Trigger-happy Customs ‘FOU’ Officer Should Be Dismissed, Tried for Attempted Murder—CREFFPON

By DAPO OLAWUNI
The Congregation of Registered Freight Forwarding Practitioners of Nigeria (CREFFPON) has called for the dismissal of the officer of Nigeria Customs Service attached to the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone A’ Ikeja Lagos for shooting a freight forwarder in the leg, even as it demanded that that officer be tried for attempted murder.
In a statement issued at the weekend and signed by Comrade Edwin Chukwudire Obi for the group, CREFFPON said it has monitored the reported sad incident of an FOU officer of customs who shot a freight forwarder in the course of taking delivery of a used Toyota RAV4 car duly cleared at PTML terminals.
The sad event occurred at the auto-wharf/Mile 2, FOU check point, even as the customs service claimed that the freight forwarder was attempting to drive off without paying the “Officer on duty”.
CREFFPON stated that after careful investigation and review of the incident, the group “hereby demand that the Custom officer who carried out the shooting be fished out for subsequent dismissal from the Custom Service and be prosecuted for attempted murder to start with”
“We also insists that the Customs management should carry out a proper training of it’s officers to understand and grasp the workings of the service, especially on the pros and cons of the anti-smuggling operations”
“May we posit here that, there is a distinction between a freight forwarder carrying out it’s daily professional practices within the Customs ports corridor (less than 20 kilometers from the port access road), and a diehard smuggler who ply the unapproved routes to carry out it’s illegal enterprises”
“The shooting of innocent and unarmed freight forwarders who are not smugglers nor found operating within or along the smuggling/unapproved routes for a mere flimsy excuse of not settling Custom Officers on duty is becoming rampant and condemnable”
“Recall that sometimes in 2013, the FOU officer shot and brutally killed the Vice Chairman of NAGAFF Idioroko chapter, Chief Anayo Chinedu, just for stopping his car to mediate between the FOU officers and a bus driver who had arguments with the officers at their check point”
“It is on record that the Nigeria Customs framed him as a suspected smuggler to cover up their mess, but the report of the incident is documented with the international human rights Organizations, while the NAGAFF has since then after series of protest, buried its own”
“We equally note with apprehension, the heightened extortions and harassment tendencies of the FOU officers in recent years”
“Before now, the FOU and all Customs Area Commands have enjoyed reasonable peace and tranquility, and trade facilitation was achieved smoothly. But that is not the same setting presently, as things has gone from worse to worst and trade facilitation is serially obstructed by the FOU unit of Nigeria Customs”
CREFFPON also kicked against the setting up of Customs task forces by customs management, describing it as “a deliberate act of usurping the official duties of the line officers, whereas the Customs management lacks the administrative willpower to effectively supervise the progress it’s officers and penalize ailing officers for unethical and unwholesome practices in the cargo documentation, handling and processing operations”
“It is important for the enforcement officers of the Service to treat the freight forwarders, not just as partners in the revenue generation quest of the federal government, but with dignity and respect for human life. Acts capable of promoting undue provocation that may result into industry unrest must be avoided at all times. The application of rules of engagement and professionalism in the practice is the key approach to resolving all trade related disputes and not unbridled militancy”
“As such, we cannot overemphasize on the need to strengthen the symbiotic relationship that hitherto had existed between the men and officers of the service and the freight forwarders. It is never possible to wish away the professional truth that, “a Custom officer and a Custom Licensed agent are two sides of a coin”