SAHCOL Increases Clientele, Adds Two Foreign Airlines

By

-

April 13, 2018

Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL) has been chosen as the preferred aviation ground handling partner to Badr Airlines and Tarco Airways, two International airlines operating into the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano.

A statement by Mr. Basil Agboarumi, the General Manager, Communications, SAHCOL, said that each of the airlines would operate two flights weekly from Khartoum, Sudan to Kano.

He hinted that these contracts would see SAHCOL providing unequalled efficient passengers, ramp and cargo handling services to Tarco Airways and Badr Airline in this station.

NSC Partners Oyo State Govt, Foreign Investors on Inland Dry Port Development

By

Lola Adesokan

-

April 13, 2018

0

The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has entered into partnership with the Oyo State Government for the development of Inland Dry Port (IDP) and Truck Transit Park (TTP) in conjunction with some Chinese investors in the state.
The partnership arrangement was unfolded when the Executive Secretary/CEO of NSC, Mr. Hassan Bello, paid acourtesy visit to the Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi at the Governor’s Office Ibadan, Oyo State.
Bello said that collaborating with the Oyo State Government on the establishment of IDP will bring about a lot of developments to the Nigerian economy, stressing that Oyo State was critical to the development of transportation in view of its strategic location.
According to him, since 2006, the federal government had taken a decision to establish Inland Dry Ports in the six geo-political zones of the country of which Oyo State is one.

Describing transportation as a driving force in the national economy, the Bello said that the establishment of IDP and TTP in the state will provide job opportunities and create wealth for the state.

Bello also said the ongoing rail project being championed by the Ministry of Transport will be a big boost to the IDPs as it will help decongest the heavy traffic on the road as well as facilitate easy movement of goods from Lagos ports to different locations in the Country.

He disclosed that the proposed TTP alone would gulp N4.8 billion through the Public Private Partnership (PPP), adding that the facilities will include Shopping mall, hotels, motels, worship centre, commercial banks, restaurants among others.
Bello explained that the idea of TTP was to have a secured and convenient place for truck drivers to have as resting places while moving goods from one location to the other.
He noted that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed recently with the Chinese investors for the development of the Ibadan Dry Port project, adding that the interest shown by the investors was in consideration of the strategic importance of Ibadan.

Bello therefore solicited the support of Oyo state government for their allocation of the land for the development of the Truck Transit Park
In his address, the Governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi who was impressed by the two concepts, assured his Council of the support of the administration and called on the Council to hasten the paper works required for the project to begin.
He said that there was no reason the state should not have started the project much earlier, considering the geographical and human capital advantages Oyo state has over other states.
The Governor said that the project would cause a remarkable reduction in road carnage, improvement in economic activities and job opportunities.
He therefore, called for a Committee to be set up between the two partners for a successful and speedy implementation of the project.

Border Crimes : NDLEA Prosecutes 39 Over Smuggling Of Cannabis

By

Lola Adesokan

-

April 12, 2018

0

In check mating the incessant smuggling of cannabis through the land borders into the country as it had become an eyesore making it the order of the day for government agencies to be on the look out for deviant unpatriotic citizens to be brought to book, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) had prosecuted 39 persons between January and April over smuggling of cannabis within Lagos state sub region.

The Staff Officer in charge of operations and intelligence of NDLEA, Lawal Isiaka Opeloyeru who gave the hint when taking delivery of cannabis seized by the Federal Operations Unit Zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service in Lagos said that most of the cannabis were smuggled from Togo and Ghana to Nigeria through the land borders and creeks surrounding Lagos State, adding that some of the weeds were planted in Nigeria.

Opeloyeru added that efforts in the past to liaise with Ghanian government to nip the illicit trade in the bud yielded no positive result but insisted that the two countries are still working together.

“We have prosecuted about 39 suspects this year in Lagos s state command alone. Some of them were convicted and are presently serving their terms of imprisonment.

“Some of the drugs are coming from Nigeria, some from Togo, some from Ghana.

“In 2016, when something like this was arrested, we contacted our colleagues in Ghana and they tried their best even though we couldn’t hit any positive result but we are working together, ” he stated.

He however called on Nigerians to join in the fight against the menace of drug peddling in the country because according to him, it is capable disrupt the peace and security of the country.

He said the suspects when arrested, often adduce their drug peddling to non employment in the country which he said was not a good reason for anyone to go into drugs.

Earlier, Controller, FOU Zone A, Nigeria Customs Service, Comptroller Uba Garba Mohammed said the seized weeds were intercepted along Olorunda axis of Ogun State South West, based on intelligence report.

Uba noted that the seizure of 570 parcels and 98 bags of Indian hemp is so far the highest recorded by the unit. “It is the highest seizure of such hard drugs in the history of FOU A.

