Clearing agents operating at the Tin-can Island Port have called on Hameed Ali, the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), to intervene in activities of compliance team impeding trade facilitation at the Tin-can Island command of the service.
According to them, compliance team which was created in 2019 is the brainchild of the Customs Area Controller, Musa Baba Abdulahi to arrest infractions in duty payments by importers and clearing agents before they exit the seaport.
They accused the team of impeding trade facilitation by slamming Debit Note (DN) on already cleared cargoes and have also taken over the responsibility of the Customs valuation unit.
Chukwu Nwanne, a clearing agent, bemoaned the activities of the compliance team which he said was against trade facilitation as entrenched by the CGC.
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“When you obtain a valuation, before your document gets to where you want to release the goods, you would find out that the Compliance Team has already issued a Debit Note (DN) requesting you to come and negotiate,” he alleged.
He said the compliance team which was established by the area controller is strangulating importers, as they have deviated from what they were created to do.
“What they ought to be doing is to pinpoint to the controller of any infraction. The valuation department of Tin-can Island command has lost their relevance because whenever they issue value on cargoes it doesn’t hold water. The compliance team are now the one giving DN to clearing agents. Which should we now follow? This is a duplication of duty,” Nwanne said.
Continuing, he said: “The compliance team was created because of importers that under-declare their cargoes, and the compliance team was supposed to be dealing with the non-compliant importers and their agents. But now, the compliance team slams DN on everybody,” he said.
