Comptroller General of Customs, Alhaji Inde Dikko Abdullahi
The Comptroller General of Customs, Alhaji Inde Dikko Abdullahi, has vowed to hold accountable any direct traders input (DTI) operators through whose cafés containers are illegally removed from the port.
Illegal removal of containers from the ports across country, especially the one located in Lagos popularly called “container flying” by licensed customs agents is perpetrated by a syndicate working within and outside the ports.
The act which is usually done in connivance with some unscrupulous importers, licensed customs agents, shipping firms, as well as men and officers of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), leads to the removal of containers from the ports without the payment of appropriate fees and duties as stipulated in the statute books.
The practice, which has been on for long, often leads to the loss of cargo and huge revenues that would have accrued into the coffers of the Federal Government.
Though the practice is not restricted to a particular port, impeccable sources said the ones situated in Lagos, especially Tin Can Island Port (TCIP), Apapa, is notorious for container ‘flying’.
THISDAY checks revealed that the recent face-off between some licensed customs agents and men and officers of NCS, Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A, Ikeja, Lagos, which led to the arrest and prosecution of some freight-forwarders was not unconnected with the attempts by NCS to rid the ports of undesirable elements and sanitise the system.
Speaking in Abuja, however, the Comptroller General of Customs vowed to put measures in place to curtail the activities who have taken container ‘flying’ in the nation’s seaports as a way of life.
Abdullahi maintained that this was the only way to address the spate of mysterious disappearance of containers from some terminals in the port.
The Customs boss pointed out that such café centres would not only be closed, the operators would also be made to face the full wrath of the law.
While pointing out that DTI cafes as licensed facilities used by licensed customs agents for imputing declarations into NCS system, as well as processing electronic release of goods for which all statutory charges have been paid, the Customs boss said he would no longer accept any bogus explanations from anyone that an illegal removal of a containers was attributable to the activities of a syndicate that specializes in password identity theft to hack into the systems of DTI operators to perpetuate their acts.
Abdullahi disclosed that he had communicated his position to the concern stakeholders, at the end of a crucial meeting he had with Customs Area Controllers (CACs), Terminal and Customs Unit Heads as well as operators of DTI cafes.
He emphasised that the responsibility of building integrity into café operations lies squarely on their shoulders. “Henceforth, they will now be held liable for whatever illegality is traceable to their facilities” he stressed.
According to the Comptroller General of Customs, any DTI involved in passport or identity theft would be closed down, and would not be re-opened; a key decision he noted enjoyed the total agreement of all concerned. He confirmed that most of the operators at the meeting agreed on the necessity for NCS to wield the big stick to ensure compliance.
In line with the new stand of NCS, the management of the service has started considering the option of making café operators enter into appropriate bonds to cover their activities, alongside other measures said to include the opening of a register to keep track of all transactions undertaken by each DTI.
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