By Olubunmi Isokpehi,
In a bid to enforce fiscal policies of the federal government and adhere to the rules of engagement, the National Chairman, 100% Compliance Team, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Alhaji Ibrahim Tanko, has said, “The return of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) may help the nation to checkmate the influx of substandard goods.” He warned, “The SON must not engage in sample taking, roadblock checking and other unwholesome acts that led to its withdrawal from the port by the government in the past.”
Alhaji Ibrahim Tanko, disclosed this information at the Roundtable Conference of the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN) in Lagos.
The NAGAFF chieftain who expressed disdain over substandard products queried the rationale behind the appointment of the overseas inspection representatives by the SON despite inflow of substandard and fake goods into the country.
His words: “I am not against the return of the SON but I expect the organisation to adhere strictly to its core functions and avoid unwholesome acts – sample taking, container blocking and roadblock checking. Our complaint against these acts in the past caused the federal government to remove it from the port.”
He asserted, “I agree that substandard goods are back in the market. Is SON coming to the port to take samples? Or continue blocking containers in their system? On standing in the road harassing containers in the name of searching for substandard goods? No. SON should follow goods to the owners’ warehouses to take samples not in the port.”
He queried, “They are welcome, they should tell us how they are going to work now they are back. But what is their overseas inspection representatives doing?”
Tanko frowned at the continuous presence of the Customs Federal Operations Unit, Strike Force and Customs Police on the road stopping and arresting containers and issuing debit notes on the cargo already released in the port.
The NAGAFF stalwart attributed this to the poor level of compliance by freight forwarders and customs agents to the import rules. Adding, “It is not good after you have cleared your containers and FOU, Strike Force and Customs Police begin to issue you debit notes. What causes this problem is non-compliance; we are not up to 30% in terms of compliance.”
He reiterated, “The government accused us of non-compliance but NAGAFF took it up to educate and enlighten its members and others on the need to comply. Importers should do the right thing to avoid debit notes, sleepless nights. No customs officers will ask agent to give him money but agent does otherwise because he is at fault. We cannot continue this way. We need to come together and do the right thing.”
He called on the Nigeria Customs Service to deploy more scanning machines in the ports, stressing, “The only scanner at Apapa Port, although not working yet, is not enough to scan the large volumes of containers in the port.”
His words: “We need more than one scanner in Apapa Port, at least three while considering the volumes of containers that are needed to be inspected by the Customs daily. We can’t drop 300 containers in a day for inspection. With more scanners installed, it will be easy, at least 1000 containers can be dropped for scanning. More scanners are needed if the government wants us to work effectively.”
On the state of insecurity in the Apapa Port, Tanko said, “There is possible breakdown of law and order in the port taking into account the rate at which unwanted people coming into the port only to be smoking hemp openly and sleeping without doing anything.”
He called on the Nigerian Ports Authority, Port Police and Customs to checkmate this by raising the level of security to avert break down of law and order.
