₦airaland Forum

SeunAero: The impasse is over. Operations have commenced today at the various cargo sheds.

r231: The continued closure of of both NACHO and SACHOL warehouses at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos may hamper flight of cargo planes into the country.

The two warehouses, which is the two major holding points for cargo that come into the country through the Murtalar Mohammed International Airport, were shut down by the Nigeria Customs Service over what the service described as ”unexplained exit of goods without proper documentation, unexplained Customs release and evidence of payment of import duty and other statutory charges”.

The closure of these cargo holding bay may result to non availability of space for any cargo to be offloaded and kept pending their claerance.

The immediate past chairman of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport chapter of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA); Mr Dada Livinus Agabuzo therefore warned that long closure of the warehouses will affect cargo flight into Nigeria.

“If it goes on for more than one week, we will have to advise the airlines to stop bringing cargoes to Lagos”, he warned.

The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service , Alhaji Dikko Abdulahi, has approved the closure.

The action is in exercise of the statutory powers of the Service as provided under section 145(1b) of the Customs and Excise Management Act, (CEMA).

Customs Area Controller (CAC) of the Command, Comptroller Mohammed Umar, in a statement signed by the Customs Public Relations Officer (CPRO), Assistant Superintendent Thelma Williams, said that the action became necessary after several meetings and consultations held with stakeholders ended with no positive resolution.

The consultations, according to the CAC, failed to resolve the massive evasion of duties which the customs said has resulted to collosal loss of revenue to the Federal government.Umar added that agents’ non-compliance with Customs procedures and the attendant loss of revenue accruable to the Federal Government, national security implications, as well as what he described as un-conducive working environment in the warehouses militating against the effective discharge of duties of officers at the Command, necessitated the closure of the warehouses.

He said that the Command had no option than to invoke the provisions of sections 88, 96 and 98 (b) of CEMA and seal up the warehouses in order to ensure and enforce compliance.

Mr Agabuzo, the ANLCA cheiftain, revealed that the bone of contention is the missing unutilized airway bills that the duo of NAHCO and SAHCOL have not been able to account for. According to him, the two cargo handlers are expected to account for the missing airway bills, adding that this is what the Customs is investigating and that this is why the two warehouses were shut.
Head, Corporate Communications, SAHCOL, also Mr Basil Agboarumi, confirmed the closure.

“No doubt that we are custodians of the warehouse, no goods can move out of our warehouse without the approval of the Customs”.
”Discussions are going on between the handling companies, custom licensed agents and the Customs,” he said.
Similarly, the head, Corporate Communications of NAHCO, Mr Adesanya Onayoade, confirmed that the Customs has temporarily closed the customs bonded warehouse.

Onayoade said that the closure was to enable a sanitisation exercise that would ultimately improve service delivery and block all revenue leakages.

TokyoBulls: FMCL (one of the biggest distribution companies in Nigeria) came into Nigeria in 1893. That means the products they sold then must be more than 100 years old as long as they're still in existence. Top on that list is Tiger Blade.