Customs frustrating NPA’s efforts in Apapa: Bala-Usman

“While we have synergy, we also have the challenge of operating on different wavelengths.”

Adebola Ajayi • March 8, 2021

Director General of the NPA, Hadiza Bala-Usman.

Hadiza Bala-Usman, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, has slammed the Nigeria Customs Service for frustrating the NPA’s efforts to decongest the Apapa port.

Bala-Usman claimed that since 2018 President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime approved that the NCS should acquire scanners to inspect cargo at the port, the Customs had yet to do so.

Expressing her frustration in an interview with ThisDay on Sunday, she stated, “The NCS also reference that the scanners are not off the shelf. They are manufactured specifically for their requirement, and the approval was given when Kemi Adeosun was the minister of finance. I remember the meetings we had with Kemi (Adeosun) as minister of finance (she resigned in 2018).

“This was how many years ago? They still have not acquired the scanners. She submitted that memo to FEC for approval, and in 2021 the scanners have not been delivered. I have been pushing Col. Ahmed Alli, and they say it will be ready this year.”

The Customs has the reputation of corruption and demonstrating a lack of transparency, and this the NPA boss suggested in the interview.

“We have this running battle with Customs that, overtime, cargo just remain in the port. We have had to move almost a thousand containers to Ikorodu for Customs to auction, now Ikorodu is full. Customs have still not auctioned, and the terminals now will be full because you have overtime cargo.

“Ideally, if cargo is overtime, you quickly check it, take it, and auction it, and that is gone, but they seem to have a cumbersome process. I have written to the CG Customs. He said the process would require a gazette. I have told him that it’s interesting Customs is quick to auction vehicles; seized vehicles are auctioned on time. But containers on random items, they are not excited to auction them,” she revealed.

Sounding frustrated, Ms. Bala-Usman admitted that the NPA could not force Customs and other agencies operating at the port to do their job, acknowledging that “while we have synergy, we also have the challenge of operating on different wavelengths.”

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