Freight forwaders have decried the duplication of customs officers check on containers after it had been released by the customs officers in charge of containers at port.
The freight forwarders who resented the practise, said that it negated the ease of doing business as being championed by the Federal Government.
They said that corruption was what necessitated the incessant multiple checks by different units of the service known with different names such as the Strike force and the Federal Operations Units.
A Chieftain of the National Council of Manageing Directors of Nigeria Lincensed Customs Agency, Mr Emeka Eletuo, said he was yet to known the work of the different customs units after a cargo had been passed by customs designated to work on the cargo.
“We are daily told that the federal government is streamlining operatives functions to make the port user friendly, but just try taking your released container out of port, your truck will be stopped by either the Strike Force or the Federal Operations unit of the same customs for another round of examination.
”In most cases, nothing is amiss with your container but one rarely leaves the scene without parting with Something after time waste, sometime it takes a whole day, ” he said.
He called on the service to prune its functions to make things easier for investors in order not to scare away businesses to Nigeria neighbouring ports as was the situation before now.
Mr Obinna Okoafor, Chairman, Ikorodu chapter of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) said that customs Strike Force was being dreaded by agents and transporters.
“After having your goods are released at the port, you still have these so called intervention units to contend with, making transactions difficult, “he said.
He said that the Nigeria Customs Service should reshuffle its officers at the port If the service no longer had confidence in them, instead of duplicating checks.
Meanwhile Mr Joseph Attah, National Public Relations Officer of Customs, said that the Strike Force could only be called upon to be part of a joint container examination when there was a case of suspicious container and not a regular check on containers.
