Clearing Agents Want Review Of Clearing Documentation At Airports

The Murtala Muhammed International Airport Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has called on the Federal Government to review the documentation process in the clearing of goods at airports.
The Chairman of the chapter, Mr Aloysius Igwe, told reporters in Lagos yesterday that the review of the documentation became necessary to alleviate the suffering of clearing agents and importers.

The Murtala Muhammed International Airport Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has called on the Federal Government to review the documentation process in the clearing of goods at airports.
The Chairman of the chapter, Mr Aloysius Igwe, told reporters in Lagos yesterday that the review of the documentation became necessary to alleviate the suffering of clearing agents and importers.
“The Evaluation Unit of the Nigeria Customs Service should devise means of determining documents on imported goods as about 80 per cent of goods brought into the MMIA are informal, arriving from Dubai and China, where receipts are issued on goods purchased instead of invoices.
“The procedure now is no more destination based, the new idea is that before the arrival of your shipment all the necessary documentation must be ready and Customs will prepare your documents for payment (pre-arrival assessment report).
“The pre-arrival assessment report is aimed at quickening the clearance of goods on arrival but we are having challenges here.
“The importers usually bought their goods from shops and not factories, so they only obtained receipts instead of invoices,” Igwe said.
He said the demand for original invoices from importers make the clearing of their goods on arrival very difficult.
“This usually leads to frustration and it is capable of sending out traders from business.
“Customs are trained to look at imports, evaluate them and collect duties for the government, so the essence of the series of documentation and bottleneck will not help us.
“They are supposed to examine all these from their data bank and appraise value so that some of these Nigerians that are into importation for existence will not be thrown out of job.”
He, however, condemned a situation where customs licensed agents were linked to drug traffickers.
“Clearing agents have no business with the content of the goods being packaged by the exporter or importer as they were not allowed to examine them.
“What is expected from the law enforcement agencies is for them to invite the owner of the goods for questioning, instead of detaining the clearing agent.’’
He said that the association was educating its members to always invite the owner of the goods to be exported before examination of the goods was done.
Igwe also urged the airport authorities to dislodge those that had no legitimate business around the airports to ensure sanity within the airports.