The Customs Area Controller (CAC), Apapa Area Command, Comptroller Willy Egbudin has said that the incidences of different names appearing on the importer’s form M, Bill of lading and SGD was becoming a problem which the command was trying to contend with.
Egbudin who disclosed this at a stakeholders’ meeting held at the command Wednesday stated that if the trend go beyond the level it was at the moment, the command would have a big problem in its hand.
While calling on the licensed customs agents to educate their importers on this development, as he was quite sure that they don’t know what they were doing, he pointed out that it was possible the importers were supplying goods that doesn’t belong to them as according to him, that was the only way he could reconcile the it.
“If your form M is saying Mr. A, and your Bill of lading is saying Mr. B, then your PAAR will bear Mr. C, how do you reconcile the issue? It is a problem. So, take it back and when you get back, tell your importers, if you are opening a form M, the name you use in the form M should be the same with the name you give to those who are bringing the goods so that what is in your form M will also be in sync with your bill of lading, not having different names. It doesn’t help, it is a problem, it looks like a fraud and if we continue to tackle that, most people will not take their consignments.
“So, we are rectifying that and we hope we will not have this kind of problem in future”, he said.
The CAC recalled that since he took over the leadership of the command, he had been harping on transparency, honesty in cargo declaration saying that he was thinking that by now, agents and their importers should be complying with it.
He maintained that if they were not complying with it, it only meant that they were not doing their work as he expected them to advise their individual importers on why it was necessary for them to declare what they were importing.
He said,” It will be wrong for somebody to import tyres for example and declare them as raw materials and you know the CEMA empowers customs to seize such items and if we continue to make seizures, I don’t know, it is not a good thing because we are not helping ourselves.
“The Customs has said that from the beginning, even when the importer makes false declaration, you as the agent can reflect the true position in your SGD, even if the item is not mentioned in your PAAR or in your bill of lading. But if you declare it, that is why we say Single Good Declaration form, what you are telling us is that you are making this declaration willingly so that when you make declaration, you have affirmed that this is what is contained in the container.
“But by the time we examine that container and find out that what is in that container is different from what is declared, it becomes a problem. Please ensure you advised your importers, there is nothing wrong in declaring your goods, when you declare it, you have a smooth ride in the clearance procedures and when we tell you that it is possible to take your consignments within 48 hours, we know it is possible in this port. What we require is for you to be transparent in whatever you are doing”.
Also speaking, the Area Commander, Western Ports of the Nigerian Police Force, Mr. Presely Dode informed that the role of the Police was to support whatever the customs and other government agencies were doing at the Western Ports assuring that the Police would play it’s role by seeing that no injustice was done at the ports.
He appealed to those involved in importing and exporting cargo to ensure that the right thing was done adding that whatever they were doing that was different from the right thing may only last for a while as the law would one day catch up with them in which case it would be assumed that they had been doing it over time.
“You can reach out to your importers and your exporters so that they don’t implicate themselves and again I want to appeal on the part of information because the Police, the Customs and other security agents cannot do it alone. So, we need credible information from you to enable us carry this country forward because there is no crime committed that is not witnessed by anybody. So, you help us to help the system so that the country can progress and go forward”, he stated.
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