Customs bans middlemen over extortion, complaints
Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Apapa Command, has banned camp boys and girls from its premises.
Camp boys are those engaged by some Customs officers as middlemen to extort clearing agents, collecting bribes and indulging in other corrupt practices at Lagos ports.
Worried by their illegal activities, a memo signed by the command’s Staff Officer, A. A Kabir, warned all Customs officers to stop sending camp boys/girls on errands or risk arrest.
The memo states: “It has been observed that the activi-ties of unemployed individuals around AC’s (camp boys/girls) have become too rampant and excessive, thereby hindering trade facilitation with genuine Customs licensed agents. Deputy Controller, Terminal, has directed that all officers/ men should be reminded that HQ circular No NCS/ENF/ ABJ/007/S.3, banning/prohibiting the use of camp boys/ girls is still in force.
“To this effect, no camp boys/girls or any unauthorised person should be seen sitting, writing, loitering around Customs hall.
“Henceforth, any officer and men that have any message should do so without necessarily keeping camp boys/ girls. Violators will be arrested and handed over to Customs Police for disciplinary action,” the statement added.
It would be recalled that the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Customs & Other Related Agencies of Government (CORAG) of the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders, Nigeria (AREFFN), Dr. Alex Nwokedi, had said that the engagement of camp boys was more rampant with the officers of the NCS.
He alleged that Customs use them as informants and spies despite the presence of a department in the service saddled with such responsibility. Also, Nwokedi explained that the camp boys were everywhere in the port environment, even at the offices of NCS, alleging that most of them were giving false information on import or export consignments at the ports to to NCS officials, thereby causing unnecessary delays of cargo clearance.
He noted that: “The camp boys are there within the Customs circle. For now, it is only the Customs that use those camp boys, going by the activities of other departments like the State Security Service (SSS), National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), and others. For now, they conduct their examination by themselves. (New Telegraph)
