Area Comptroller Reads Riot Act Against Any Irregularities At The Port

LUCKY LAWAL

The new Area Controller of Apapa Area 1 Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Comptroller Mohammed Abba Kura, on Wednesday, 8th May, 2019, warned against any irregularities at the Apapa Command and also promised to encourage the facilitation of legitimate trade, a trade where all means of regulations and certifications are duly complied with.

The Area Controller said this during the courtesy and familiarity visit of the Association of Maritime Journalists of Nigeria (AMJON) Executives at the Command in Lagos. He thereby appealed to importers, Freight Forwarders and Licensed Customs Agents using the Command to transact their businesses to adhere to regulations or face its consequences.

Kura maintained that failure to comply with the required regulation in the process of clearance will not be condoned even as he stated that the traders were expected to have requisite knowledge of all necessary documentations and clearance procedures before venturing into importation.

“We have seen some Nigerians along the line who would always want to have their ways even when they have not done the right thing.

“If someone is coming to say he has a consignment that has not been cleared on time, we won’t attend to it if it is non compliant. As the documents come, I pass them to those who would work on them. We avoid delays of any kind”

“Don’t leave what you can do today for tomorrow because by doing that, you are delaying some people”

“But if there are issues that need to be cleared, they must be cleared no matter what the owner may say. For example, if there is a documentation or clearance you need to get, if you don’t have it, you must get it for us to attend to it.

According to him, “Before you venture into anything, you must inquire what it requires. You cannot start a process and come to us and be on our neck that we must do it for you, that one will never be done. If they want to call it delays because of this, we have no apologies”.

He insisted that Customs Officers who distinguish themselves in performance on their jobs would be adequately commended and appreciated.

The Apapa Chieftain pointed out that, outstanding performances would be commended and such commendation can be escalated to Headquarters of the Service for appropriate reward even as he said that erring officers would be adequately punished.

His words, “I will encourage my officers that perform in the course of discharging their duties effectively by giving commendation letters but on the contrary, whoever that errs, I will not hesitate to punish.

“Outstanding performance will be rewarded not only at the Command; we will spread our tentacles even to the Headquarters. This will enable others get motivated” he assured