HON. CHIBUZO OGAMBA EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER NAFDAC STRIKE, CONTINUED CUSTOMS, BANKS SERVERS FAILURE
By Mcanthony Onuoha
Customs Broker and Former Financial Secretary of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents- ANLCA, KLT Chapter, Hon. Chibuzo Valentine Ogamba, has raised concern over the plight of cargo owners following an indefinite strike action embarked upon by staff of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control- NAFDAC since 7th of October, 2024.
According to an online news platform (Daily Trend), in its publication of October 15th, Licencsed Customs Agents could not process their cargoes with NAFDAC because most of the officials had embarked on an industrial action.
According to the media outfit, ” the Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporation and Government-Owned Companies (SSASCGOC), an affiliate of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), representing employees of NAFDAC had initiated an indefinite strike due to unresolved promotion controversies and welfare concerns”.
As a result of this development, processing of critical clearing documents for Cargo exit has proven difficult.
In a brief conversation with The Prestige Blended Magazine, the MD/CEO of SIGABA Logistics Ltd., Hon. Chibuzo Valentine Ogamba, lamented the strike action which was triggered by the NAFDAC Management’s failure to address critical issues bordering on staff welfare.
Hon. Ogamba said he believed that the welfare of staff in every organization should be prioritized by the employer, and that failure to look into their grievances amounts to gross insensitivity.
According to Hon. Ogamba, ” overtime, ports operations have been stalmated as a result of server failure, either at Customs Processing Centers (CPCs) or designated banks, or as a result of industrial action by relevant stakeholders. And each time we face such situation, it is the freight forwarders and their importers that bear the brunt. For example, the refusal of NAFDAC staff to attend to us for some days now has caused tremendous financial loss to cargo owners at various ports, particularly, those who have consignments that need NAFDAC clearance. People are stranded likewise their consignments at the ports.
” Those of us who have accounts with Zenith Bank can attest to the difficulties the bank put us through all these while, even up until now, the bank is still having issues, people can not access their money, to even make transfer is tug of war.”
” Presently GTB is battling with operational challenges, and people can as well tell you what they are going through at the bank. All these things can not happen in saner climes, even smaller countries within the West African Subregion do not experience such transational cum operational challenges, they don’t ! ”
“We have been on Customs Server failure for years now, it happens almost every other week, and Shipping Companies and terminal operators do not want to know about that, they can not lose their money because of Customs server failure, even if it happens every other day, they don’t want to know. All of these system failures come as financial and emotional burden on importers, every disruption at the port affects only but the importer and his agent, while other stakeholders keep smiling to the bank. And this is the more reason we are not happy with the Council for Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria- CRFFN, and leaders of other maritime associations, they have failed to live up to expectations.”
” So, l am calling on all concerned stakeholders in the ports industry to avoid making things difficult for Nigerians, because whatever an Importer loses in the course of clearing he recoups by inflating the market prices which fall back on end users,” he stated.
