Customs Zonal Coordinator in charge of Zone ‘A’, Lagos, Assistant Comptroller General (ACG) Aminu Dahiru who raised the alarm also said that the service has begun a process of unraveling the cases of ammunition import through the Tin Can Island Port last week.
He said that the service has launched an investigation into the whereabouts of four containers on transfer which were cleared from Apapa Port to the Inland facilities in Kano and Kaduna, saying it would descend heavily on any importer, customs agent or officer of the service who has any connection with the missing containers.
According to him, checks by the service show that nobody exited four of the six containers while only two were accounted for at the terminal, an indication that four of the six containers are missing or have been diverted, under what he described as controversial circumstances.
He also disclosed that the zone is trying to unravel the circumstances surrounding some containers that left the Tin Can Island Port, also in Apapa, Lagos, which were later found in a private warehouse instead of the terminal the containers were designated for.
It was further gathered that some containers also got missing about six years ago, precisely in 2012, when the ACG was a Deputy Comptroller serving at the Tin Can Island Customs Command, a development the ACG has described as one too many.
The ACG warned that in the face of deliberate diversion of containers on transfer, the service would have no other option than to introduce a system whereby the bond paid on containers on transfer by the consignee would be the exact value of the container, as some corrupt people are taking the magnanimity of the service for granted.
He said: “There have been several issues on the transfer of containers to terminals in Kano and Kaduna, among several others and in several cases; agents are seen as major culprits in these matters. Recently six containers left Apapa Port for a terminal in Kano. On our checks, we discovered that nobody exited the four containers that had already left. When we also contacted the terminal, we discovered that only two arrived to my greatest surprise.
“There were also movements of containers from the Tin Can Island Port, Apapa, and the said containers did not arrive the terminal they were designated for. Rather, we traced them to a private warehouse. Definitely we cannot continue like this, I can assure you because this is lawlessness and no society thrives on lawlessness.”
In reaction, the Inland Containers Nigeria Limited (ICNL), owners of the Kaduna Inland Dry Port and the Inland Container Terminal/Depot in Kano State have debunked claims by the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) that four containers on transit to either Kaduna Inland Dry Port or Inland Container Terminal/Depot got missing.
According to a statement signed by the management of ICNL on Wednesday, “The attention of the management of ICNL, the owners and operators of the Kaduna Inland Dry Port and the Inland Container Terminal/Depot in Kano State has been drawn to a publication on several online news media that four containers in transit to Kaduna Inland Dry Port and Inland Container Depot, Kano State were stolen and diverted.
“We wish to state for the records that no container[s] in transit to either our Kaduna Inland Dry Port or Inland Container Terminal/Depot are missing and or diverted. Kindly ignore the libelous and malicious publication aimed at tarnishing the reputation and goodwill of our esteemed organization
“As the leading integrated logistics and shipping company in Nigeria, ICNL remains committed to providing excellent and topnotch services to its numerous customers within and outside Nigeria.”
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