… Set to name non-compliant freight forwarders, bonded terminals, agencies, says Agubanze
The 100% Compliance Team of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has said that it will monitor closely the ongoing re-evaluation of the bonded terminals by a committee set up by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) recently to carry on the exercise.
National Coordinator of the group, Alhaji Ibrahim Tanko who disclosed this at press briefing in Lagos yesterday noted that was going to revisit, along with the press, those bonded terminals visited by the committee and turn in their own report so as to ensure that nothing went wrong during the re-evaluation exercise.
In his words, “We are going to revisit those places that they visited. If they go to terminal A, we are going to revisit that terminal A after they have finished their job there but we won’t do it alone, we are going to do it with the press so that somebody will not say we are lying. They will use their videos and cameras to record our findings and we will write our report so that in case they (the committee) compromise. But I know that the person heading that committee is a man of integrity, I know him, I am not expecting him to compromise.”
Tanko informed that his team was going have a meeting with the committee next week so as to hear from him on the progress they have made so far saying that NAGAFF 100% Compliance team will make sure that things go the way they should.
“We are not the people that said we should do the right thing rather it is the government agencies like customs, NDLEA and the rest that said the freight forwarders were not doing the right thing and we took it upon ourselves to do the right thing and that is what we are now doing. We are not up to two years but everybody can testify that within the short period of our stay, there is improvement from our members. We cannot say we are all doing the right thing but now, we are up to sixty percent”, he said.
He decried the attitude of the terminal operators operating at the nation’s seaports who he said were in the habit of stemming cargoes to bonded terminals even without the knowledge and express permission of the owner of the cargo and went ahead to make him bear the cost of the transfer which he did authorize.
“That is why we have been complaining but today, based on this complains we have been doing, thank God for the management of customs, they have responded to our complains. I really appreciate the management of customs for the quick response to our complaints”, he further said.
Also speaking, the Chairman, NAGAFF’s 100% Compliance Response Team, Headquarters, Rev. Emmanuel Agubanze while recalling that the law of affreightment allows the importer to know the final destination of his or her cargo from the point of origin regretted that in Nigeria, nobody was observing the law any longer.
According to Agubanze, “You come to the point of destination, your cargo is not made available to you, your cargo is taken to another place that you don’t even know and you are asked to pay all manner of costs in addition to your freight cost.
“So, we thank God today that Alhaji Tanko, with his team has awoken the consciousness of government agencies like the Nigeria Customs Service and that is why today the Nigeria Customs Service has listened and has found NAGAFF Compliance team to be a partner in the enthronement of compliance in the system because non-compliance in the system is what has bastardized the system and that was why many of the Nigerian importers now relocate to other climes in West Africa to do their business and then bring in the goods through smuggling. It is high time Nigerians should say enough of this madness.”
He pointed out that “, from now on, you will see a new force because we going to mention names of government agencies that are not complying, we are going to mention names of freight forwarders that are not complying and we are going to mention names of bonded terminals that are not complying. Virtually all the bonded terminals have fallen short of the expectations of the Nigeria Customs in granting them the license to operate and we all know this.”
He, therefore, called on the journalists to partner with NAGAFF compliance team so that it could get the nation’s ports and port related industries working again adding, “With your support, there is no problem that cannot be surmounted.”
“We are going to surmount all the problems and with your help and the help of all the Nigerians including the importers, we are going to achieve this goal”, he further said.
On why his team was on a visit to the Secretariat of the 100% Compliance Team, he said, “We have just come here to harmonize idea on how to elevate the issue of compliance because NAGAFF is very passionate about compliance.”
Photo 1: Alhaji Ibrahim Tanko, National Coordinator, NAGAFF’s 100% Compliance Team.
Photo 2: Rev. Emmanuel Agubanze, Chairman, 100% Compliance Response Team, Headquarters.
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