- Head of NAGAFF 100% Compliance Team, Tanko Ibrahim
By Anthony Nwachukwu
The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, urging him to investigate allegations of corruption and impunity against an officer (names withheld) serving at the Maritime Police Command, Obalende, Lagos.
In a statement to the media following the petition, the Coordinator, NAGAFF 100% Compliance Team, Mr. Tanko Ibrahim, alleged that the officer is so corrupt and acts with impunity and courage that “his superior officers cannot even caution him over his bad conduct for over three years in that command.
“We also know that a customs command and Nigerian Shippers’ Council have severally intervened over this particular officer issuing stoppage letters to terminal operators and shipping companies on cargo at the ports.”
Disclosing that the “observation,” which was being forwarded to the Inspector-General of Police and DIG Finance for further investigation has been copied the Senate President, Secretary to Federal Government, Comptroller-General of Customs and Chief of Staff to the President, Tanko assured that NAGAFF was “prepared to provide material evidence in this regard.”
Going forward, “we shall in due course gradually pick bad officers from the various agencies of government posted to entry points who we consider part of the problems against renewed hope for Nigeria’s greatness.”
He explained that NAGAFF has the capacity to escalate cases of corruption against anybody found to be sabotaging government’s “efforts at this critical time of depression among Nigerians.”
Noting that NAGAFF was expecting the IGP’s response, Tanko said the allegation was equally being forwarded to the AIG Maritime Command, adding that “this particular officer may have received several warnings from the appropriate higher authority.
“It is also important to note that a substantive commissioner of police and his officers have observer status at the ports and yet this particular officer keeps distorting port orders and standards corruptly.
“We also know that past Inspector-General of Police may have issued various warnings to police formations to stop meddling with customs statutory functions, and yet this particular officer will never listen.
“It is our belief that proper investigation by the IGP Monitoring Unit shall reveal soonest this particular officer and his activities to serve as deterrent to other corrupt officers in the government agencies assigned to the ports.”
Against this background, Tanko stated that corruption, lack of education and knowledge are remotely responsible for the unrest across Nigeria, adding that people must respect and obey the rule of law.
Tanko further reminded government officers serving in the maritime sector that their responsibility is “to ensure full compliance with government’s import and export regulations” as outlined in the relevant extant rules and regulations.
To that end, he assured, the NAGAFF Compliance Team is prepared to assist the Federal Government, in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service and the Nigeria Police, to ensure best practices in the nation’s customs ports and border stations.
“Our country cannot survive with the level of corruption in almost all the sectors of the economy. Going forward, we say that it is all about our collective courage and will to confront these avoidable circumstances in our country.
“For those who may be afraid to participate in this initiative of doing things rightly, let it be on record that the Comptroller-General of Customs, the Inspector-General of Police and other heads of government agencies at the ports and borders never asked any of their officers to extort money from any one at the ports.”
