The President of African Federation of Freight Forwarders, Mr. Lexzy Nwangwu has urged the Comptroller General of Customs (CGC) Col. Hammed Ali (Rtd) to pip into the activities of the Customs Intelligent Unit which he described as the fulcrum of corruption in the ports today.
Nwangwu described the Customs Intelligent Unit as the most corrupt arm of the service as they have begun to assume functions that were not theirs. He revealed that the CIU at Apapa and Tincan ports have begun to carry out functions of valuation in a bid to collect bribes from people.
“Customs issues PAAR, CIU questions value yet they are not valuation officers. The CIU code never gave them such powers. There is a CIU code and there is a valuation code. It is only the valuation that should discuss value but not when customs accepts a value and issue a PAAR, the idea of physical examination is to confirm the declaration to certify there is no discrepancy in terms of quantity and quality but the CIU will say low value that is until you settle. The corruption in the Customs revolves around the CIU today and the C.G must find a way to tame them.” He lamented.
This would not be welcoming news to the CGC Hammed Ali who has churned out threats to dismiss any officer discovered to be corrupt and it should spur him watch out for the CIU officers especially in Lagos ports because they are probably going to derail his efforts.
He also commended the CGC for instilling discipline back in the Customs service as his leadership had stirred changes in the Customs service as junior officers now have respect for their seniors.
“Before we easily find a one star officer disobeying a deputy comptroller and the deputy comptroller is afraid because the one star officer may have connections in Abuja, where they will call and warn the deputy comptroller. Those things are going away now and I puff my cap for the C.G for that” he added.
