With the failure of the Tin Can Island Port (TCIP) Command of the Nigeria Customs Service failing to address concerns over the hacking of their online platform for payment of duties and taxes, freight forwarders are now seeking the intervention of the Customs headquarters in Abuja on the issue.
The agents have therefore task the national leadership of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) to notify the Customs headquarters to wade into the matter.
According to the clearing agentsm they have notified Yusuf Bashar, a comptroller of Customs and controller of TCIP command, Yusuf Bashar, even as they accused some officers of the command of conniving with cyber café owners within the port to perpetuate the nefarious activities.
The Executive Director, Ashov Nigeria Limited, a licensed customs agency, Prince B. A. Adewusi, decried the attitude of Bashar, urging Prince Olayiwola Shittu, National President of ANLCA, to take up the issue with the headquarters.
Adewusi said some fraudulent clearing agencies used the hacked pass words to clear vehicles and other goods using the platform of the owners without their knowledge. “We have not only incurred costs but our licenses have been suspended as a result,” Adewusi stated.
“Our licenses had been blocked since November 2016. We are petitioned the area controller at TCIP but up till now, we are still on the issue to unblock our license,” the Ashov boss said. He urged the ANLCA national leadership to apprise the Abuja national headquarters of the Customs of the development.
He said: “We are ready to name the Customs operatives involved in this scam. All we need is for investigation to be initiated. We are worried that if urgent steps are not taken now, it may set a bad precedent with the potential to undo all the efforts taken to set up the platform for payment of duties.”
