Customs Pledges Collaboration With NAF On Cargo Delivery

The Zonal Coordinator,
Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Zone ‘A’, Assistant Comptroller-General Eporwei Edike, on Tuesday said the service would collaborate with the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) for quick delivery of military consignments.
Edike stated this during his visit to the 107 Headquarters, Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Camp Lagos.
He said that there was need for inter-agency relationship to strengthen the operations of Customs and the Air Force.
Edike said the Air Force had been supporting the Customs Service at the Murtala Airport Customs Command, right from the time he was there as a Controller of Customs.
He said that the Air Force had also assisted in raising Customs revenue through effective lighting at the Control Tower of the airport.
Edike said that the Air Force had also saved Customs undue delay which could have been encountered in the course of cargo clearance.
“I am informing you that if you have any consignment coming through the port, you should write to the particular customs command for conditional release before the arrival of the document.
“This pre-arrival process will save the consignment from demurrage,’’ the zonal coordinator said.
Edike said that the service, however, had to be mindful of national security.
He urged the Commander to always get in touch with the Customs Zonal Office if efforts being made at the command level failed in processing such consignments.
In his response, Air Commodore Abubakar Yusuf, commended the efforts of the zonal coordinator in providing solutions to challenges facing the Air Force in the course of clearing consignments from the ports.
Yusuf urged customs to give consignments belonging to the Air Force maximum priority due to the sensitive nature of most of the equipment.
“Presently, there is a directive by the government that all military organisations should get camouflage.
“We will inform customs as soon as these were being processed. We will back it up with appropriate documents, ‘’ Yusuf said.
He commended the zonal coordinator for strengthening the synergy between the Air Force and the Customs Service.