BEARS: False Declaration

Recently, the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) in collaboration with the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) intensified efforts to boost the ethics and integrity in shipping trade, urging the importers to comply with the standards and shun unethical practices that jeopardize the growth of the industry. However, the problem has become more endemic to the perpetuators in the recent times especially on the aspect of false declaration by freight forwarders and importers.

A large chunk of the recent seizures by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) have been as a result of false declaration on legally accepted goods with wrong declaration to minimize customs duty. Importers and regular businesspersons have lost colossal sums and the nation at large suffers gross wastage from this folly act that should be curbed today, not tomorrow!