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Aniebonam seeks amnesty for goods seized under infamous administration of Hameed Ali as CGC

—describes Emefiele, Ali as wicked over ban on importation of rice, other 43 items.
The Eyewitness Reporter
Dr. Boniface Aniebonam, the founder and the spiritual leader of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has taken a swipe at the duo of Godwin Emefiele, the former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), the immediate past Comptroller General of Customs, for causing untold pains and hardship on Nigerians through the infamous banning of rice and other 42 trade goods from access foreign exchange for import.
Aniebonam was reacting to the eight-year ban on these items and their recent delisting from the forex ban.
In his open letter to the Minister of Financial, Wale Edun and the Comptroller General of Customs, Wale Adeniyi, Aniebonam commended the decision of the present CBN Governor, Dr. Olayemi Cardozo, to delist these trade goods from the forex ban.
While lauding this move, the NAGAFF spiritual leader sought the release of all trade goods seized under this infamous regime of forex ban with appropriate duties and penalties.
Aniebonam believed that Godwin Emefiele was power drunk to have dabbled into the fiscal policy of the last administration through what he described as an Ill-conceived decision to ban the 43 trade goods, including rice, from forex access.
He also lampooned Col.(rtd) Ali for his shallow knowledge of customs laws and administration which he said was responsible for most of his unpopular decisions as the customs CG.
“Hon Minister, let us briefly take you to the atrocities committed by Mr Godwin Emefiele and the immediate past Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service Col. Hamid Ibrahim Ali.
“In the case of Mr Godwin Emefiele, he had no reason not to contact the customs board to advise him on the subject matter of delisting rice importation and the 43 items from forex benefits in relation to customs laws.
” If he did it,  is our belief that the customs would have advised him most appropriately and
professionally.
“On the part of the customs, it is most unfortunate that the former customs boss had limited knowledge about customs matters and international trade.
” Even when his attention was drawn to the provisions of the customs laws trade matters, his mind was already made to seize rice importation in particular.
Aniebonam stated that rice and other 42 other trade goods banned from forex access are not on the prohibited list and said there was no justifiable reason to confiscate these items, including rice.
“Hon Minister, why are we so wicked to each other and or just to show power and authority? Aniebonam enquires.
He therefore praised the present management of the Nigeria Customs led by Wale Adeniyi for its magnanimous use of desrectional powers to carry out their operations.
“Honestly, Nigerians must remain very grateful to the officers and men of the customs who always deploy discretional powers in carrying out their statutory duty.
”  Otherwise, I wonder what could have happened to trade in Nigeria if they had the mindset of the likes of Mr Godwin Emefiele and the retired CGC Hamid Ali Ibrahim.
Aniebonam therefore appealed to the Customs authority to approach President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to grant reprieve for the owners of the seized goods under the forex ban.
He said he believed the owners would be willing to pay all the appropriate duties and other surcharges, while the amnesty will also boost the revenue of the customs
“Having said all these to the Honorable Minister and the Comptroller General of Customs, we urge you to approach Mr President to grant amnesty to all the people whose goods were seized and still within the custody of the Nigeria customs service to take delivery of their imports.
” This is because the customs do not have reasons to seize such goods in the first instance.
“They were not banned and never breached customs laws or trade policy.
“We want to believe that the rightful owners will want and be ready to pay appropriate customs duty and any other surcharge thereto and take delivery of their goods.
“It is even to the advantage of revenue due to the government than the sale of the auction.
“Above all Nigerians shall be most grateful to Mr President for listening to the yearnings of suffering Nigerians.
This is a most appropriate opportunity to cushion the effect of oil subsidy removal.
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Headlines

MWUN threatens to picket shipping companies, terminal operators over manipulation of pension remittances of seafarers, dockworkers

Gloria Odion 
The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria(MWUN) has accused terminal operators, shipping companies and ship owners of shortchanging dockworkers and seafarers in their employment in the remittance of their pensions to the appropriate authorities.
In a statement by the union led by  Comrade Francis Bunu Abi, the erring service providers were allegedly either holding back the deductions made from the salaries of their staff into the pension funds scheme or under- remitting the deductions.
The union warned of dire consequences for such act which it regarded as unethical and illegal and threatened to shut down any service provider found culpable in this illegal act.
“The leadership of the Union recently got the wind of these employers of labour and terminal operators over their acts of irregular remittance of their employees pensions to its appropriate quarters.
“Thus shortchanging the Seafarers and  the Dockworkers, both categories of workers from the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria.
“It was also learnt that some Ship Owners and Terminal Operators have allegedly stopped the remittance of Dockworkers and Seafarers’ PSA in their employ, which is a gross violation of labour laws.
” As a result, the President -General of the Union, Comrade Bunu, stated  that the Union will have no other option than to descend heavily and bring to book all the earring managements of these companies working against the ethics and practices of labour rules in their various companies.
“The Delta State- born labour leader made this point known, stressing that it’s unlawful to deny workers their pensions rights either by crook or hook,;  and may not hesitate to call out these Concessionaires and Shipping Companies that have defaulted in the payment of the statutory pensions of the Union Members.
“Comrade Bunu also said that these erring companies in the Maritime sector would be shut down if this ugly trend is not reversed to status quo.” the statement concluded.
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Headlines

