LCCI Bemoans Delay In Cargo Clearance Over Customs Queries Of PAAR

The flurry of commendation notwithstanding, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has come hard on the Customs Pre- Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR), saying the system is causing delays in cargo clearance, because of the queries that are often raised.
Chairperson, Freight Forwarding Trade Group of the LCCI said yesterday in Lagos that some operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) had not shown enough professionalism in handling matters relating to the PAAR.

The flurry of commendation notwithstanding, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has come hard on the Customs Pre- Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR), saying the system is causing delays in cargo clearance, because of the queries that are often raised.
Chairperson, Freight Forwarding Trade Group of the LCCI said yesterday in Lagos that some operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) had not shown enough professionalism in handling matters relating to the PAAR.
“During the regime of Risk Assessment Report (RAR), if you had a problem or your duty was jacked up, you could call the director at COTECNA, a service provider, to lay your complaint.
“He would listen and only give you the duty after examination of the cargo but  customs will say that once you have been queried, you must go and pay before anything,’’ Ogboru said.
According to her, the problem involving PAAR, especially on valuation, should be handled more proactively than what the customs operatives are doing.
She said that it took weeks for the PAAR to be returned whenever it was sent back due to a query.
“When your PAAR is queried and is sent back for re-assessment, you have to keep calling– for sometime up to two weeks or you are forced to go to Abuja,’’ Ogboru said.
Also speaking on the same issue, licensed customs agent, Mr Uchu Block, said that it was discouraging that the PAAR issued by the same customs officers would be queried.
Block said this was not the best way to support international trade.
But the National Public Relations Officer of Customs;  Mr Wale Adeniyi said the time-frame in returning a queried PAAR depended on the nature of the query.
“We cannot be talking about the time a PAAR, which was queried, will be returned because it depends on a number of factors which include the issue to be addressed.
“It also depends on how fast the owner responds to what is requested of him or her to do,’’ Adeniyi said.
Also speaking in defence of PAAR, a Deputy Comptroller of Customs and the Officer-in-Charge of PAAR at the Apapa Area One Command, Mr Malanta Yusuf said the magnitude of the query on the document (PAAR) would determine when it would be returned.