...Accuses Customs officers of unbridled corruption
Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi has accused the Nigeria Customs Service of frustrating all efforts by the Federal Government to establish a Single Window Platform for all port operations.
The minister, while commissioning the Command, Control, Communication, and Intelligence System (CCCIS) developed by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in Lagos on Friday, openly accused customs officers of corruption, blaming their activities for the reason importers have abandoned Nigerian ports for ports of neighbouring countries. Amaechi directed his statement to representatives of the CG of Customs at the ceremony; Assistant Comptroller General of Customs; Charles Edike and the ASYCUDDA Project Manager in charge of Apapa Customs Command; Deputy Controller Yussuf Malanta.
Perhaps, the duo of ACG Edike and DC Malanta annoyed the Minister when they had earlier argued that it was impossible for the CCCIS Surveillance gadget of the NPA to send a single manifest that would be used by all agencies at the port.
In response, the minister said that the Federal Government had approved a firm to develop a national single window but that Customs has refused to key into the platform. Amaechi also said that Customs does not have any single window currently and that what they are doing is manual operation.
He alleged that Customs officers were frustrating the move by government because of their selfish interest and corruption. According to him, officers collect official and unofficial charges at the port while having human contact with agents and importers and this automatically adds to the cost of clearing.
Speaking further, he said: "There is a Presidential approval (for the single window), but Customs is saying No. Turning to the ACG and DC, the Minister said: Tell your man (CG Customs) that customs needs to say Yes so that we can put it in place for everybody""Why is America doing it, why is Benin Republic doing it, why are all ports in West Africa doing it except Nigeria?
Is it that we are the most efficient customs in the world? Or does it mean that everybody in the world is honest, except Nigeria?""Currently, all we are doing at the port is manual and it would not last for long""Very soon, Nigerians will protest against the seaport because people are now importing through Benin Republic, Niger Republic that use to import through Nigeria is now importing through Benin Republic because we are doing both official charges and unofficial charges""Goods in Nigeria are too expensive because, beyond the cost of production, we are adding our own charges""What the Customs is doing now is not single window. We want to have a national single window, but we want Customs to agree that they would key into it, because any national single window without Customs is not a single window" Amaechi said.
The minister reiterated that when it is finally on stream, the single window is going to eradicate multiple checks on cargo manifests by various agencies at the port and human contacts at the port will be eliminated.
"What the single window does is that Customs, NPA and other agencies stay in their offices and have access to a live feed, so if you want to know the quantity of goods or what the ship is carrying, you could go into your computer and tell the importer the value of the goods and he pays before leaving the UK or America""When the importer arrives here, he would have no business with Customs or anybody, just to carry his goods and he leave""But as it is currently, Customs would come, Immigration would come, NDLEA would come, by the time they are through, it would have taken three to four weeks, by so doing you are wasting time"
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