Founder of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF); Dr. Boniface Aniebonam has challenged the Comptroller General of Customs; Col Hameed Ali over the latter’s recent comment over punishment for corruption in the Customs cargo clearance procedures.
The freight forwarder told Shipping Position Daily in an exclusive interview that the CG of Customs has no power of conviction and that he should stop threatening stakeholders with jail terms.
Founder of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF); Dr. Boniface Aniebonam has challenged the Comptroller General of Customs; Col Hameed Ali over the latter’s recent comment over punishment for corruption in the Customs cargo clearance procedures.
The freight forwarder told Shipping Position Daily in an exclusive interview that the CG of Customs has no power of conviction and that he should stop threatening stakeholders with jail terms.
He said that the Customs Comptroller General cannot single-handedly jail any offender except through a due process of the court.
Aniebonam in the interview faulted the CG Custom's first visit to the port on Monday, saying that many stakeholders where maltreated and denied access to the Apapa Command venue of the meeting, even as he stressed there is an urgent need for him to call for a public forum where everybody will be represented.
The NAGAFF founder cautioned that fighting of corruption at the port should not be taken as a personal affair, saying that non-compliant persons would have to be investigated and thereafter prosecuted at the court.
Even though he cautioned that full compliance with the law as spelt out by the Customs boss is very important , he said that this is not new to freight forwarders because they are already conversant with the laws.
Dr Aniebonam stressed that: "He cannot threaten to jail anybody because he is not a judge, he is there to do his job and anybody that goes contrary to the law, institutional arrangements will take care of the person"
"We should not make these things to be personal. Nobody should sit down anywhere and say I am going to jail you, is he a judge?".
"The issue is compliance, those who are not compliant to regulations, the due process of the law will be followed, you will be investigated, represented in court and off you go, so it is not a personal thing, we must not misunderstand him, he is trying to let you know what the law is saying, we are not in a Banana Republic" Aniebonam said
The NAGAFF founder observed that from the speech of the Customs C G at the meeting, he is yet to 'hit the ground running' and that there is need for him to introduce something concrete in fighting corruption at the port.
He cautioned that restructuring and reforming the Customs Service is not personal to the customs alone, saying that it is a collective responsibility of all Nigerians. He called on the Col Ali to set up a stakeholders’ committee to give him a detailed blueprint.
He observed that the Customs CG was very silent on trade facilitation at the port and advised that he should as a matter of urgency hold a meeting of the critical stakeholders and leadership of all the associations if he must succeed at his job.
"He is not hitting the ground running, by the outcome of this meeting, these are things we are all very familiar with, we need to see something concrete, there are issues that must be raised like matters of training, alerts and so on"
"In the issue of fighting corruption, there must also be something concrete, there must be a consensus by everybody, these laws are already in existence, we are looking forward to a meeting of all the critical stakeholders as far as compliance is concerned" he said.
He urged the Customs boss to set up a stakeholders working committee to give him a working document and a blueprint which he would work with.
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