LAGOS AIRPORT CUSTOMS AGENTS LAMENT CLOSURE OF SECRETARIAT
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Customs agents at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos are protesting the alleged closure of their secretariat by the airport’s commandant, Chioma Udo.
The agents, who are part of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents, argued that the secretariat’s closure on February 5 is hindering their daily operations and leading to significant losses, including a nearly N500 billion loss in revenue for the federal government.
In separate interviews on Monday, the agents, who admitted to an internal crisis within the association, mentioned that a court had issued a restraining order, directing that the status quo be maintained. However, Olufemi Kayode, a member of Febak Olympic Global Services Limited, stated that the secretariat remained locked despite the court order.
“We are using this medium to appeal to the commandant to open our secretariat. There is an internal crisis within the association and the MMAC executives had approached the court considering the security and sensitivity of the airport environment. A court order therefore restrained all parties from taking action and that status quo should remain. But despite this, the commandant locked up the association’s secretariat despite this order,” Kayode disclosed.
Another agent, Makinde Aremu from Marktouch Shipping Agencies Limited, mentioned that attempts to appeal to the commandant were unsuccessful.
He expressed concern that the closure could escalate into violence and urged for respect for the rule of law.
He said, “All efforts to make her see reasons not to adjudicate on this matter proved abortive. The association’s matter had lasted more than two years without a crisis, violence or breakdown of law and order.
“Locking up the association’s offices and secretariat may degenerate to violence that we have managed to avert to date because members’ patience is fast running out. For instance, we could not collate and moderate members registration for the ongoing FAAN registration and data capturing hence our outcry.”
Nwokoma Ohuoba, the owner of Bestdestiny Express Logistics and Allied Services Limited, expressed concern that the closure had severely impacted the operations related to revenue generation for the Federal Government through customs.
He specifically noted that the customs airport operations had lost almost N500bn in revenue.
He said, “As the association is one the major stakeholders for the revenue generation by the Nigeria custom licensed agents, this has grossly affected the operations of revenue generation to the Federal Government through customs and also affected members welfare and revenue too.
“The Federal Government within this period through the customs airport revenue operations has lost almost N500bn worth of revenue and the association revenue is also in the red as a result of the locking up the secretariat.”
When contacted for a statement, Udo clarified that the decision to reopen the secretariat was subject to approval from the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria.
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