By Godfrey Bivbere

National Secretary of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Mr. Uchu Block, has accused the management of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) at both Apapa and Tin-can Commands of truncating the clearing process.

Block, who spoke to Vanguard in his office in Lagos, said officers at the two Commands are now stopping containers on yellow selectivity channel after scanning for 100 percent examination.

He explained that the selectivity channels, which determines the risk level of each container and therefore what kind of examination to be performed on it, has since December been discarded by the Commands.

He further noted that under the selectivity method, containers on the green channel were for companies with track record of clean importation of manufacturing materials and therefore are allowed out of the port while examination is done at the warehouse of those companies

“As for containers on the yellow channel that are considered to have minimal risk, they are sent for scanning as a means of reducing the number of days that containers stay at the ports,” he said.

He pointed out that all containers on the red channel are those considered to be of high risk following previous transaction by the importer and are therefore subjected to 100 percent examination by the Customs.

He pointed out that the same thing happened to four containers of “paraffin wax” which he was to clear from Apapa port, explaining that the consignments which was on the yellow channel had been scanned and given clearance to exit the port only for the containers to be stopped at the gate on grounds of suspicion.

He said that the officers at the Customs Process Center (CPC) demanded to know the kind of paraffin wax in the containers which could have been done at the point of scanning. Block pointed out that the action delayed the containers for extra three days at the port with the importer incurring additional cost for no fault of his.

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of Apapa Area 1 Command of the Service, Emma Ekpa, said it is not automatic for all containers scanned to exit the port. Ekpa pointed out that the officers at the gate are posted there to ensure that documents of all consignments exiting the port are thoroughly scrutinised to avoid any form of discrepancies.

He noted that there had been cases in the past where containers which did not pass through scanning were brought to the gate in an attempt to move them out of the port.

Similarly, his counterpart at Tin-can Island Command, Chris Osunkwo, said that the Customs Area Controller (CAC) had told the officers at the gate not to cause unnecessary delay.

Osunkwo said that officers at the gate were told to stop containers when there is reasonable suspicion about a consignment before such containers can be stopped.

Osunkwo explained that no one has monopoly of knowledge and that is why there are intelligence officers, valuation officers and gate officers etc.