The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd.) has said that false declaration of imported cargoes by importers and their agents has made it difficult for the Service to effectively implement the ease of doing business as directed by the federal government.
Speaking to newsmen on the import of fresh 470 pump action rifles in Lagos recently, Ali noted that if the service should fast track and depend on the documents as provided by the importer of the deadly weapons, it would be unleashing terror on the people.
He said,”On the paper or the bill of lading that brought this container, which is the document that we are supposed to use for clearance, these things you can see here, this elbow plumbing plastics were the ones that were declared and then the weapons were concealed as usual.
“So, if we were to go by the document, then, we would have cleared this container under this false declaration and this is what I always say and when I say it, people begin to wonder. I said most, especially our own traders, 70% to 80% of what comes in , come under false declaration and that is why we find it difficult to effectively execute the ease if doing business because if we fast track and depend on the document, these are what we will be unleashing on our own people.
“So, which means we have to subject containers to 100% examination and that delays the honest people’s goods but there is no how to find the man’s heart by the face because if we look at your face , we will not know whether you have concealed something or not.
“So, the innocent people get to suffer, which is unfortunate and until and unless Nigerians begin to do the right thing and become honest in the way they do business, it will be difficult for customs to clear goods within the time frame that is globally accepted. That is the fact because if we do apply that, that is what we end up with and I don’t think we would want to shy away from our duty because we want to fast-track or we want to clear goods, no, I think the safety and well-being of our people is more important.
“Security of this country is more important to the Nigeria Customs Service than the money we collect in terms of duty because what is the use of money if there will be no security and safety? We are going to subject a lot of people to scrutiny. When 9/11 happened in America, a lot of things changed, all the cries about human rights stopped because their security was first and they subjected people to a lot of scrutiny.
“So, I think Nigerians have to bear with us this critical time, we will have to be forced to do our duty and do it diligently because we want to safeguard the lives and properties of Nigerians”.
The customs boss pointed out that having been inundated by insurgency, agitators and militants, Nigeria cannot afford to have weapons roaming its boundaries as these are weapons of terror.
“This is what we are trying to prevent and I think Nigerians have to bear with us because we will be forced to do the job beyond the ease of doing business. When we get to the level of normalcy, then we can now bring back ease of doing business and ensure we conform with the global best practice but for now, to safeguard our country, we have to go beyond the ease of doing business only”, he said.
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