Recently, the 100% Compliance Team of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF petitioned the National Security Adviser, NSA, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu against the activities of the Operators of scanning machines in the Western Seaports. The Compliance Team accused the operators of deliberately, purposefully and maliciously subverting the original plan and purpose of introducing scanning machines in cargo clearing processes, especially, in the nation’s Western Seaports, thereby perpetuating the option of physical examination.
In this interview with the National Coordinator of the Save Nigeria Importers, Freight Forwarders and Exporters Coalition, SNIFFIEC, Chief Osita Chukwu discusses the petition and its implications for freight forwarders and the entire economy in general. Excerpts:
Sir, you have read the Petition addressed to the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA alleging sabotage by the operators of the scanners at the Western ports. Would you confirm the veracity of the allegations contained in the petition?
Scanner is okay, it’s working. If I take you to the place, you will see that it is working. I, Chukwu Osita, quote me, saw you (Tanko) at the scanning site doing your work. What makes it not working? I was at the scanning site, I did my work, five containers and took delivery. My friends also did, some did five, some ten, some two and even one. And they all took delivery of their containers.
Why is it that it is only you that is complaining that the operators of the scanners are not working? That’s a cheap blackmail and a frivolous attempt to undermine the good job that we all are doing. I can’t say it is customs or anybody, it’s all of us across the whole ports are doing the good job, if not we won’t be able to make N1.3 Trillion the customs are talking about. How did they make it? They were able to achieve that because the system is working seamlessly.
No more business as usual and that is why he’s crying foul. You come there, they scan your good and charge you, you pay. If you have a DN – Demand Notice, they give it to you. Tanko was crying foul because he was given Demand Notice to pay for the containers he wants to smuggle out without paying an accurate duty and customs said no, we can’t leave you this time because we are not comfortable with what you have paid, look at what you are supposed to pay, go and contest it and the man started making this cheap blackmail so as to arm twist the customs and customs insisted that he must pay the difference.
It’s a cheap blackmail, if not what brought about him writing a petition to the NSA (National Security Adviser) when we have CAC? All CACs have Western Zone Coordinator which is the ACG, he did not bring this issue to the notice of any of them, not even to the notice of DCG or the CG. He did not even seem it fit to take the matter to the Minister of Finance who oversees the customs, he went ahead to petition the National Security Adviser. Why?
It means he has an ulterior motive. You can’t blackmail anybody so as to be recognized. We all know when he came into this industry, he is just a baby in the industry.
Sir, he is not actually talking about scanners not working but he’s talking about the Operators jettisoning the use of scanners for cargo examination and opting for physical examination for personal gains.
There is nothing like that. That’s why I am angry, he is trying to spoil our job. If Tanko is sure that what he is saying is true, let us go for a debate on this issue on air. I will pay for my own time and he will pay for his time. Tanko is not a seasoned agent, he is only at the port to see if there’s anybody that has any problem, he goes to solve it. He doesn’t know what he’s doing, give Tanko a bill of lading, he cannot interpret it. He only goes to the Long Room to solve people’s problems, other documents, he doesn’t know it. Even to operate a computer, he doesn’t know how to do it. He’s not literate.
Even if other people do not call him to order, I will because I am a technocrat, I cannot just sit by and allow someone to come and spoil our field because our business is very important and crucial that nobody can mess up with it.
Are you now saying that the allegation that he raised is… (cuts in)
It’s frivolous, it’s unfounded. Go there and see that scanners are working. I am not good at arguing but I will just take you to the scanning seat now and if you don’t see scanners working, then, I am a tool. The officials there are busy scanning and releasing containers, unless there is an alert on your consignment, only then would it be set aside for physical examination to determine the signal. So, why would he say that people are trying to use it to enrich themselves?
What about the alleged returning of scanned containers to the stack irrespective of the examination status, making agents pay so much in demurrage, hiring and paying for trucks twice?
That issue has been addressed by all the freight forwarding associations’ chapter Chairmen.
Which issue is that?
The Chairmen in Apapa and Western Zone ports have addressed this issue when they said that the scanners should be assigned 200 containers and the physical examination should be assigned 300 containers. Then, because of lack of space, those people said that scanners could be allotted 150 containers while physical examination will be allotted 200 or 250 containers and we accepted it together with the management of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council.
He was not in that meeting, Tanko is not a chapter Chairman of any of the freight forwarding associations, it’s just NAGAFF leadership that is making Tanko to feel so important. Now, his Compliance Team is non compliant because whenever you see them misbehaving, something is wrong somewhere. How can you say you are 100% Compliance Team and everyday I see you at the table if one Customs DC or the other, begging? Why are you begging if you are compliant?
Should you be seen at the port according to your Compliance Team? You are supposed to be guiding your people on issues of compliance at your Secretariat and anybody that is found wanting, you sanction the person just like NBA and ICAN, NMA and so on. The only body empowered by law to sanction erring freight forwarders is the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, CRFFN. It is only the CRFFN that is supposed to have a Compliance Team not NAGAFF. NAGAFF is on an association like every other one that can be registered by anybody. All associations are registered under the Corporate Affairs Commission. So, you can’t be bigger than the association that you belong to. So, he got it wrong there.
Anybody that comes to cause trouble at the port in the name Team should be arrested by the Police, DSS and other security agencies because they are constituting nuisance to the entire port community. Some of the miscreants he gathered and said that they are a Compliance Team, what do they know about clearing? Call all of them and ask them any question relating to clearing, 90 percent of them do not know about clearing. He is just using Agberos and all these miscreants to maneuver and exploit the people.
He needs to be stopped from parading himself as the National Coordinator of 100% Compliance Team because it is only the government that can set up such a body, only then would such a body be able to correct and take care of any anomaly or ill coming out from the port community, not Tanko. Even one of the officers can carry him and put him behind bars and he cannot come out.
