Dangerous cargoes streaming in through lapses in PAAR — Customs agents

Clearing agents under the aegis of National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents, NCMDLCA, has warned of the potential danger posed by the influx of dangerous cargoes following the lapses in the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report, regime.
This is even as the group called for the return to the Pre-shipment Inspection regime to check such cargoes coming into the country.
In the Pre-shipment regime, government engages the services of Pre-shipment agents to inspect all goods destined for Nigeria before they could be shipped down. Recall however that the country abandoned that regime for destination inspection a few years ago as a result of obvious lapses.
The agents explained that the focus on revenue collection on the part of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS and the insincerity on the part of some importers, offensive cargoes are entering the country almost unhindered.
Speaking on behalf of the Council, Uchu Block, the group’s Deputy National President, told Vanguard that although the PAAR would have help to bring sanity to the clearing process in the country, customs emphasis on revenue collection and insincerity on the part of some importers and their agents is putting a clog on the success of PAAR.
According to him, “the kind cargo coming into the country today can only best be imagined” as the 2015 elections draws closer. He noted that officers of the Customs hide behind the said insecurity on the part of importers and their revenue drive for government as their selves to frustrate the implementation of the PAAR regime.
He said Customs has almost abandoned the selectivity system which shows the level of risk of every cargo imported into the country and which determines the kind of inspection that all consignments should subjected to.
He explained that Customs is not sincere in its 100 percent physical examination of cargo because what they actually do is about 12 to 20 percent examination.