Chief Chukwu making his point during the interview session.
Story by Dili Utomi.
There was an online news publication some days back referring to statements by the National Executive Council members of the Association of Nigerian Licenced Customs Agents (ANLCA) asking that the Post Clearance Audit, a unit of the Nigeria Customs Service be scrapped. The publication generated a lot of hues and cries and became rather controversial, but days after that, the association has neither deemed it necessary to address the press on this matter nor published a rebuttal and the atmosphere of controversy still hangs around the Association, more so when the online news platform is owned by a dear friend of ANLCA.
Chief Chukwu buttressing his point.
Now, a little backlash has been generated as Chief Osita Chukwu of the Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders Importers/Exporters Coalition has lashed out at the position of the ANLCA NECOM. In a press conference at his office Friday, the experienced and fiery crusader spoke totally against the position of ANLCA on this matter he said “I say no to the frivolous attack on the Post Clearance Audit (PCA) a unit of the Nigeria Customs Service by the National Executive Council members of ANLCA. We do not need any attack on this particular agency of the government, what we need is to synergise with them and to encourage members of the freight forwarding community to do the needful by making honest and transparent declarations of their cargoes”.
He noted that there are stipulations within the tenets of the Customs and Exicse Management Act as to what to do and what not to do by all parties and that compliance to the CEMA law is all inclusive as he added that the PCA is constitutionally recognised in the CEMA act. Chief Chukwu harps on the need for freight forwarders and the Customs personnel to be obedient to the laws of the land in other to forge harmonious relationships and meet the objectives of any government of the day.
His words ” I urge the Customs management not to listen to the suggestion of the ANLCA NECOM as that may be a diversionary trend, we all know that for many years now, the PCA has helped the Customs to recover tremendous amounts of lost revenues thereby proving their vital importance”.
“A better way to engage the Customs by freight forwarders is to ask that they remove those impediments to trade facilitation-unncessary delays, alerts and the usual down time, these should be discouraged and more efficient ways adopted by the Customs in their bid to increase revenues and meet targets”. He advised that the Customs should learn to let certain things go and allow the PCA to follow up on them in order not to create unnecessary delay along the cargoes clearance chain. He also asked the PCA to stop the usual practice of calling people to Abuja to answer to all manners of real and imagined infractions as this does not augur well for business.
Chief Chukwu noted that the relevance of the PCA cannot be overemphasised for obvious reasons, but that they should carry out their duties in consideration of the overall business environment, growth and also the statutory duty of trade facilitation by the Customs.
For advert placement and more information please call us on 08027590195, 08035721540 or email us at [email protected] or send us messages on twitter @dn_utomi or on instagram @utomidili