Are you really saying that Tanko and his team are not doing good job at the port?
He is doing what he’s doing for self aggrandizement. I heard how he has been going around closing down bonded terminals, harassing them, terrorizing and extorting money from them, that is not what his job is all about. We have a Council, if our Council decides to set up a Compliance Team, they will be the ones to checkmate and supervise us.
So, are you calling for the disbandment of the 100% Compliance Team?
It’s already disbanded long ago. He’s just bringing it up once again. They said no Compliance Team, have you seen the vehicle going round again? He was told to stop. He had this quarrel with the Chairman of NAGAFF, Apapa chapter, Ezeh who said if I am the Chairman of Apapa chapter and you are coming here to carry out your compliance job, I should be out on notice and details of operations in my chapter made known to me. What is National Coordinator? Just created an office for him to compensate him for losing to Mr. Ndubuisi Uzoegbo as the Chairman of Apapa chapter of the association.
And in an attempt to show that NAGAFF is not an Igbo association but inclusive of all Nigerians, he created that office for him to be relevant in the association. But the man is now acting more than the President of the association, Ezisi. Ezisi is the President of NAGAFF, they don’t respect him, how many times have you seen Ezisi talking? He talks only when it is reasonable for him to speak. He doesn’t make noise, if you see him talking, then, he is talking about how the port will be better not coming to blackmail people so as to be relevant.
If the 100% Compliance Team has been disbanded, why would he still be making moves such as petitioning the Office of the NSA and others without any hindrance from anywhere?
It is just because Dr. Aniebonam is distracted by the happenings in the NNPP where some interests are working hard to take away the party from him. If not for that political crisis, Tanko wouldn’t be doing this. Aniebonam has a lot on his head right now, he is running helter skelter to see how he can recover the party and he’s dealing with people with billions of money. That’s why he (Tanko) had the opportunity to do what he’s doing, making noise in the media every time. He should go and do his job, he is a nuisance.
Some time in the past, some freight forwarding associations had raised an eyebrow on the activities of Alhaji Tanko and his team, and now you. Would it be right to say that you people are doing this because you are jealous of the successes achieved so far by Alhaji Tanko?
Not at all! Even if there is anything like that, I am not a party to it. You know, Save Nigeria Importers, Freight Forwarders and Exporters Coalition, SNIFFIEC is not just an association, we are a maritime right activists group. The way we attack Tanko is the same way we attack customs, NPA, Shippers’ Council,NIWA and others in the system. Whenever we see you getting it right, we equally commend you and if we see you not getting it right, we talk to you, if you continue, we talk to your head and if it continues, we escalate it.
But have you followed this process that you mentioned here in the case of Alhaji Tanko?
We have done that several times. If you had seen my reports on this issue, you will be left with no doubt that we have been on him for over a long time. We have even given him warning at a point but he persisted. You are not a Chairman of any chapter, and you are not a President. What concerns you such that whenever he speaks, they say NAGAFF said…
But the Compliance Team is a stakeholder group?
What is a stakeholder? A stakeholder should be able to say the truth at all times and not use fallacy to deceive people and say what is not. A stakeholder should be able to say something that can be substantiated and not making stories up to pull people down. He’s the one doing bad jobs and he’s heading the 100% Compliance Team. I remember some jobs I rejected here and they went to give him the jobs…
This is an allegation sir?
I didn’t say you shouldn’t quote me, quote me right, people have come here with some jobs and I said I can’t do these jobs, they are contraband and they said but Tanko said he would do it and I said go and give it to him, I am not interested because it is economic sabotage.
Now that it appears that Alhaji Tanko is refusing every entreaty to retrace his steps, what step are you going to take now to…?
I am not going to take any step, only that I have told the government what to do. If he fails to stop forthwith, they should get him arrested. If he does such a thing again with his Compliance Team, all of them will be arrested. You cannot be bigger than the government that made you, you don’t go and do or say something that will undermine the economic wellbeing of this country. There are certain things you cannot say or do. I have already told the world to ignore him, this is his usual antics to make way for himself. If a job is N20 million, Tanko would want to carry that job with N3 million and take the importer from the agent, telling him he’s the one handling the job.
Is there any damage done to your business by the activities of Alhaji Tanko and his team that made you come for him so ferociously?
There are a lot of them. Tanko breaches protocols by undermining the effectiveness of the people that are working with him. Just like somebody coming out from Save Nigeria to go and say things he’s not authorized to say, I assure you that his expulsion letter will be typed today and serve him with immediate effect because we don’t work that way. The right thing to do is if you see something, you report to your leadership and if that thing should be made public, it should be coming from the National Coordinator or Secretary or the Public Relations Officer.
You don’t just jump gun, what he’s doing is jumping the protocol. He doesn’t know the legal, social and economic implications of the petition he had written to the Office of the NSA. By that petition, he has indicted all the CACs in the Western Zone, he has indicted all the Port Managers in the Western Zone, he has indicted the Comptroller General of Customs. That is what Tanko is doing. And that particular indictment was a very serious one because he has indirectly reported them to the NSA. How could he do a thing like that?
What is your final word to Alhaji Tanko and his Compliance Team?
Tanko should go and sit down with his NAGAFF Compliance Team, behave well and conduct himself in a manner that would depict him as a good freight forwarder. He should comport himself very well in a manner that speaks well of him. He should first of all submit himself to the leadership of NAGAFF and become a compliant member of NAGAFF before looking for who to get to comply outside his association.
Photo: Chief Osita Patrick Chukwu, National Coordinator, Save Nigeria Importers, Freight Forwarders and Exporters Coalition, SNIFFIEC.
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