Government blamed for failure of 48-hour clearance target
By IFEANYINWA OBI
The multiplicity of government agencies operating at the nation’s ports has been blamed for the failure to achieve the 48-hour goods clearance target set for the ports by government.
Public Relations Officer, Association of Nigeria Licensed Custom Agents (ANLCA), Ports Terminal Multipurpose Services Limited (PTML) Chapter, Mr. Segunmari Omotayo, made the remark recently in Lagos while fielding questions from journalists on the possibility or otherwise of attaining the 48-hour clearance target set by the Federal Government for clearance of goods at the ports.
He noted that during examination of imported goods at examination bay, about eight government agencies including: Nigerian Customs Service, State Security Service, Directorate of Military Intelligence, Task Force, Standard Organization of Nigeria, National Agency for Food Drug and Control, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Plant and Animal Quarantine, conduct joint examination.
According to him, the agencies prefer to conduct joint physical examination as against using the scanning machines adding that the conduction of physical examination contributes to delay in the process of clearing goods.
Omotayo also said that apart from various sections of the service like Enforcement, Valuation, Customs Investigation Unit, Gate Officer, Task Force etc, that certify documents, the issuance of Duty Cards has been monetized.
He disclosed that most times Duty Cards are hoarded so as to create artificial scarcity and create room for extortion of money.
Based on the bottlenecks, the PRO said that it takes about one week to clear a vehicle through PTML as against the 48-hour target. Omotayo decried the attitude of officers of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) who often arrest truck drivers conveying imported goods after such goods must have been cleared at the port adding that after such arrests, only agents and importers are persecuted while officers of the service that aided and abated are allowed to resume duty after brief interrogation.
Public Relations officer, Ports Terminal Multipurpose Service Limited Area Command, Mr. Ogbona, however decried insinuations making the rounds that officers of the service have been hoarding Duty Cards saying “the Duty Cards are genuinely scarce but that several correspondences have been sent to the Controller General for more Duty Cards to be printed.
He stated that presently the command is relying on few cards provided by other command.
Ogbonna noted that scarcity of the cards did not affect clearing process adding that it would however be difficult to register an imported vehicle without the card.
As for the preference of physical examination he stated categorically that “the only way the chassis number and date of manufacture of a vehicle could be ascertained is through physical examination by opening the bonnet.”
