Members of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) have beckoned on the Assistant Inspector-General of Police and other relevant agencies to save them from undue harassment, intimidation, detention and extortion in the hands of the Zonal Enquiry Bureau (ZEB) of the Nigeria Police Force.
In a petition from the NAGAFF 100% Compliance Team headed by Alhaji Tanko Ibrahim, the freight forwarders’ group raised the alarm over cases of undue harassment, extortion and other unlawful practices the ZEB perpetrate against freight forwarders.
The petition which was copied to the Senate Committee on Customs, Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, Nigerian Shippers’ Council and other relevant agencies, implored them to investigate and bring to an end the ugly practices. Anything to the contrary, members of the association would have no choice than to withdraw their services and shut down the ports in the Western Zone.
“We write to express our profound frustrations at the unbridled harassment, intimidation, detention and outright extortion of our members by the above named unit in your headquarters.
” Invitation letters are written to our members under the guise of facilitating an investigation only for them to be subjected to needless interrogations about a long-gone consignment.
” A form ‘M’ may have multiple items listed but only one or two may be imposed at a point in time. Granted that they may have access to the manifest, it may not tell the full story. Subsequent imports may include the rest.
Electronic Bill of lading may pick any of the items from the Form ‘M’, but physical examination supercedes all other documents.”
In the petition, NAGAFF insists that the ZEB, by her modus operandi, may be over -stepping bounds despite the involvement of various Customs Units and other government agencies who partake in the physical examination.
“We have Commissioner of Police domiciled in the ports. We also have an AIG(Maritime) who may have cause to write to Customs to reposition a container for re-examination. It is the items duly assessed and released after attestation by the relevant agencies.”
The association is baffled that after this rigorous exercise and containers long delivered, another Police unit steps in with a query.
” If the ZEB wants to be part of the examination or revenue collection, they may apply to the right channel and join the physical examination. They may know better than Customs.”
NAGAFF regrets that on a daily basis, her members come up with complaints and accusations against the ZEB. They accuse them of being worse than the discredited SARS.
