Godfrey Bivbere
18 February 2004
The Joint Disposal Committee on Overtime Goods set up by government has recorded a total of N150 million from the sales of goods that fall within that category in zone "A" of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).
Chairman of the committee, Mr. Jimmy Olumudi, zonal coordinator of zone "A" of the NCS, an Assistant Comptroller General of Customs, who disclosed this in Lagos recently said that though the sales figures from Area Commands have not completely reached the committee and some allottees are yet to make payment for and clear their items at the Ports, they were able to raise the above amount.
Asked about the cost of the auctioned goods and how many they were, the committee's chairman said that he could not say exactly the original cost of the goods, neither could he say the actual number.
He however noted that the auctioned goods were not sold for less then what was supposed to be paid as duty for them by the owners.
Olumudi pointed out that the committee, in order to reduce the pressure and problem associated with crowd control during auction sales, "adopted the application and allocation method whereby allocation is quietly made against applications randomly picked without the involvement of the public which will always view any method employed as faulty because of their perception of the entire Nigerian environment of which they are a part."
Continuing, he explained that the names of lucky winners were released periodically and winners are then required to come forward with their duplicate copies and sign for the allocation papers.
He said that despite the cordial relationship between it and stakeholders in the industry, most of the vehicles for disposal were extremely bad as they have been vandalized by ports miscreants because of their long abandonment at the ports.
The most annoying of all the obstacles, according to him, was "obstruction of smooth operations by alleged owners of gazetted overtime goods who often used Ports Police to stop lawful clearance of the goods." He noted that government's reason for establishing it was for the "protection of government revenue from imports and other sundry charges and de-congestion of the nation's Ports as a direct result of non-clearance of goods as laid down by law." The chairman of the committee, whose operation has since been rounded off following a directive from the customs headquarters in Abuja, however recommended that overtime goods be located and warehoused in the future. Olumudi also wants continuous updating of records of overtime goods at both the seaports and airports, he lamented the lack of support from other government agenciesand advocated the need for enlightenment of stakeholders as regards their rights and privileges and for the provision of funds to the committee for the prosecution of its activities.
The committee which has its members drawn from the NCS, Federal Ministries of Finance, Justice and Transport, the Presidency, office of the Secretary of Government, the relevant security agents and parastatals under the Ministry of Transport, is chaired by the zonal coordinator of zone "A" of the NCS, Assistant Comptroller General of Customs, Mr. Jimmy Olumudi.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2004 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
