Customs Set to Begin Retrenchment of Officers

By ZION Olalekan |

The Nigeria Customs Service has said that it would retrench some officers for their lack of training and experience on their job.

Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hameed Ali stated this in Lagos at a stakeholders seminar organized by the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation

Ali who was represented at the function by Acting Deputy Comptroller General, Human Resources Department DCG Umar Sanusi said the retrenchment would begin in October 2019.

According to him, all Customs officers must be trained in skills required functioning effectively at their duty post or else, they would be shown the way out of the service.

He stated that “The Customs Service has continuously strived to reform the mentality of officers and men in skills required to sustain and improve their services on the job”

“It is unfortunate that out of the numerous security and Government agencies operating in the ports system, it is only Nigeria Customs that has been singled out for condemnation”.

He however assured that efforts are afoot to ensure that several innovative reforms are underway to remove the tag off Nigeria Customs.

Ali referred to Customs Brokers as customs “friendly enemies”, even as he urged them to also build their capacity in order to complement their efforts at reforming the customs cargo clearance processes.

He stated that the peculiarity of the Nigerian trading and business environment which has defied several of the articles and categories of the Trade Facilitation Agreements has made it impossible for implementation in Nigeria.

Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) is a binding multilateral trade agreement between members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Countries that signed up committing to tackling the barriers to trade posed by burdensome border requirements, which made it harder for businesses of all sizes to trade internationally, but hurt small and medium-sized enterprises the most.

Also speaking at the forum, Customs Area Comptroller in charge of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Mrs. Jane Shoboiki enumerated the documentations and processes expected to be concluded before the arrival of cargoes.

According to her, Customs brokers delay in processing documents until arrival of cargo and thereafter mount unnecessary pressure on officers.

She warned that with the recent circular which seeks to harmonize all entities on the Bill of lading, invoices, and the PAAR, a lot of the discrepancies in cargo clearance would have been removed.

She also urged Customs Brokers to be compliant, as officers may decline request bordering on infringement on compliance to extant trade rules.