85% of imported vehicles vandalized, according to agents

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Customs clearance agents operating in the country’s shipping industry said 85% of imported used vehicles had been vandalized by shipping companies and terminal operators.

The agents, who spoke separately to The PUNCH in Lagos on Wednesday, said the worsening situation has resulted in a massive loss of jobs among practitioners as most of their clients have stopped giving them work.

The youth leader of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Officers, Tincan Island Chapter, Remilekun Saliu, told our correspondent that many officers have been arrested and beaten because of the issue.

Many agents have been arrested and brutalized because of the missing parts problem caused by the terminals/shipping companies. Many professionals have lost valuable importers due to these issues.

Further explaining, he said that 85% of vehicle keys and sensors brought into the country during the month of March by a ship, the Grande Cameroon, were stolen.

Saliu also said that the officers on several occasions had written several times to the management of the terminals and that nothing had been done.

He said: “In Grande Lagos, which just docked on April 2, 70% of the unloaded vehicles were vandalized. The majority of them don’t have keys and the funny thing is that it’s the clearing agents who bear the brunt of it.

Also speaking, the National Vice President of the National Association of Government Licensed Freight Forwarders, Ugochukwu Nnadi, said: At Grimaldi, what we have is not vandalism, it is theft. They still have the keys, especially those exotic cars that are controlled remotely. So it’s actually happening.

Another clearance agent who simply gave his name as Leke, said that a 2020 Toyota Camry model that entered the country via Greater Cameroon had the complete sensor key stolen.

He said he had filed a complaint and nothing had been done about it yet.

We’re sick of Grimaldi’s operation on missing item issues. 70% of vehicles in Greater Cameroon were all without sensors. And on Grande Lagos, there were also a lot of parts missing. The worst thing is that the importers have not understood that it is not our fault. It is what the terminal delivers to us that we are going to deliver to them. We implore the management of PTML terminals to strengthen their security because we are losing importers every day.

Reacting, the Managing Director of PTML, Mr. Tunde Keshinro, urged officers to provide details of the vehicles involved, adding that it will be difficult for him to respond to mere allegations.

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