allAfrica.com: Nigeria: We Are Being Exploited by Customs

The Custom Licenced Agents may have declared war on the Nigerian Customs Service over what it called unfair treatment and extortion of its members.

To this effect the ANCLA members on Tuesday halted the activities of the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal(KLT).

The Comptroller of the Command was however on hand to calm their frayed nerves . Although the situation was almost immediately brought to normalcy, the action of the rioters destroyed the Command's offices and equipments valued at several millions of naira.. ANLCA however stated that it was particularly embittered by the sharp practices of one Mrs Vickky Okoli, an Assistant Comptroller who is also the officer in charge of KLT Terminal phase 4.

Okoli, according to the Secretary of the Association of the Nigerian Licenced Custom Agents, KLT Chapter, Mr. Chidi Nnemadi, was alleged to be collecting N20,000 from every 20ft container that passed through her table and N50,000 for every 40ft container as well.

This he alleged has been going on for a long time, even as he also alleged that the woman's attitude had been brought to the knowledge of the CAC, severally, who he alleged did nothing to address the ugly situation which has been going on for close to a year.

Nnemadim, further alleged that the Assistant Comptroller holds on to the importers Single Goods Declaration form (SGO) if the agents fails to comply as she has instructed.

"The agents have been enduring this woman's excesses; the CAC would not call her to order. She would always refer you to junior officers who are her workers, who collect money for her, and no amount of pleading makes that woman change her mind. These N20,000 for 20 feet and N50,000 for 40 feet containers respectively are not receipted," he explained.

However, things came to a head yesterday following a face-off between the ANLCA, KLT Chapter chairman, Otunba Abiodu Ogunfowora who had gone to meet Okoli in her office over complaints by one of his members who alleged, that Okoli had held on to the Single Goods Declaration form of his container for four days for not parting with the normal N20,000 bribe as usual he alleged the woman called endorsement fees.

Eyewitness accounts, told Saturday Vanguard Business that Mrs. Okoli's excesses stretched to the extent of throwing the chairman of the association out of her office, and when the chairman insisted that she must hear her out, she ordered labourers inside the terminal to throw the chairman out.

"The woman asked the labourers to throw the chairman out of her office when he attempted to broker a truce . This singular action was a slight on the corporate image of ANCLA and that resulted in their invasion of the Custom Command CPC, breaking doors and chairs and bringing business activities to a halt as they chased the custom officers on duty with sticks and other weapons.

The account also stated that the angry agents, chanted war songs and displayed placards which read in beats - KLT Command is a rotten place; Bribery, corruption and extortion thrives on daily basis; Phase IV is tool bad; Mrs. Okoli must go; Buba Gyang do something; Custom hired labour to beat Clearing Agents with cutlass, bottles at KLT Command etc.

Narrating what transpired between him and the Assistant Comptroller in charge of the terminal, Mr. Okezie said:

"I am an agent from Apapa, I don't work here. It's just that I have 20 feet container here at KLT and I came to carry it. The container has been examined but, to my greatest surprise, after every other person has endorsed my paper the ok terminal did not sign. Rather they sent one of the examination officers to ask me to pay N20,000 which the officer said, is an endorsement fee.

I did not give in to that demand because I have been in this business for many years and I have not heard of anything like endorsement fee. I pleaded with the woman who held on to my SGD, but she stubbornly refused.

That was what prompted my going to the association chairman to lay my complaint. The chairman followed me to talk to the woman but she gave us deaf ears and today again the chairman came back with me and the woman demanded an apology from the chairman first before hearing him out for shouting in her office the previous day.

The chairman's refusal to tender apology prompted the woman to order labourers to throw the chairman out of her office which the labourers did and the agents got angry and started demonstrating."

Reacting to this, the National Vice President of the Association of Custom Licenced Agents, Mr. Dayo Azeez, condemned the attitude of some of the custom officers.

"This is not a proper thing to happen. It is because of the over-zealousness of some of custom officers that resulted into this kind of mess. How would the ok terminal hold on to someones SGD for four days when the service and the whole country is clamouring on the 48 hours clearance of cargo.

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