Author: Saint Augustine

The plan by the federal government of Nigeria to bar revenue-generating agencies, including the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS from collecting revenues on it’s behalf and to introduce a single agency – Nigeria Revenue Service to handle the task has received the blessing of some prominent freight forwarders and port users in the Nigerian maritime industry. This is as the immediate past Sole Administrator of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, Otunba Abdulazeez Babatunde Mukaila has described the move as a welcome development even as he argued that this move, if implemented to the later, would enable particularly, the…

The Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria, MWUN has threatened to withdraw the services of its members in the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Dock labour, Shipping and Freight forwarding agencies and Seamen from all ports, jetties, terminals and Oil and Gas platforms nationwide should the management of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, CRFFN continues to withhold the nine months of salaries owed its members on its (CRFFN) employ. The Union in a statement signed by Oniha Erazua on behalf of its Secretary General in Lagos on Thursday said that MWUN as a responsible Union had gone…

UBA Foundation, the Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR arm of the United Bank for Africa, UBA Plc, has launched the 2024 edition of its prestigious National Essay Competition, NEC, unveiling a significant 100% increase in the educational grants for top winners. Now in its 14th year, the NEC is an initiative designed to foster literacy, critical thinking, and healthy competition among secondary school students, while providing future leaders with the financial support needed to pursue higher education. This year’s competition invites senior secondary school students to submit essays on the topic: “The Impact of Carbon Emission on Climate in Nigeria: Discuss…

The Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, is set to lead a delegation to the 2024 Finance and Business Online Publishers, FiBOP capacity-building workshop. This prestigious event, themed, “Digital Innovation: Deepening Infrastructure for Efficient Financial Ecosystem”, will take place from October 18-20, 2024 at the Orchids Hotel in Lekki, Lagos. As a key speaker, Adeniyi will shed light on the strategic importance of digital infrastructure to import duty collection and accountability. He brings his expertise in customs administration, having recently made key appointments and redeployments within the Nigerian Customs Service to enhance its leadership and optimize…

The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Apapa Port Command has busted an attempt at smuggling illicit drugs worth a total of N1,183,915,500 (one billion, one hundred and eighty three million, nine hundred and fifteen thousand, five hundred naira) into the country in 4 units of 40ft containers. Breakdown of the seizures shows they were 236,783 bottles of cough syrup containing codeine and barkadin cough syrup packed in a total of 2,174 cartons from two terminals under the command. Three of the seizures were made in APM Terminals and one was made at Kachicares Bonded Terminal. Giving further details on the seizures,…

The Oyo State Government and the United Nations Children’s Education Fund, UNICEF, Lagos Field Office have urged residents of the State to recommit to the practice of proper hand washing method. The Chairman, Oyo State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, OYORUWASSA, Mr. Babalola Afobaje stated this at an event in Okolo, Ibarapa-East Local Government Area of Oyo State to commemorate the Year 2024 Global Handwashing Day, with the theme “Why are Clean Hands still Important?” He emphasized the life-saving importance of handwashing with soap, calling it a health necessity, that prevents the spread of diseases such as cholera, diarrhea…

By Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR The Anambra State House of Assembly passed two progressive legislations pursuant to its powers under the Constitution (Anambra State Economic Planning and Development Law, 2024; and Anambra State Local Government Administration Law, 2024), and I have signed them into law. This has generated commentaries and debates especially in relation to their consistency or inconsistency with the recent Supreme Court judgement and the mantra of “local government autonomy.” My media team, other members of my government as well as well meaning Nigerians have vigorously defended these progressive laws and that should suffice. At this moment in…

The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS has said that it has extended the verification exercise for the recovery of import duties on illegally imported private aircraft by one month. According to a statement signed in Abuja on Monday by the National Public Relations Officer of the Service, Chief Superintendent of Customs, Abdullahi Maiwada, the one month period takes effect from Monday 14th October, 2024 to Thursday 14th November, 2024. The statement explained that the extension was to further engage operators who had expressed willingness to regularize their import duties, providing them with an additional window to comply with the necessary regulations. …

…As ICRC DG expresses readiness to partner NIMASA on maritime sector development Dr. Dayo Mobereola, the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA has asserted that adopting the Public Private Partnership, PPP model is essential for the infrastructural development of Nigeria’s maritime sector. The Director General who made this statement while hosting Dr. Jobson Oseodion Ewalefoh, the Director General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, ICRC, emphasized the importance of the Commission’s increased involvement in attracting private investors to develop infrastructural capacity in Nigeria’s maritime sector. Accordingly, Mobereola said; “We appreciate the Management of the ICRC…

The Comptroller-General of Customs, CGC, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, held a high-level meeting with the Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, Wamkele Mene on the margins of the Biashara Afrika 2024 forum hosted in Kigali, Rwanda, from 9th to 11th October 2024. This significant engagement brought together key stakeholders to discuss ways to enhance intra-African trade and foster deeper economic integration. The meeting between the CGC and the Secretary-General provided a unique opportunity to refine strategies aimed at improving trade facilitation under the AfCFTA agreement. Discussions centered on addressing existing bottlenecks and encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises,…