“You all know what would have happened if it got to the wrong hands undetected. In the spirit of inter agency relationship, the seized India hemp will be handed over to the NDLEA for further investigation.

He further raised the alarmed that “There was a mob attack against our operatives but that never deterred us from performing our statutory responsibilities

APAPA Command Nets N81.7b In First Quarter

By

Lola Adesokan

-

April 12, 2018

0

Continue

FOU ‘A’ Intercept Contraband Of Over N1.4b In 3 weeks

By

Lola Adesokan

-

April 11, 2018

0

…Nab 10 Suspects

In the continuous furry against the antics of deviant smugglers and unpatriotic citizens who are bent on short changing federal government, the Federal Operations Unit Zone ‘A’ of Nigerian Customs Service has again intercepted various contraband with a duty paid value of N1,461,006,823.8billion between March 19th through April 9th 2018.

While taking news men round the seized items the Unit Controller, Comptroller Mohammed Uba Garba said the unit recovered N166 million as Duty payment and demand notices on general goods from seaport, airport, and border stations through wrong classification, transfer of value and shortchange in duty payment in the month of march alone making a cumulative of N1.6 billion within the week under review.

The seized items include Indian hemp of 1,550kg valued at N74 million, 64 exotics cars with duty paid value N918,676,031.9million, 6003 bags of Foreign parboiled rice (equivalent to 10 trailers) worth N74 million, 963 cartons of frozen poultry products with duty paid value of N5.788,000million, 431 jerry cans of vegetable oil valued at N5 million and 163 bales of used clothing worth N8 million among others, adding that 10 suspects were arrested in connection to the seizures.

Comptroller Garba also made it known that the Indian hemp intercepted along Olorunda axis of Ogun state based on intelligence was the highest seizure of hard drugs in the history of FOU Zone A.

In his words, “the 570 parcels and 98 sacks of Indian hemp weighing 1,550kg intercepted based on intelligence along Olorunda axis of Ogun state is the highest seizure of such hard drugs in the history of FOU Zone A.

“You all know what would have happened if it gets to the wrongs hand undetected, in the spirit of inter agency relationship the seized Indian hemp will be handed over to NDLEA for further investigations.”

Among the detained vehicles include one Toyota land cruiser (2018) one escalades cardilac (2017) one Range Rover, three Toyota Camry (2009, 2010, 2017) among others with a duty paid value worth over N258 million.

He however urged all smugglers and their accomplices to desist from such trade malpractices and invest their money in legitimate business.

“let me warn all smugglers and intending ones and their accomplices to desist from such malpractices and invest their money in legitimate business as the unit has devised other operational modalities that will give them a run for their money and count their loses and finally end in jail.”

Nigeria Customs Service redeploys 8 senior officers

By

Lola Adesokan

-

April 11, 2018

0

Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali, Controller General of Nigeria Customs Service has approved the redeployment of 8 senior customs officers .

According to a press statement signed by the service Public Relations Officer, Joseph Attah, the movement was necessary to increase productivity of the service.

The redeployment which include 3 of the offcers to serve in higher positions of acting capacity include Comptroller, Aremu Modupe Adeyanju (Mrs) as Ag. Assistant Comptroller-General (Strategic Research & Policy), Deputy Comptroller, Agbara Ojobo Michael as Ag. Customs Area Controller Ogun Command and Deputy Comptroller, Olumoh Kamaluddeen as Ag. CAC Adamawa/Taraba Command.

Officers redeployed include: Comptroller, Adetoye Francis moved from Adamawa/Taraba to Ports & Termimals Multi-Services Logistics (PTML), Comptroller, Loko Yusuf from SR&P to Abia/Imo Command, Comptroller, Ajiya Kashim moved from Human Resources and Development to Customs Training College Ikeja, Comptroller, Sani Madugu from Ogun Command to Enforcement HQ and Deputy Comptroller, Dangaladima Sambo Khalid from SR&P to Presidential Task Force on Cross Border Movement.

Ali , according to the statement charged the affected Officers to see their appointments and redeployments as opportunities to build on the gains of the on-going reforms for enhanced service delivery.

Trade Facilitation : SON Improves Staff Capacity On Disputes Resolution Techniques

By

Lola Adesokan

-

April 11, 2018

0

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) in its continuous effort in enhancing service delivery alongside stakeholders compliance to stipulated standards, has improve the capacity of its staffs by embarking on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) techniques .

The move according to the agency boss, Dr Osita Aboloma was aimed at saving costs while also mitigating the suspension of economic activities that might arise from enforcing its statutory regulatory functions on importers of sub-standard goods to the country.

Dr Osita Aboloma, added that ‎ADR has been used as an instrument of standardisation and quality assurance in developing most economies across the world hence, Nigeria needed follow the trend in its quest to achieve economic growth and development.

