Why curbing corruption in Customs will be difficult ---- Agents

Harboursandport.com: Lagos--- Clearing agents under the aegis of Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents, ANCLA, have said that corruption amongst officers of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, would be difficult as a result of poor remuneration and long expose to the vice.

National President of ANLCA, Prince Olayiwola Shittu

Disclosing this in Lagos, National President of the ANLCA, Prince Olayiwola Shittu, said apart from the above; the fact that the present Comptroller General of Customs, CGC, Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd.) was not an officer of the Service makes it even more difficult.

Shittu noted that despite the perceived shortcomings, the Customs boss has been able to sanction erring officers. He however called for the corporation of officers of the Service in the fight against corruption by the CGC, if he must succeed. 

In his words, “There is a way we can discourage that, discourage temptation. Now we have been telling Customs that the welfare package is very poor, when you put a man in charge to collect big volume of money for the Government and his pay is not enough, he would help himself.

“And the same thing affects the agents; once the officer is helping himself, the agent will help himself because the importer does not want to pay correct duty. That is why we talk about online operations, where you are expected to do your job online.

“If your salary is 100 thousand a month, and someone offers you one million for a particular job, the idea is that you should be able to say no. There used to be an inspiration for officers in those days.

“If you are able to block revenue leakage, you are rewarded. So that reward system is no longer there. And the mere fact that an officer today can be asked to go whether at the top level, at the middle level, then he gives himself the opportunity to say; “look oh, I might leave the job anytime from now, let me help myself.” So that “self-help” is not only common to the people operating in the port. Even in the civil service itself, so that is the base of the corruption in the larger society.

“It is always a difficult task when you bring an outsider to come and correct perceived ills in any of the arm of government, there will be deliberate effort to cloud his perception. Now, he might come with the perception that this is a corrupt establishment; I am going there to make sure that I sanitize the place.

“But he cannot do it by himself. If those people he is going to sanitize would not cooperate, he would only continue to struggle and he has been doing that. 

“A lot of officers have been sanctioned, some have been dismissed, but you see, we are just scratching the surface. Abroad, nobody tells you I want to examine your container contents. They go and do their job with due diligence. If there is an infraction there, they raise additional duty and the importer goes to pay.

“But they also give room for you to protest without going to see the first line charge of the releasing officer. Go to any examination point and see what bargaining is going on there. And if you are not ready to cooperate, a young officer can just manufacture a report that has nothing to do with your container.

“And when you are not there to fight for it and all that, then God knows what will happen when you are not there. But we are no supposed to be there, everything is supposed to be done online, but while the operation is meant to be online, the officers and security agents still demand that you go and do photocopy of the documents so that you can do manual operations,” he noted.