The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has criticized current practices whereby Customs insists on scanning of heterogeneous goods, saying that under the present dispensation of destination inspection, the practice will lead to avoidable delays which will in turn precipitate congestion.
The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has criticized current practices whereby Customs insists on scanning of heterogeneous goods, saying that under the present dispensation of destination inspection, the practice will lead to avoidable delays which will in turn precipitate congestion.
Giving the advise via a message sent to Shipping Position Daily, founder of the association, Dr Boniface Aniebonam observed that “the idea of taking heterogeneous imports to scanners is a waste of time because it is natural that the containers will enter suspect channel resulting to physical examination”.
The association argued that “there should be a waiver clause more so it is allowed by the ASYCUDA system, the request to re-route has to be voluntary by the agent/importer”, even as it also expressed worry that the nation’s seaports are still haven for corrupt practices.
It called on heads of government agencies in the ports to redouble their efforts to stem the tide which it alleged also involves the agencies’ operatives.
“It is our considered opinion and advise that the leadership of the relevant government agencies in our maritime trade, custom facilitation and transportation should increase supervision and monitoring of the operational conduct of their representatives in our industry”, the statement added, just as it advised that importers should also be as sincere as possible in their transactions.
“We must equally advise that importers and exporters of traded goods should imbibe the culture and practices of making genuine declaration for custom purposes , the urgent need for all critical stakeholders to respect and obey import and export regulations of the government is imperative”.
The association however restrained from identifying the perpetrators, saying, “it is not our desire for name-calling, but it is important for those concerned in the unholy behaviour to take a walk because freight agents are getting worried and agitated”.
On the looming congestion, NAGAFF stated that Nigeria’s two foremost ports of Apapa and Tin Can are currently under the siege of several containers that are yet to be delivered to their importers.
According to the association, the two ports “may have been bottled up at the moment for not allowing re-routing of import , if this scenario is allowed to continue, it may cause serious congestion in our ports , re-routing can be domiciled with CIU for revenue matters , proper monitoring and security concern if need be by the NCS , the need to facilitate trade is a concern to all port users at the ports”, it concluded.
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