ASIAN IMPORTS CONSTITUTE 90% OF CONTRABANDS AT PORTS --Customs

Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has blamed the high incidences of fake products coming from Asian countries, as the root cause of congestion going on at the ports.
These fake products constitute over 90 percent of the overtime containers stacked at the ports as overtime cargoes.
According to the organisation, the poverty level in the country has increased the rate at which importers patronise Asian goods, at the detriment of the country's import policy.
This they say had contributed to 100 percent physical examination on over 80 percent of all the consignments that come into the country.
Speaking with newsmen in Lagos recently, the area controller of Port and Terminal Multiservice Limited (PTML), Ibrahim Mera, said the ports are congested because the consignments are under import prohibition list.
He explained that the reason why his command has not been experiencing congestion despite conducting physical examination for about 90 percent of the total import that they handle due to absence of scanner was because majority of their imports were from Europe. ''We don't have cargoes from Asia, but most of our consignments come through Europe and that is why we don't have issues of contraband and under-declaration in our port'', Mera stated.
The area controller pointed out that some goods leave the port within 24 hours because the command operates a one-stop shop, maintaining that all Risk Assessment Report are treated accordingly.
He also advised that the Federal Government should standardize tariffs payments because some ports charge high than the others.
Speaking on how to address the ongoing congestion, he explained that the problem cannot be tackled in isolation, stressing that all the stakeholders must be involved, rather than protecting their constituencies.
Mera further called on the government to streamline the ports as obtainable in other developed countries of the world, maintaining that the port industry should be liberalised

. ...By Melody Nwobia


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