Clearing agents have threatened to go on strike within the next 24 hours because of what they described as the current cumbersome inspection regime and extortions by some government agencies at the ports.
The head of special duties of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Mr Eugene Nweke said in a statement in Lagos on Monday that there were complaints from some freight forwarders against the service providers and the
Nigeria Customs Service (NCS). It noted that the freight forwarders were aggrieved that they could not get adequate information concerning the implementation of the Automated System of Customs Data (ASYCUDA).
It pointed out that the agents were also worried about the risk managment report on goods which could be subjected to corruption. NAGAFF also said that freight forwarders complained about the additional expenses of scanning procedures which involved the hiring of trucks to the examination points.
The association also alleged that there were unauthorised tables at the terminals introduced by the NCS as well as extortion of port users by security agents. NAGAFF quotes the freight forwarders as alleging some irregularities by customs officers during post-clearance audit of goods already cleared out of the ports.
The association also complained against the enforcement and the federal operations units of the NCS that detain goods that had been properly released by other customs officials in the ports.
According to the statement, the agents are not happy with these developments which had resulted in the loss of their clients and their vehicles. NAGAFF, however, advised the fowarders to give the new import regime a little time to mature because there were bound to be initial teething problems.
The chairman of the western zone of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Mr Taiye Oyeniyi confirmed that the agents would go on strike.
Oyeniyi said that it now took one or two weeks to move a container from the port to a bonded terminal, adding that the bonded terminals lacked the equipment. He said that the ASYCUDA system of the new import regime was not working well.