The Kirikiri Lighter Terminal (KLT) of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in the bid to enhance its revenue collection has appealed to members of the Association of Nigerian License Customs Agents (ANLCA) to ensure that they advice their importers to make use of the terminal so as to revitalize it and give it a new lease of life.
This request was made by the Comptroller of the command, Mr. Banji Akinloye at a brief reception ceremony held last week in Lagos to welcome him to the new national secretariat and headquarters of ANLCA in Lagos.
Akinloye seized the opportunity of his visit to canvass for the cooperation and partnership from the clearing agents, saying this is necessary so as to attract genuine investors to the terminal which will in turn generate more revenue for the command.
“I want to appeal to the association to ensure that their clients who are the importers continue to make use of the KLT terminal to do their legitimate transactions and to continue to bring back the glory of KLT”, he said.
He however warned that in the attempt to attract cargo throughput to the terminal, the command will not overlook any illegality or encourage smuggling, stressing that “only legitimate businesses should be done through the terminal”.
Akinloye who was making history as the first high- ranking customs officer to visit the new ANLCA national secretariat also commended the new leadership of ANLCA under Prince Olayiwola Shittu for transforming the image of the association.
“I want to appreciate the president for bringing dynamism into the association, he has energized the spirit of the association and those of us who are watching from outside can at least testify to the fact that he has changed the notion that clearing agents consist of never-do-wells and drop outs”, he stressed.
He equally appreciated the chapter executives of the association for sharing the vision of revitalizing the KLT command with him, because, according to him, “when we got there, we saw some challenges and if we have not had the assistance of ANLCA among others, it would have been much more difficult”.
Earlier, while welcoming the customs comptroller , the president of ANLCA, Prince Olayiwola Shittu had suggested that the KLT command can be utilized in decongesting the port because it relies on the common user terminal even as he pledged the support of his members towards the terminal, saying that “we have made efforts in our own little way, but we have not rested on our oars because a lot of contending factors are responsible for sometimes your command not having the level of patronage, our chapter executives have been striving long before now to make sure that your command is able to meet with its obligations and at the same time to attract patronage to your end”.
He also appealed to the CAC that the association will also expect that he looks at issues with human feelings when hey arise. “We rely on you to always look at our issues with human face, contrary to opinions, we have not been benefiting from customs as people assumed because if it is so, we can as well go home and sleep”, he stated.
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