Cargo security threatened as corruption booms in sea ports

Security of cargo at the nation’s two major economic gateways (Tin-Can and Apapa Seaports) is seriously threatened as a group of agents has repeatedly taken containers away from the ports without passing through due clearing processes, BusinessDay has learnt.

These corrupt agents allegedly bribe corrupt customs officers at different points at the ports, who then allow them cart the containers away without duty payment and inspection. Such containers leave the ports without the owners paying appropriate duty to the Federal Government through the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

This recent development is happening under the watch of the Hameed Ali led Customs administration, which prides itself as having zero tolerance for corruption.

“Corruption and other sharp practices are already in the port, despite the threat by the comptroller-general of Customs to see that guilty officers are sent to jail, as stipulated in the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA). The worst of it all is that officers and men of the Nigeria Customs are mostly involved in the crime,” said Tony Anakebe , a renowned maritime analyst.

According to Anakebe, the management of the Customs Department  needs to go beyond giving threats to erring officers, to raising the salary scale and allowances of these officers to deter them from involving into sharp practices. “There is also a need for the Customs to fully commence online cargo clearance, so as to remove human contact and physical interaction between Customs officers, importers and their agents, which creates avenue for bribery to thrive.”

A recent example was the disappearance of a 40 foot container bearing four cars, including a Jeep, Mercedes Benz car and a Toyota Camry car, which was under-declared as a 2001 model , while it was actually a 2010 model.

Charles Edike, assistant comptroller-general of Customs, recently revealed how a syndicate was releasing ten containers through (Direct Trader Input) DTI cafes, resulting in the later closure of DTI cafes.

Increase Uche, chairman, Anti-Corruption Committee of the National Association of Governmnet Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) says the rate with which Customs and other government agencies personnel connive with the trading public to short-change the same government they were meant to protect, is disturbing. “These officers abuse the law to further their selfish interest at the detriment of government revenue by collecting bribes and releasing under-declared cargo without proper examination.

“Fighting corruption in the Customs is not about sacking the ‘you-survive-I-survive officer’ or the ‘bribe-taking soldier’, or the ‘your-cargo-is-undervalued bribe-seeking releasing officer’. It is purely about enthroning a custom of institutional probity, about instituting a corruption-intolerant system,” said Fisayo Soyombo of The Cable News, who recently carried out an undercover investigation of cargo clearance in Apapa Port.

Soyombo observed that the various government agencies at the ports go home with a minimum underhand collection of N1million daily, extracted from importers who are desperate to clear their cargoes.

AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE