The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA)’s Presidential Retreat 2017 has ended in Lagos with a call on License Customs Agents to challenge the discretionary powers exercised by customs officers as it had no place in customs laws and trade facilitation.
The retreat which was packaged principally to sensitize political appointees of the National President of ANLCA, Prince Olayiwola Shittu, was arranged to appraise in the main, performances and challenges of appointees of the National President in the course of discharging their official responsibilities.
The retreat which also featured a lecture on the Role of Customs Brokers in Customs Administration was delivered by a retired Comptroller of Customs, Olu Lewis Ogunojemite, who is now a consultant on Customs, ICT and trade facilitation matters.
Indepth and backed by relevant legislations and international conventions, Ogunojemite dwelt on international best practices vis-a-vis the environmental peculiarities of Customs cargo clearance in Nigeria, a need for automation of processes and facilitating trade across Customs ports and international borders.
He posited that the discretionary power exercised by Customs officers has no place in Customs laws and trade facilitation adding that it ought to be challenged for discontinuance.
The former Comptroller observed that disputes and discrepancies noticed during cargo clearance ought to be resolved through established WCO instruments, to facilitate the clearance of cargo while valuation of imports should be strictly based on proven transaction value and not sourced from the internet.
He maintained that the free days granted by shipping companies and terminal operator was a customs enforced regulation/rule meant to ease cargo clearance and reduce cost of clearing cargo even as he described a situation where it appeared that the shipping agents and terminal operators appeared to be doing a favor to importers as incorrect.
Comptroller Ogunojemite (rtd.) also challenged ANLCA to interrogate the situation where virtually every item imported into Nigeria were subjected to Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) regulation and how it negatively impacted on trade facilitation which he said was not internationally acceptable, thereby calling for a concerted effort by ANLCA to checkmate its prevalence.
He advised licensed Customs Agencies to consolidate their licenses to become bigger players in the industry, apprehensive of the intentions of Nigeria Customs and the Federal Government of Nigeria in the immediate future.
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