NAGAFF Chairman, Prince Uchendu
The chairman of National Association Of Government Approved Freight Forwarders(NAGAFF), Apapa Chapter, the MD, Uchendu Global Investment Limited, Chief Eze Uchendu has commended the CGC Adeniyi's two years performance in office saying that there is a tremendous change in customs since he resumed office.
In a chat with Emperor globalnews correspondent recently in his office in Lagos, Uchendu narrated the differences between the past and the current CGC.
"I think the difference is clear, we have seen the tremendous changes in customs in terms of technicalities, manpower and capacity building, he has proven himself to be a well trained custom officer who passed through customs procedures and who really understands customs formalities and that's the changes we are experiencing now unlike the past CGC".
The NAGAFF Chairman also faulted the technical issues and bottlenecks surrounding the newly introduced B'Odogwu system saying that it is poorly prepared, " We have received several complaints all over the federation, members inability to generate form 'M' and let the form 'M' be registered with designated banks. You queue for 4 working days to get a cargo examined and released, most times it takes 48-72:hours, members inability to capture a job, to generate payment, to enable you pay duty to government, if I were in CG shoes, I will suggest that he scrap the B'Odogwu system, to suspend it within six hours".
Continuing, "On this note, I call for the suspension of B'Odogwu as a matter of National interest and utmost economic importance, if we allow the process to last, I think in the next 3 months the maritime industry will collapse, currently our Nigerian importers are diverting to neighboring ports because of delays as the NICIS they are formerly using is still vibrant, so in the long run, if it cannot be suspended completely, let's reach to NICIS for the mean time".
He suggested that customs should beam their search light to know what is frustrating the system, " The CGC should do something urgent before it gets too late because he is the only one capable to handle that situation", Uchendu stated.
While accessing Apapa command under the watch of Comptroller Olomu, the renowned freight forwarder gave kudos to the CAC and his officers, he said the command were able to generate the sum of #1,378, 059,019,245.20. 0) between January to June, which he said is evidence of good work, commitment and dedication to duty. "Our Comptroller is one in a million, I call him a mobile CAC, if you complain of any delay or hindrances of any sort, once the reports gets to him, he is there for you, he calls to duty even on public holidays when the need arise.
Speaking on the Apapa exit gate, Chief Uchendu showers encomium on the OC Gate, AC Kukoyi O. for his Wonderful performance and magic being performed by the young officer in charge, "The gridlocks and delays we witnessed in the past are no longer there, if it surfaces tomorrow, I will still let the pressmen to know, based on reports we get from members, I can confidently tell you that he is the best, I give praise to who deserves it, you can ask any freight forwarder operating around the area or you go and verify by yourself, there is no much complain".
He stated that in most cases, complaints that comes from there are wrong declaration or documentation as a result of inefficiency from one side or the other, so he commended the young officer, AC Kukoyi O. for the free flow of traffic he maintained at the Apapa exit gate.
Forwarder Uchendu while hailing the Apapa command controller, Comptroller Olomu and his officers, still lamented on the challenges facing the command, He said,"There is no way I will tell you that there is no challenges,like I said earlier, everything cannot be completely well, there must be problems and issues where people are coming to do their transactions, and there must be delays from one side or the other, those are one of the major challenges in the Port, the comptroller has a lot of things to work on and responsibility to take care of.
Prince Uchendu called on Comptroller Olomu to look into the inefficiencies from APMT, for them live up to their expectation,.
He advised that Olomu should take recommendations from higher authority to checkmate the affairs of the terminal operators who he believes are the ones that hinders the smooth and easy flow of business within Apapa port.
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