers. Immigration officers will be asking you where you are going to in your country, it’s just so pathetic”, he lamented.
Also speaking to our correspondent, the Board Secretary of the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (ARFFN) Mr. Innocent Elum, who also operates at the Seme border axis, lamented the activities of security formations along the border stations.
According to him, with the cash crunch, clearing agents are being compelled to make payments to security formations on the roads.
While absolving officers of the Nigeria Customs Service, he blamed the Nigerian Police and other security agencies at the multiple checkpoints that lead to the border station of being guilty of demanding payment via transfer or through POS transaction.
“Well, we thank God, the issue as it was before has reduced drastically. I don’t know what the new man that came in did; I am talking about Comptroller Dera Nnadi, he just came in not quite long now and then there is a bit of sanity that we are now experiencing on the road unlike before. Of course the man there before (Comptroller Jibo) , a perfect gentleman and a career officer did all his best but you see the security agencies are very stubborn.
“On many occasions we saw Comptroller Jibo going from checkpoints to checkpoints, dismantling the checkpoints but within a short while again you will see them again.
“I’m talking about the police and all of that coming back, the problem we have is not the Customs, but other security agencies on that road
“We keep getting reports from our boys about the activities of one Zack on that road, although he has not demanded money from me as a person, so I wouldn’t deny or confirm that he is demanding by transfer or POS
“But one thing is certain, Nigeria is a case study. A soldier is different from an officer and he has been there for donkey years, he has constituted himself like a demi-god on that road”, he alleged.
On his part the Coordinator West African Road Transport Union (WARTU); Seme border unit, Mr Peter Umukoro, stated that due to the cash crunch crises, many of the truck drivers have refused to work. He said the truck drivers are insisting on collecting cash before they can work.
“The cash crunch that we are experiencing here now at the border is really crippling the economy. This is because people who have money in their account cannot move.
“Imagine, we Nigerians that own the Naira notes don’t have it, while we have surplus Naira notes in the Benin Republic. If you want to collect N100,000 Naira, you have to transfer N140,000 to them. So they will give you N100,000 new notes. Are we running at loss or gain?
Trucks have to move. We just have to carry goods from one place. The cash crunch is affecting multiple checkpoints. I can say that is an advantage too because they didn’t see any money. Anybody they intercept, they will say they don’t have money and that is frustrating them. As I was coming to the border this morning, the whole roads were open because they were frustrated because there is no money anywhere”, he said.
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