He explained that the ADR became necessary to complement the Federal government’s ease of doing business policy during the flag-off of the ADR training of the Agency State Coordinators in the Northern, Zone, at Abuja recently, that the agency is equipping its state heads across the federation with techniques across global trend on dispute resolution.

Even though the general provisions in the new SON Act has empowered the agency to prosecute perpetrators of substandard products manufacture, importation and distribution while also providing stiffer penalties for convictions including jail terms, the agency is still exploring measures at resolving conflicts without wasting resources or stalling economic activities.

According to him, SON had so far trained about 40 of its staff from different departments on ADR and plans to train many more. The SON chief executive stated that ADR provides greater choices for settlement of disputes and misunderstandings in the workplace, businesses and private interactions under a win situation.

Aboloma said, the agency has been empowering its staff with skills to handle conflicts that may arise from complaints handling, market survey and stakeholders engagement, adding that it was strengthening its internal mechanisms to combat substandard products head on while urging all Nigerians to join hands with SON in order to create greater opportunities for genuine and certified locally manufactured products to thrive.

He however pledged the agency’s total commitment to protecting the lives and property of Nigerians as well its economy using the instruments of standardisation and quality assurance.

Tincan Customs Generate N76.7b Revenue In First Quarter

By

Lola Adesokan

-

April 11, 2018

0

Nigeria Customs Service, (NCS) Tin-Can Island Command has recorded N76.78blillion revenue generation in the first quarter of 2018 making a 24.1 percent increase as against N61.9billion in the corresponding period of 2017.

According to a press release signed by the command Public Relation officer , Uche Ejesieme, reads that the Command boss, Comptroller Musa Abdullahi said that reforms towards re-jigging and re-engineering the consciousness of officers/men towards enhancing efficiency and productivity in line with the command statutory mandate appears obviously to be yielding results as evident in the quantum leap of the Commands Revenue in the first quarter.

Abdullahi noted that “though the first quarter of each year is usually synonymous with low volume of trade, the migration to NICIS II platform by the Command, also contributed to some hiccups that affected declarations, but which we have surmounted”.

He however reiterated his resolve to ensure that adequate measures are put in place to enable the Command be on top of its statutory mandate, stating categorically that his concept of continuous Stakeholder Engagement, Training and Re-training Officers as well as Trade Facilitations models will be leveraged on for Service Delivery.

The Controller stressed that deliberate and concerted efforts were being made to ensure that the policies and programs of the Command is tailored towards achieving enhanced efficiency, while promoting competitiveness in the trade value chain.

He pointed out that the Command is at the Vanguard of implementation of the Presidential Directive on Ease of Doing Business as the lead Agency and have strengthened the existing Relationship with other Security/Regulatory Agencies for actualization of the Presidential Directive on creating Enabling Business Environment at the Ports.

Similarly, the Commandant Mr. Charles Edike, an Assistant Comptroller General of Customs lauded the achievement of the Command in the first quarter 2018 when compared with same period in 2017 and expressed optimism that the Controller has what it takes in terms of capacity and integrity to take the Command to enviable heights.

Nigeria Customs Service Unveils Additional Uniform

By

Lola Adesokan

-

April 3, 2018

0

The Management of Nigeria Customs Service has unveils a new additional uniform to give officers and men of the Service variety of uniforms that can be worn depending on the weather and assignment to be executed.

The additional wear which was officially presented to the public by the Ag. Deputy Comptroller General of Customs in charge of Tariff and Trade, Isa Talatu Mairo and the Service Public Relations Officer, DC Joseph Attah, has white atop the usual ash coloured trouser with a tie to match. Officers and men working in offices, airport and especially during hot weather will find it easy and more comfortable to wear on duty.

Continue

Customs Promote 775 Junior Officers

By

Lola Adesokan

-

March 22, 2018

0

Controller -General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd) has approved the promotion of 775 junior Officers to various ranks.

According to a statement issued by the Service national Public Relations Officer, DC Joseph Attah the promotion was strictly based on merit, as the cumulative marks of annual performance evaluation scores, written examination and availability of vacancy determined those who emerged as the most eligible for promotion which has 1st January, 2017 as effective date.

A breakdown of the promotion shows that 7 Assistant Inspectors of Customs were promoted to the rank of Inspector of Customs, 473 Customs Assistant1 to Assistant Inspector of Customs while 3 Customs Assistant111 were promoted to Customs Assistant11.

The release also state that the 15 Assistant Inspectors of Customs were promoted to the rank of Inspector of Customs, 40 Customs Assistant1 to Assistant Inspector of Customs, 152 Customs Assistant11 to Customs Assistant1 while 85 Customs Assistant111 were promoted to Customs Assistant11 In the Support Staff Cadre.

While giving his approval for the release of the promotion, the CGC congratulated all affected personnel and expressed the hope that these elevations will serve as motivation to effectively deliver on the Service mandate.