The Board of Trustees (BoT) Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has declared the recent meeting between Comptroller General of Customs and the past members of the association as illegal and unconstitutional.
The vice chairman, Board of Trustee of ANLCA, Prince Ozo Chukwurah, at a press briefing yesterday, said the members’ tenure has expired on the 15th of February, 2020.
Chukwurah, however, said any activities done by the BoT on behalf of the association is illegal and cannot be binding.
“The present board was elected in December 2020 in accordance with our constitution and I do not know why some people at this age are parading themselves as members of the board. We are the present and current members of ANLCA board. These people’s tenure has expired and what they are going about doing is illegal,” he said.
“When they were serving, they were not parading themselves this way. They were not going to custom offices and I want to put it on a very serious note that these names have been sacked from the association and they have not appealed over their sack or go to court to contest their sack. We are waiting for them to contest or appeal the sack,” he added.
He however stated that the activities of the sacked BOT members are hindering operations of the association, saying that they have been giving their members false information.
Meanwhile, the national vice president, ANLCA, Kayode Farinto, has stressed the need to emphasize ‘returnable samples’ in the new Customs law.
To him, “we have got to a situation where every unit of Customs would like to pick samples of goods being cleared from the ports. For example, Valuation, CIU, the man that eventually does the releasing has a unit and the DC Enforcement also has one; by the time to consignment is released we are delivering two-third of the container or half of the container. Over seven units of Customs collect samples and this affects the importer’s investment.”
“We are saying that once a Customs officer picks a sample during the examination, it should be described as ‘returnable samples’ so that we can end the unpalatable trend which sees an importer’s consignment shared like he is ‘Father Christmas’.”
He also stressed the need for a practicing freight forwarder to represent the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) on the Governing Board of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
“We looked at the CRFFN Governing Council which comprises over 30 members. 17 members are appointed from the Federal Ministry of Transport, Finance Ministry and other government appointees and chambers of commerce. So, if CRFFN would have to select two members as representatives on the Customs board, we are saying that these representatives should be practicing freight forwarders,” he said.
