The Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria, APFFLON has called on the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS to withdraw the reported public notice mandating importers and their agents to process and clear their overtime vehicles and cargoes currently held at various commands within a 30-day period or have them auctioned by the Service upon expiration of the grace period.
The President of APFFLON, Otunba Frank Ogunojemite who made this call in a chat with our correspondent in his office in Lagos on Wednesday stated that the call became necessary following a strike action embarked upon by the staff of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, NAFDAC for more than two weeks now and the service disruptions emanating from banks in the country for some weeks now affecting seamless transactions.
Ogunojemite who argued that these two variables had direct impact on Cargo clearing at the seaports noted that the clearance of NAFDAC regulated products had been stalled since the commencement of the strike while opening of Form M and other banks transactions relating to cargo clearing had been stalled system the epileptic service by the banks occasioned by the alleged ongoing system upgrade.
“With this development, a lot of cargoes are trapped at the ports not because the owners of the cargoes don’t want to take delivery but because they have been rendered helpless because of the ongoing strike by NAFDAC staff and the banks’ system disruptions. These importers are already losing a lot to demurrage payment and so, Customs should not add to their woes by auctioning their goods.
“So, we have to take all these into consideration when we want to issue some directives.
“APFFLON is therefore, appealing to the Nigeria Customs Service to withdraw the notice for now pending when these two variables affecting seamless cargo clearance at the ports are resolved. We also appeal to the Federal Ministry of Finance as well to take a closer look at the Nigerian banking system since most banks in Nigeria are now running epileptic service. This is affecting the ease of doing business.
“The NCS should shelve the idea of cargo auction for now pending when these issues are resolved so as not allow importers and their agents to lose their investment for no fault of theirs. This appeal is important because if they should go ahead and implement the 30 day notice, many importers will lose their investment and this will not be good for the nation’s economy at this point in time”, he submitted.
In a public notice reportedly posted on its website, the Nigeria Customs Service had advised importers and agents to clear their goods within the stipulated timeframe to avoid forfeiture to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
This directive, accompanied by a Motion Ex-parte with Suit No: FHC/L/MISC/680/2024 dated October 15, 2024 has been published to inform the public.
The statement reads, “Accordingly, Importers/Agents of the overtime goods are given 30 days grace period from the date of this publication to process and clear their goods or forfeit same to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“Please note that, in accordance with NCS Act 2023, Nigeria Customs Service will commence the auction of all uncleared overtime goods immediately after the expiration of the grace period.”
Photo: Otunba Frank Ogunojemite, President, APFFLON.
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