Customs Checkpoints: LCCI to monitor compliance

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The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and
Industry [LCCI] has commended recent directive from the Customs Headquarters
removing all customs check-points outside 40 kilometers of the nation’s land
borders.

CGC, Retired Col. Hameed Ali

Similarly, all customs checkpoints
outside the ports areas have been ordered to be removed. Compliance is to
be effected on or before 11th August 2017. Approved
checkpoints within the geographical stipulation of 40 km will also be published
on the website of the Nigerian customs service. Only two customs
checkpoints are approved for Lagos – Badagry – Seme Road.

Already, LCCI in collaboration
with other private sector bodies will monitor and track the implementation of
this directive.

A statement quoted LCCI
Director General, Muda Yusuf as saying: “It is imperative to ensure compliance,
and the cooperation of the private sector is needed to make this happen.
This directive to streamline the checkpoints within the country will bring
about the following advantages:

Reduce the disruptive activities to
domestic trade resulting from the presence of customs checkpoints on the
highways.

Put an end to the needless
embarrassment caused innocent motorists and vehicle owners through the demand
for import duty receipts and revaluation of duty payments by customs operatives
on the highways.

Reduce extortion by customs
operatives on the highways.

“We reiterate the need for an
effective implementation framework for the is laudable policy geared towards
improving the ease of doing business and restoring order in the way public
institutions discharge their responsibilities.

“This order was at the instance
of the Presidential Enabling Business Environmental Council [PEBEC]. This
is a major step towards the realization of the council’s mandate of promoting
the ease of doing business in Nigeria. Many traders and individual car
owners had suffered untold hardship because of the numerous checkpoints on the
highways in various parts of the country mounted by operatives of the Nigeria
customs service.

“The streamlining of their operations is therefore a
welcome development. Their activities are many times arbitrary,
especially on issues of vehicle valuation and documents certifications on the
highways, which often results in extortion.

“The development is a clear
demonstration of the responsiveness of the present administration to complaints
of the private sector on business environment issues. It is also
complements earlier Executive Orders issued by the Acting President, Prof Yemi
Osinbajo.

“The LCCI congratulates the PEBEC
secretariat and the leadership of the Nigeria customs service for this bold
move. We demand that other security agencies whose activities also
disrupt domestic trade through the ubiquitous check points should take a cue
from the Nigeria customs service.

“Domestic trade generates perhaps the
largest number of jobs in the economy, next to agriculture. It also
contributes 16% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product [GDP]. It needs
all the protection that the government can give. The sector is also very
critical in the value chain of the real sector such as manufacturing,
agriculture, solid minerals and oil and gas. After all whatever is
produced must be distributed for value delivery to end users or the final
consumer.

“Meanwhile, the
Nigerian Customs Service should strengthen surveillance and effectiveness at
the various Sea ports, Airports and Borders to ensure that prohibited items are
not allowed into the country in the first place. Facilities such as
scanners and other equipment necessary for effective inspection should be put
in place and made functional.”