NAGAFF to Resident Reporters, Dikko’s administration has done well

In an apparent move to curtail the excesses of the Resident reporters who often times speculate on the removal or otherwise of the Comptroller-General of Customs, Alhaji Dr. Dikko Inde Abdullahi, the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has warned the Resident Reporters to desist from such act as it was capable of distracting the officers of the government from discharging their legitimate duties.
In a two paged letter addressed to the president, Maritime Reporters’ Association of Nigeria (MARAN), Mr. Bolaji Akinola and made available to Primetime Reporters, the Deputy National President Seaport, Prince Obums Anene urged the leadership of the various Maritime Reporters’ Associations to encourage their members to abide by the professional ethics as well as imbibe the principles of investigative journalism.
Prince Anene opined that the association was no longer comfortable with the way and manner the resident reporters in the nation’s airports, seaports and border stations dedicated their time in writing about the removal from or continual stay in office of some government officials in the Maritime sector with particular reference to the Comptroller-General of Customs.
He regretted that instead of these reporters engaging themselves in issues that would help in the advancement of the nation’s international trade and ports administration; they were busy engaging in mercenary work based on pecuniary interests.
He warned that the action if left unchecked was capable of creating undue tension, suspicion and enmity within the ranks of the service personnel.
The NAGAFF Chieftain reminded the resident reporters that the Officers of the Nigeria Customs Service were civil servants governed by the civil service rules and regulations thus the tenure of any civil servant which is either 35 years in service or 60 years of age whichever come first also applied to the Customs.
According to him, “in the particular case of the CGC, the truth remains that he is yet to reach 35 years in service or 60 years of age and he has not been found guilty of any offence against the civil service rules or customs law. It is our view in NAGAFF that should any person have information about the administration of the current Comptroller-General, such a person should write to the appropriate authority for investigation and necessary action. It is an ambulance chasing for the past five years on the part of some resident reporters”.
“Therefore, those who may have one grouse or the other over the success of the Dikko led-administration should follow due process of raising issues rather than speculative reporting thereby causing undue distraction in our port system”.
He therefore advised the journalists to engage their time to addressing frivolous port charges, access roads repairs, truck terminals, inland containers, non compliant attitude to rules, corruption in the system, support for commercial regulation in the ports, inland waterways transportation, sustainable freight business, cabotage regulation and its derivatives, transport policy in Nigeria and so on rather than wasting their time on non issues.
He recalled that it was the efforts of the Comptroller-General of Customs that dislodged the service providers from undertaking the Destination Inspection in Nigeria thereby saving the country of huge capital flight.
While pointing out that the Comptroller-General had done so well in the areas of revenue collections, anti-smuggling function, trade facilitation and so on, he however called on the comptroller-General to make effort to harmonize the Customs and excise Act (CEMA) and the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) Act to entrench the culture of professionalism in the industry.
“The point herein canvassed is to state clearly from our vantage point that the Dikko administration has done well in the area of revenue collection, anti-smuggling function, trade facilitation, post audit function, international collaboration, capacity building and training, Infrastructural development and ICT compliance”.
“We believe no one should distract the attention of the CGC from his laudable programmes. However, what we think should attract the attention of the CGC at the moment is the divide between CEMA and CRFFN. There is the urgent need to harmonize the relevance and operations of these two legislative instruments to achieve professionalism and compliance level on the part of the freight forwarders and shippers in the Customs ports and approved border stations”.
“We will also want the management of the NCS to increase their efforts in lobbying the national assembly and the Presidency with a view to ushering in a new customs law that seeks to grant partial autonomy in the customs administration”, Anene stated.