The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has said that the level of corruption at the nation’s seaports today could be blamed on the absence of a reward system for agents and customs officers who expose an act of corruption at the ports.
The National President of the association, Prince Olayiwola Shittu who made this known in a chat with our correspondent in Lagos observed that gone were the days when there was a reward system for an officer who was able to see a leakage for recovery of money into the service and report same.
According to him,” Do you know that there is a way that agents can patriotically as a patriots leak information of an importer who approached him to cover up for him in order for him (agent) to get paid but there is no reward system for agents. In those days, there is a reward system for an officer who is able to see a leakage for recovery of money into the service, there was a reward for him. Those were the days when officers were interested in doing jobs and earning that reward legally with good conscience, with certificate to match, some of them were framed in their houses. But maybe because they ended up building three bedroom bungalow, you say they were stupid, those who now have estates will say those people were stupid in those days, they don’t know what to do with money.
“If an agent wants to sell his soul for money, we know, they are there, we have bad regulatory agencies as much as we have bad customs officers, there are very bad agents, people who call themselves agents but who I know are not agents. So, we have everybody to blame and there are still good people even in the regulatory agencies as well as in the customs. There are people who are honestly doing this job because they love the job but the bad eggs are too much. So, that reward system is not there, that is why everybody is looking for a means of augmenting but I can bet you, the best thing we can do is online operation, I sit in my office and input my information, customs going to do examination is not my headache”.
He argued that it was better for an agent not to be seen in the examination anymore as according to him, that was what was being done in other climes where agents was not called upon to do examination.
“The customs will tell the terminal operators to bring the container down, they go through, check their records, if there is any infraction, they put it in the system for the whole world to see, not when you see an infraction, you keep the paper under the table until the agent comes around”, he submitted.
On insinuations that the Executive Order issued recently by the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo was an indictment on the heads of the government agencies at the ports, he said,” I wouldn’t say that it is an indictment or not but what I know is corruption has become endemic, it sips in and gradually overtake the soul of the individual. Not all these regulatory agencies were like this before; even customs was not like this when we started this work. That patriotism has been overshadowed by the fact that when you are posted in the port, what you can gain for yourself becomes a priority than the purpose for which you were sent.
“Whether the executive order comes or it didn’t come, to reverse a corruptive tendency requires strong action no matter whose ox is gored. If it indicts them, have we not indicted them before? Do we need the Executive Order before we know the wrong which is going on? We have indicted them and we have indicted ourselves, agents who are approached by the importer to cover for him and get paid”.
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