Author: Saint Augustine

Selechang Taupyen is the Command’s Public Relations Officer (PRO). In this interview with our correspondent, he bares his mind on the performance of the command in the last one year, the dismantling of multiple checkpoints along Lagos-Seme Expressway, the lifting of restriction on rice importation through the land borders among other salient issues. Excerpt; Could you summarize your assessment of Seme Border Command’s performance in the last one year? The Seme Border Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, I believe it performed above average in the sense that despite the limitations and the hiccups within the year occasioned by the…

The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Seme Border chapter has said that the only panacea for a successful tenure for the new Customs Area Controller (CAC) of the Nigeria Customs Service Seme Area Command, Comptroller Victor Dimka will be for him to be open to suggestions. The newly elected Chairman of the chapter, Bisiriyu Lasis Fanu who made this known in a chat with newsmen in Lagos on Monday stated that it is only when the new CAC who have served in that command before now as a customs officer is opened to suggestions that he would have…

…Sends SOS to Minister of Transport Families of missing sailors that drowned during an accident involving their tanker ;MT. Tank and another MT. Elixir have accused the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) of bribery for failing to divulge useful information about the escaped ship (MT Elixir). The families are also appealing to the Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotime Ameachi to ask the regulatory agency its reasons for allowing the vessel to sail out of the country despite the incident that claimed one life and eight others missing. Speaking to journalists over the weekend in Lagos, wife to one…

There has been an abrupt incessant attack on trawler vessels in the Niger Delta region disrupting fishing activities and life of the seafarers, a maritime expert and consultant to the International Labour Organization (ILO), Captain Thomas Kemewerigha has said. Kemewerigha who raised the alarm during a round table meeting with maritime journalists under the aegis of Maritime Correspondent Organization of Nigeria (MARCON), held yesterday in Lagos, stressed the need for the Nigerian government to look beyond attacks on pipeline installations in the region, even as he noted that human lives at sea was at risk. According to him, there had…

The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has denied media report alleging that the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Col. Hameed Ali (rtd.) had refused to meet with it and its sister association, the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) on request. In a statement signed by the National Chairman, Customs-Agents Relations of NAGAFF, Mr. Ifeanyi Ekemezie disclosed that while it may be possible or not that ANLCA may have requested to meet with the Comptroller-General, NAGAFF had never asked for any meeting with the CGC talk more of being turned down. Ekemezie therefore hoped…

The Customs Area Controller (CAC), Seme Area Command, Comptroller Victor Dimka has promised that his command would do its best to facilitate legitimate trade and secure the nation through diligent and commitment to duty. According to a Press release sent to Primetime Reporters by the Command’s Public relations Officer (PRO), Mr. Selechang Taupyen, Dimka gave the assurance while inspecting the seizure made recently by the enforcement team of the command. Taupyen stated that the enforcement team of the command recently made a seizure of sundry items with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of Six million, nine hundred and forty-one thousand,…

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has surpassed the benchmark set by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for the actual compliance level of the International Ships and Ports Facility Security (ISPS) Code. The Acting Director General Mr. Haruna Baba Jauro made this known while receiving the IMO Needs Assessment Team at the Headquarters of the Agency. Mr. Jauro who described the maritime sector as a major economic driver assured the team that the Agency would not rest on its oars in ensuring that the nation’s seaports were safe and secure for business activities to thrive. “From being less…

The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Barr. Hassan Belllo has said that inspite of the immense contribution of freight forwarding to the socio-economic development of Nigeria; the standards of practice for the profession had been poorly rated. Bello who made this assertion at a one day training workshop for freight forwarders in Nigeria held at Apapa Lagos yesterday with the theme:” Filling the Professional gap in ICT driven freight forwarding Profession in Nigeria”, said that was because the profession had become an all comers affair which was inimical to smooth and efficient clearance of goods at Nigerian…

…Seizes goods worth over N11million in 2 days As part of measures to reposition the unit for better service delivery, the Controller, Federal Operations Unit, Zone ‘A’ Ikeja-Lagos, Comptroller Mohammed Dahiru Umar, last Tuesday held his inaugural parade where he reeled out various measures he intends to take. In his address at the occasion, he admonished officers of the Unit to remain proactive and diligent in the discharge of their functions. However, he decried the attitude of few officers which he stated runs contrary to the rules of engagement and warned that he would not tolerate indolence or any form…

President, Centre for Marine Surveyors Nigeria, Prince Adebambo Ademiluyi has said that the preference of Nigerians for foreign companies as against the indigenous ones was not as a result of lack of indigenous capacity in the marine surveying practice in Nigeria. Ademiluyi who stated this at a forum in Lagos recently admitted that the trend could be attributed to the mindset of Nigerians which tended to believe that anything foreign was superior and better than the local ones dismissing that as an error of the mind. He observed that a close look at those companies often referred to as foreign…