Hameed Ali, comptroller-general of Nigeria
Customs Service (NCS), has warned officers and
clearing agents to shun corruption or risk the
consequence of involvement in such practices.
Speaking in Lagos on Monday during his maiden
working visit to the Apapa area command, Ali
said his mandate as head of NCS was to reform
and restructure the service.
He promised to ensure that all acts of cutting
corners by some importers and agents were
stopped, warning that anybody culpable risks
being jailed.
“The days of corruption are gone. Anybody
caught shall not be left to go scot-free,” he said.
“I am a stickler for the enforcement of the
law. There is need for law and order, and it is
important to follow the rules as they are so that
we all do not have problems.”
He said it was possible for customs to clear
goods from the port within 48 hours if there were
no falsification of declaration of goods.
He said non-compliance with the rules of
operation had been a challenge in the service.
Ali also urged the agents to ensure that they get
properly trained by way of capacity building, to
help them function adequately as demanded by
new technologies.
He said he had not come to make things difficult
for operators but to ensure orderliness and
conformity to the law to promote trade.
Stakeholders raised issues on challenges they
were facing in carrying out their operations.
Kayode Farinto, the public relations officer of the
Association of Licensed Customs Agents
(ANLCA), raised concerns over obsolete and
faulty scanners at the ports.
He also complained about incessant alerts
coming from multiple sources, as well as the
challenge of opening Form M due to the
forex restriction by the Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN).
“We want the comptroller-general to look into
the problem of obsolete scanners being used at
the port,” he said.
“It is also a problem now to raise Form M due to
the CBN restriction on FOREX. All these cause
delays in clearing cargo, so cargoes are trapped
in the port and we all know what that means.”
He urged the customs boss to make trade
facilitation a cardinal point of his administration.

www.thecable.ng/ali-corrupt-customs-officers-wont-go-scot-free

This is the Change we crave for...

Noise makn Apc gov.

Why do police sound their siren so loud when going to a crime scene? cos they wnt to scare away thiefs,dats wot bubu and his present crop of noise makers do,including the coming ones.

Mr Hamid stop the publicity,get to work and 'genuinely'flush any said corrupt officials out in a civic manner,cos we ar nt a millitqry era of raid and seize goods,or targeting a particular race to bring down their biznes,u wl jst finish Nigeria economically.

D colonel has spoken

NICE TO HEAR

This man na just talk he talk joor.....he said that when he was appointed and till now no corrupt custom personnel have been nabbed, yet we have so many of them perpetrating their evils everyday. A beg act joor and leave story for Adebayo Faleti

story for the gods!!!