Don't Miss


Home   >   Business   >   Industries   >   Customs recalls officers at APM terminals

Customs recalls officers at APM terminals

By on September 29, 2014

The Nigeria Customs Service is said to have recalled about five of its officials at the APM terminals at Apapa, Lagos.

As a result of the development which was said to have occurred about two weeks ago, only one officer is said to have been left at the terminal.

About five customs officials were said to have been recalled to the Customs headquarters at Abuja to answer queries on misconduct.

A licensed customs agent, Mr. David Pius, told Sunday PUNCH that clearing activities at the terminal had been adversely affected by the development.

He said, “Presently at APM terminals, there is only one customs official, carrying out the duties of about six persons.

“This official, a lady, is the only person from the customs who would be present at the physical examination of consignments. After that, the same lady would have to go and write a report on that same container before releasing it.

“A process that would ordinarily had taken a day or two for the release of cargo under normal circumstances is now taking a week.

“This delay is costing us a lot in terms of demurrage. I learned those recalled to Abuja had queries to answer. The customs should be able to send people to replace them at the APM terminals while they sort themselves out at Abuja. We don’t have to suffer for it. There is no way that woman can successfully carry out all the duties of her colleagues combined.”

Plus also criticised the frequent breakdown of the server at some customs command. He said such incidents were unacceptable to freight forwarders and customs agents who are often the victims.

He said, “This issue of server breakdown has become a frequent occurrence. For the whole of last week at the Tin-can Island Terminal at the Tincan command, the server kept fluctuating. I was unable to get my consignment released. Although they later explained that they were trying to upgrade the server, the excuse is not good enough.

“Is it not better for us all if the customs takes paid adverts in the papers to alert stakeholders of an upgrade in its operations? Instead they make us wait at their commands hoping that the server would pick up so that we can clear our consignments.

“They have to realise that any delay in their operations has monetary implications for freight forwarders. We keep paying demurrage that could have been avoided. This is not helping our economy in any way.”

National spokesperson of the customs, Mr. Wale Adeniyi when contacted said, “There are some senior officers of the terminal who are involved in some activities that need to be investigated. There were the ones summoned for investigation, which is a routine disciplinary process. To ensure that this does not affect activities at the terminal, adequate measures were put in place to ensure continuity of work.

“There were initially seven senior officers at that terminal; six assistant controllers and one deputy controller. Only two persons were affected. Another set of four officers, have been sent to the terminal. So if agents are complaining, they must have some other reason.”

 

[Punch]