243 Customs Agents To Lose Clearing Licences

The Ports and Terminal Multiservices Limited (PTML) command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), has planned to suspend about 243 clearing licences for infractions in duty payment to NCS.The infractions were over several containers which they had cleared between 2014 and 2016 and not paying the exact import duty to the federal government.The planned suspension of the licence which was post at the command was issued by the Post Clearance Audit (PCA) Department of the command.It was learnt that the NCS has already started blocking licences of some notable names on the list for not paying the actual value of duty for the consignment they cleared at the command. According to details released by the NCS, some of the agencies and their consignees were owing as much as between N14 million and N15 million as unpaid duty which are yet to be reconciled.The message reads in part, The following consignees and declarants should report to the PCA unit at the PTML Customs in respect of differences in their Single Good Declaration (SGD) and PAAR values within seven days. Failure to do so will compel the service to suspend both the consignee and the declarant from the ASYCUDA platform.Some of the 243 licences on the list are Pajerry Nigeria Limited, Chrisben, Tripple Kay, Fountain Olives, Edlyna Ventures Limited, Eliton, Citi-Ade Nigeria Limited, Vester Lee Nigeria Limited, Walin Waziri and Sons Investments, Dabra Freight, Hont Global, Double Crown Services, DHL Global Forwarding Limited, MGM Logistics, Ben Moore, Bolagbade Nigeria Limited, Efglo Nigeria, Maritime Solutions, Trans Atlantic Nigeria Limited, AAA Logistics Limited, among others.One of the affected clearing agents who pleaded anonymity condemned the move by the PCA Department, describing it as an illegality. According to him, the major function of the PCA is to check cargoes that are on the NCS fast-track scheme and not on regular cargoes.When cargoes that enjoy fast-track arrives the port they are not usually checked; they are supposed to exit to the owners warehouses and it is the duty of the PCA to go to these warehouses and perform examination on the cargoes. When the importer and the NCS do not agree on the duty paid, then the NCS will issue them a notice to pay the outstanding duties. But it is wrong for the PCA to go after cargoes that has been fully examined and released by proper officers at the command. The PCA were not at the port during examination so they cannot fault any cargoes that has been released from the port for discrepancy in duty payment, he said.
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