There was tension yesterday at the Tincan Island Containers Terminal (TICT) as licensed customs agents rose in unison to resist the operatives of the Nigeria Customs Police Unit who were at the terminal to participate in cargo examination.
Trouble started when agents raised an alarm questioning the presence of the Customs Police personnel whom they accused of snapping containers dropped for examination and sending same to an unknown destination, a development which attracted the attention of the Customs Area Controller of the command who dispatched the Deputy Comptrollers to the scene to arrest the situation.
Speaking in a telephone interview with our correspondent, the Chairman, Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Tincan Island chapter, Mr. Ojo Peter Akintoye said that the operatives of the Customs Police Unit came inside the terminal and started snapping and recording all the containers that were dropped for examination which prompted the agents and labour therein to resist them and asked them out of the terminal.
According to Akintoye, when it was trying to generate noise, the three DCs in-charge of the terminal had to come out and addressed the issue.
He further said, “The funny part of it is that even the Customs Enforcement personnel was trying to pull the trigger but thank God that we were there on time to prevail on our people not to react because it was now becoming unnecessary fracas. Thank God that the leaders of the unions were there to resolve the issue. I and my executives were there to resolve the issue and to address it immediately and thoroughly and we also told the three DCs that henceforth, we will not accept that again. If any information is coming from any customs personnel, they should pass it through the appropriate channel not that every Tom, Dick and Harry will be coming to the terminal and said they will be recording our consignments and be snapping it and sending it to whoever he likes.
“What we know customs Police for was to checkmate the misconduct of customs personnel; we don’t know when they become examination officers or the releasing officers. This has been happening for a while now; you will see them send container number to DC terminal or the terminal operator for blocking. Although they have one office at the Long Room there but their boss is at Ikeja. So, sometimes, they block containers without any issue causing four days to one week delay but today when they came again to do their usual thing, people resisted them and told them that if they want to be part of the examination or part of those that will be releasing containers at the port, the Management of the Nigeria Customs Service should inform us that henceforth, they are there to examine containers.
“But we thank God for the wisdom and understanding of the heads of the terminal today, they were able to come into the matter immediately and addressed it and told them that they don’t have any power, if there is anything they suspected, they should forward those things to them, they are to do the needful and not for them to come into the terminal and say that they want to examine or block containers.
“That was our agreement today in a meeting and the DC has told them that they should not be engaging on such practice. If there is any vital information that they know, we are not saying that they should not do their work, they should forward it to DC terminal, DC terminals are Deputy Comptrollers of Customs, they should for no reason take any risk that will be detrimental to their career.”
Responding, the Public Relations Officer, Tincan Island Port Complex, Mr. Uche Ejesieme acknowledged the furore that was generated as a result of the presence of Customs Police at the TICT adding that from the video they saw before they got the official confirmation, the people were almost resorting to a mob action to unleash mayhem on a unit that was there to carry out their legitimate function.
Ejesieme disclosed that Customs Police is an arm of the Nigeria Customs saddled with the responsibility of discipline and ensuring due diligence both on the part of the customs officers and on the part of authorized economic operators also known as stakeholders.
“For agents, for whatever reason to try to resort to self-help or try to stop the officers from carrying out their statutory function as enshrined in Customs and Excise Management Act Cap C45 Laws of Federal Republic of Nigeria 2004 as amended is the highest level of misconduct because, first and foremost, they were not there illegally. Like I said earlier, they are an arm of customs that has their very distinct responsibilities and they are at liberty to access any customs controlled area with a view to having a first-hand information of what is going on and also with a view to ensuring that due diligence is enthroned.
“And yesterday, from the video we saw, even though we have not had a comprehensive report about it because somebody drew the attention of the CAC, Comptroller MBA Musa and the Controller quickly dispatched the Enforcement Unit to the place to go and know. We expect that by this morning, the DC Enforcement will come with a comprehensive report to that effect to the Area Controller. But the point we are making is that Section 11 of the Customs and Excise Management Act is very clear on obstruction of function and that conduct by some people because I believe that some of them may not be agents because some of them are actually masquerading as agents whereas they are not because we believe that the responsible agents that we have in this command will not actually try such kind of very unprofessional conduct.
