THE issue of non-compliance to trade regulations which has led to many importers losing huge investments annually can be partly traced to some freight forwarders, the President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Chief Emenike has said.
Recall that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) last year seized goods worth N16 billion from importers who were involved in under-declarations, concealment, under-valuation of their goods, or smuggling through unapproved border routes.
Speaking with selected newsmen in his office recently, the ANLCA national president revealed that some importers have remained recalcitrant in keeping away from trade crimes that lead to seizures, adding that unfortunately they are being encouraged by some customs agents.
He said, “I must tell you that some of our members, with due respect, encourage importers to get involved in non-compliance like under-declaration and concealment.
“I have raised that issue here before, there is hunger in the land, and it is difficult to even keep yourself clean. It is difficult to tell your importer that what you are doing is not good”.
When asked on what ANLCA is doing to ensure that the importers change, Emenike said what the body has been doing has been to sensitise its members on ‘knowing their clients well’ in case any issue arises.
He said, “We don’t have a forum where we reach the importers like we reach our members. For instance, we know what is happening in the country about importation of some dangerous items, hard drugs. So, we advise our members to know their customers well. This is because as they open the container, if anything there is so offensive, the agent is the first point of arrest. Then, it is now your duty to go and start looking for the importer.
“On under-declaration, who is the declarant? It is the importer that calls you that he has imported goods. You were not there when he loaded. You are not part of the negotiation between him and the supplier. He is only telling you he has 20ft container and is carrying tyre and he will give you the document. And you will see some of the units inside the document.
“The day you are seeing the content of the cargo is the same day all the agencies of government are seeing it. You don’t have any opportunity of going to open the container before anybody to check whether the declaration is the same with the content. And you can’t even break the seal without Customs being there. You cannot touch the seal otherwise you go to jail.
“It is the Customs that will break the seal of the container, the seal has a number. They will take it, record the number. They have seen the number before coming. It is in the manifest. They will break it and take sample of it to their office to show before I came, it was sealed, look at the seal, this is part of it, they have a place where they keep seals.
“They are the first to see it and they are the ones to open the container, not the clearing agent. But they will always heap it on the agent. The agent did not travel abroad to go and ship these things.”
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