Tantita Security to bankroll 2025 OTC in USA

Gloria Odion 
The foremost security provider in Nigeria, Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited (TSSNL) has been confirmed as the official sponsor of the 2025 Offshore Technology conference scheduled to hold in Houston Texas, United States on 5-8 May , 2025 .
Executive Director, Technical and operations , Tantita security services Limited, Captain Wareddi Enisuoh  in an interview with journalists on Friday, said the company attracted the OTC conference lucrative sponsorship deal in recognition of its  capacity to deliver on the conference.
Founded in 1969 , Offshore Technology conference is a series of conferences and exhibitions, focused on exchanging technical knowledge relevant to the development of offshore energy resources , primarily Oil and Natural Gas.
The conference also serves as the meeting place for the brightest minds to share ideas , discuss, debate and build consensus around the most pressing challenges and innovations in the offshore energy sector.
This year’s exhibitors , speakers and attendees represent some of the highest calibre professionals from more than 100 countries .
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Customs

Customs shuns N12 trillion inflated revenue target imposed by National Assembly 

— focuses on realising N6.5 trillion 2025 target 
Funso OLOJO 
The Nigeria Customs Service may have tactically shrugged off the imposition of the N12 trillion revenue target by the National Assembly.
It could be recalled that government gave the NCS ₦6.5 trillion revenue target for 2025.
This followed the impressive revenue performance of the service in 2024 when it surpassed that year’s target of N5.07 trillion by 20.2 percent.
However , in January, 2025, the National Assembly joint committee on Finance led by its chairmen, Senator Sani Musa and Hon. James Faleke, believed that the projection of N6.5 trillion revenue target given to the customs was conservative and encouraged the NCS to aim higher.
Consequently, the joint committee slammed a whooping sum of N12 trillion as revenue target, doubling the initial N6.5 trillion projected revenue.
This humongous target sparked off an outrage among perplexed stakeholders who felt the target imposed by the law makers was outrageous and unrealistic which they feared may stretch the capacity of the customs to a breaking point and put unnecessary pressure on the men and officers of the agency.
Indication that the Customs authority may not be well disposed to the imposed target of N12 trillion by the National Assembly emerged recently when the Comptroller -General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, was giving account of the activities of the service in the first quarter of 2025.
While giving the analysis of the revenue performance of the service during the period under review, Adeniyi benchmarked the revenue generated by the service during the first quarter of 2025 by N6.5 trillion revenue target given by the Federal Ministry of Finance, thus jettisoning the N12 trillion imposed by the National Assembly.
“ Against our annual target of ₦6,580,000,000,000.00, the first quarter’s proportional benchmark stood at ₦1,645,000,000,000.00.
“I’m proud to announce we’ve exceeded this target by ₦106.5 billion, achieving 106.47% of our quarterly projection.
” This outstanding performance represents a substantial 29.96% increase  compared  to  the  same  period  in  2024,  where  we  collected
₦1,347,705,251,658.31″ Adewale stated, while giving the analysis of the performance of the service in the first three months of the year.
Analysts believed that from the analysis of the revenue performance of the NCS in the first quarter of the year which was predicated on the N6.5  trillion revenue target, it was obvious that the service was not paying much attention to the imposed N12 trillion,  but rather focusing on how to meet the more realistic target of N 6 .5 trillion.
” You can see that the CGC did not make mention of the N12 trillion imposed by the National Assembly which presupposes that the unrealistic amount is not in the reckoning of the Customs” a customs broker who plies his trade at Apapa port, said, pleading for anonymity.
” Where  on earth do they want the Customs to realize such an humongous amount of money in a depressed economy, in a country where importation has plummeted due to the unfriendly policies of government?
“It is unfortunate that these people (the law makers) have lost touch with the current economic realities in the country.
” All what they are after is to witch hunt government agencies to go and hunt for money for them to share.
” If not, how could they sit down in the comfort of their air conditioned offices and imposed such amount of revenue for customs to realize.
” Of course, the pressure would be on the men and officers of the service who will in turn go after the hapless importers and their agents in the most brutal way to raise the imposed target.
” It is unfortunate that the lawmakers, who are expected to make laws that will encourage export drive of the Federal government, are those asking the customs to focus more on the import goods where such money could be realized” another freight forwarder, who did not want his name in print but based at Tin Can Island port, declared.
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