“So, we find it very worrisome and we find it very unfortunate for stakeholders to try to gag customs in doing their job. Don’t forget that we licensed these people and we expect that they should be on the same page with the customs. Even if they had any genuine complain or any form of agitation, what they should have done is actually to notify the Customs Area Controller who is the Chief Executive Officer of the place and if they had done that, perhaps, the CAC would have educated them on the core functions of the Customs Police and why they are in the port environment”, he explained.
On the submission by the agents that the Customs Police were not part of the teams scheduled to examine cargo at the seaports, the PRO said, “The truth is that those people you see, their name is Customs Police, they are not Nigeria Quarantine Service or any other agencies, maybe some of the agencies you might say are not supposed to be part of the agencies in the port as approved by the federal government. This is Nigeria Customs Service irrespective of whatever colouration or designation. It is the same customs and you will agree with me that we are not under any obligation to start to discuss with stakeholders on our mode of operations. So, the mere fact that they saw customs police at TICT yesterday shouldn’t have been seen to mean a calamity or to mean misconduct on our part.”
When his attention was drawn to the allegation that the Customs Police personnel were snapping containers and recording proceedings at the terminal and were sending same to an unknown office for blocking of cargoes, he said, “Anything Police, even if they snap, it is still at the realm of conjectures or may be suspicion; that they are snapping does not mean that you are already indicted. Sometimes, they may have privileged information, they are at liberty to work with the privileged information based on their mandate and that is why we need to actually talk to stakeholders to embrace compliance; that is the only panacea for anybody to be free and have rest of mind. But the good news is that we will soon get scanners, by the time we get scanners, I know that some of these things will reduce because the scanners will help to improve efficiency.”
On whether he can confirm that personnel of the Customs Police pulled a gun on agents, he said, “Well, I cannot confirm that for now because I know that our officials are well trained. What we were taught is that if you find yourself in a riotous and hooliganic situation, what you need to do is to apply minimal force but once life appears to be apparently threatened, you can apply maximum force. That is the law all over the world for all security agencies irrespective of designation. However, we have not gotten the full report, by the time we get the full report, I am sure that the CAC will investigate and ensure that there is no reoccurrence.”
Photo: Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Col. Hameed Ali (rtd.).
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1 Comment
The excesses and inordinate exhuberance of this so called Customs Police need to be checked and very urgently too.
It is rather insulting for the Command PRO to justify this unweildy and demeaning inhibition of Port operation to wit duplication of functions by far junior customs police officers in Terminals headed by DCs,snapping and recording Physical Examination of Containers at The Port ,all geared towards extortion.
The brazen affront and insult meted to these Terminal Deputy Comptrollers who are the releasing officers shows how decadent discipline has eroded the entire structure of NIGERIA CUSTOMS SERVICE. It is a very big shame to say because of bribe discipline and rank is of no relivance or what special training qaulifies an Inspector to impound cargo dully released by a Deputy Comptroller just outside the Port Gate thereby making Nigeria Customs a laughing stock amongst other Port Security Agencies.
Some years back at Tincan ,a Deputy Comptroller from CHQ stormed Tincan Exit Gate to impound outbound released Containers without recourse to Comptroller Jerry Alagbaoso the CAC,what happened was a lesson to the invading arrogant DC and his Sqaud ,for on sighting the very angry screaming CAC,they fled and never returned.
Comptroller Musa MBA is a homeboy,well groomed in Lagos Ports over the years and shouldn’t encourage such arrant non sence by what ever guise or you may as well invoke FORM C31 for Importers self clearance as the daily insult meted out on AGENTS MUST STOP,for without them the Port will remain a graveyard and REVENUE TARGET A MIRAGE.
A stitch in time save a whole lot.