Officers of Nigeria Customs Service have been called upon to beam their searchlight on the enemies of the country, who import vehicles into the country without appropriate duty paidon them,ratherthan chasing aroundan individualfor bringing in just one used carfor his personal use.
This appeal was made by the Founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, Dr. Boniface Anyeibunam, at a round table of the Association of Maritime Journalists of Nigeria in Apapa Lagos.
He said that Customs officers should focusonthosewhoimport cars forprofit-making to boostthe revenuedrive ofthe service.
The maritime expert said that the action of Customs officers amount to leaving substance and chasing shadows. Speaking on the 21-day ultimatum the agents have given government, Anyeibunam said they might not withdraw their services from the ports as intended, saying eveniftheirdemandswerenotmet afterthe expiration of the deadline, they would still continue to talk with the government and explore more avenues for dialogue because they were sure that government would meet their demand.
“This is because government will see reason to soft pedal on these requests that bear on the betterment of maritime sector, as the issue at stake is how to make Nigerian ports better and compete favourably with others in the committee of maritime nations,” he said.
Nigeria, he said, should be a power to reckon with in maritime business, consideringherpositioninthe sub-regionandindeed the African Continent, saying, “We that are involved in maritime affairs and trade facilitation will not fold our hands and watch things degenerate.
“This is what we are asking for; to better the lot of Nigerians. We don’t have any selfish interest”. Themaritime logistics expert alsodecried the poor performance of the Council forthe Registration of Freight Forwarders of Nigeria, adding that the council was dead on arrival.
