Customs bans Point of Sale operators from premises
• Warns officers against engaging in clearing jobs
• To begin full automation of transire by Q1 2025
• Shippers’ Council decries cargo theft, piracy at ports
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has prohibited the operation of Point of Sale (PoS) terminals and other commercial activities within its formations and premises.
The Customs Area Controller (CAC) of Apapa Command, Dr Babatunde Olomu, reiterated this directive as part of the resolutions from the Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC) conference held in Abuja.
He also cautioned officers against engaging in clearing jobs or doubling as licensed agents, noting that such practices conflict with their official mandates.
Olomu, who spoke, yesterday, at the Apapa Port, said that the Command had collected N2.01 trillion in revenue as of November 19, 2024.
He announced plans to begin full automation of the transire process by the first quarter of 2025 as well as the expansion of the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) and Advance Ruling (AR) schemes.
Olomu, however, expressed confidence in achieving the Command’s 2024 revenue target of N2.2 trillion by the end of November, ahead of the December deadline.
He, therefore, urged officers to emulate Adeniyi in revenue collection, trade facilitation, enforcement and stakeholders’ engagement, all in the interest of the nation.
IN another development, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has raised concerns that the absence of regulatory oversight on the commercial aspects of port concessions has continued to fuel cargo theft, piracy, illegal fees, bribery and other operational inefficiencies in the nation’s ports.
The challenges, the Council said, had increased the cost of doing business in Nigerian ports and hindered the economic competitiveness.
Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of NSC, Pius Akutah, stated this, yesterday, during the 2024 yearly Maritime Journalists’ Seminar in Lagos, organised by First Mediacom Network Limited and the NSC in Lagos, themed “The Nigerian Shippers’ Council in Transition: Issues, Prospects, and Challenges.”
Akutah, who was represented by the NSC Director of Special Duties, Mustapha Zubairu, decried the lack of an economic regulator since the 2006 port concession to private operators.
He said that private operators and government agencies, such as the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), set tariffs and service standards independently, often disregarding industry benchmarks and the broader economic consequences.
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