The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has said that non-compliance of operators to government laws and regulations at the Nigerian seaports and border has led to illegal importation of arms and ammunitions into the country.
The Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer (ES/CEO) of the Council, Barrister Hassan Bello said this at a One Day Seminar on Need for Compliance to Trade Laws, Guidelines and Regulation by Shippers/Freight Forwarders/Customs License Agents at the Seaports/Borders and Inland Dry Ports, organized by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council in Lagos, Wednesday.
Bello however maintained that there is the need to sanitize the shipping industry from corrupt practices occasioned by non-compliance of operators in the sector.
He maintained that the need for the seminar was borne out of the increasing rate of importation of arms and other illicit gods into the country by some unpatriotic practitioners.
Represented by Chief Cajetan Agu, the Deputy Director, Enforcement, Monitoring and Compliance of the Council, the Executive Secretary said that laws and regulations were made by the government to control the movement of goods, services and related financial flows.
“Over time, these laws have been flagrantly abused and compromised leading to import and export of prohibited products, under declaration of cargo, concealment etc. thereby making government lose money.
“Government further observed that in recent times, rather than comply to the established trade laws, guidelines and regulations, some members of the trading community resort to unethical practices that contravene the import export procedures, guidelines as manifested in the increasing rate of arms importation, cross border smuggling, under declaration of goods with intent to evade duty, false declaration, concealment and over/under invoicing of value of goods.
“These issues are not exhaustive but provide a clear indication of some of the infractions in the process of cargo clearance at the seaports and border post,” he stated.
Speaking further, the Council boss added that non-compliance would delay clearance of cargo, extra cost of cargo clearance, total loss of cargo to competing neighboring ports and massive loss of revenue and adversely affect the nation’s per capital income.
He maintained that for compliance to improve, there was need for partnership, collaboration and synergy between government and the private sector.
Speaking earlier, the President, Shippers Association, Lagos State (SALS), Reverend Jonathan Nicol averred that the level of compliance to government laws and regulations in the shipping industry has been low across board.
Nicol appealed to the operators to engage the government on policies that are not easy to comply with instead of employing confrontation against the government even as he said there was handful of such policies in the industry.
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