The Recent Arrests Of Clearing Agents And Fraud In The Nigerian Seaports

At the end of its recent raid at the Tin Can Island port in Lagos, official figures indicated that about 100 persons were arrested, with scores wounded and brutalised.
The raid is undoubtedly the reaction of Nigeria Customs Service to the excesses of people who masquerade as port users, but who in the words of the Controller Federal Opertaions Unit, Zone ‘A’, Mr Dan Ugo are “undesirable elements, whose activities have continually posed serious threat to security and to customs operations”.
The arrest came about one and half years after a similar one was carried out at the same port. Even though the clampdown of August 2011 was targeted at ‘camp boys’ at Tin Can Port, several innocent port users were arrested and brutalized.

It is a well known fact that the port system comprises of a web of suppliers and users of shipping services on one side and suppliers and users of ancillary services on the other. Spread across this winding and complex web are players such as: Nigerian Ports Authority, (NPA),Nigeria Customs Service, (NCS) and its service providers and shipping agents, terminal operators, importers (big and small), licensed customs agents, dockworkers, truck owners, drivers and motor boys.
There are also: Standards Organisation of Nigeria,(SON), National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, (NAFDAC),
It is difficult to ascertain the identity of those who perpetuate fraud in the port system, because the chain of importation is long; hence it can only be situated within the chain; that is, from the point when an importer opens ‘Form M’ to when the goods are actually procured, packaged and freighted into Nigeria as an import and up to the point at which it is cleared from the port and delivered to the consignee.
From all available evidences, those who were arrested recently at Tin Can port could be found among the various stakeholders identified above, even though there could be more of one group than the other. In this case, there were more of licensed customs agents than any other groups; for the simple fact that, the most dominant group in the port are the clearing agents.

In analysing the phenomenon of corruption in the port system, a lot of people tend to pin it down on stakeholders in the Nigerian port system, but that is an incorrect judgment. Corruption and fraudulent acts are (in most cases) engineered from the point at which consignments are procured. A situation whereby an importer violates import guidelines and contravenes import prohibition orders of the federal government makes the consignment and its importer susceptible.
By implication, the licensed customs agent inherits the liability, worse still, he is the one at the point of discharge and to ensure that the (offending) consignment is cleared out of the port, he (the clearing agent) begins to also bend the rules and this means, being at the mercy of officials of government agencies, notably Customs.
The notoriety and high rating which the Nigeria Customs Service enjoys on the corruption scale is not to say that other players are angels; virtually all the actors whom we have identified above are involved at one level or the other in making the port system what it is.
Back to the issue of the arrests at Tin Can Island port, for as much as we can remember, the ‘Anyman canteen’ which was where majority of the arrests were made has been a notorious den of illegalities; a places where all manners of forgeries are perpetrated. In fact, the notorious canteen which was created by the Nigerian Ports Authourity (NPA) several years ago to cater for the needs of port users; including dockworkers and clearing agents has always served other purposes.
The second ‘Anyman canteen’ which was located a bit more within Apapa port had been demolished at the onset of port concession, but before then, it didn’t have the reputation that the Tin Can port canteen now has.
Many of those who were arrested are licensed customs agents and ‘port users’ who had no genuine businesses in the port as at when they were arrested. As much as we agree that some may have been wrongly arrested, we are certain that many were caught doing wrong things or just hanging around. To sanitise the Nigeria port system, there is need to reduce the presence and influx of the multitudes of questionable ‘port users’ who have found abode in the usually lax port environment
While the 2011 raid only concentrated on the notorious ‘Any man’ canteen, the latest raid went a step further by extending to the car parks and semi-auto shops around Tin Can port.

Many of those who were arrested are members of the port community, but serving different purposes, some of them were the ‘canteen boys’ of the ‘Any man’ canteen era.
Sadly however, they wouldn’t have become so powerful if they do not enjoy the patronage of other stakeholders. First, they are the informants to security agents, second, they unofficial members of freight forwarding associations, while some are around also run ‘errands’ for dubious Customs officers and corrupt licensed customs agents.

We recall that just as it happened in 2011, many of those arrested who were arrested have regained their freedom; courtesy of freight forwarding associations and their leaders; especially at the chapter levels.
While commending the Nigeria Customs Service for the guts that it has and which informed the desire to do what NPA failed to do in years, we also do think that the raid ought to have been carried out with the knowledge of NPA the Port Authourity Command of the Police, which has a substantive commissioner.
But, beyond the raid, the NPA and of course, the terminal operators should device ways whereby the ports will be less attractive for people, and reduce the embarrassing human traffic that has always been a common sight at Tin Can port.