Skip to main content

Customs Network Failure: NAGAFF 100% Compliance Team Petitions Finance Ministry

By Anne Ejuka


Following the reoccurring network failures of the Customs Server, the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) 100% Compliance Team has formally petitioned the Federal Ministry of Finance following the recurrent server failures within the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) infrastructure. 

These failures, according to the team have led to severe consequences, including substantial financial losses at the Lagos seaports.

In a letter addressed to the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, the NAGAFF team expressed deep concern over the ongoing challenges caused by the Customs Service server malfunctions which have lasted for a while now.

These challenges, they emphasized, have resulted in hardships, increased demurrage fees, and significant revenue losses for stakeholders within the shipping industry.

“We are taken aback as to why such outfit that has over the time manifested gross incompetence is hired…”

Alhaji Tanko Ibrahim, the National Coordinator of the Compliance Team, highlighted the gravity of the situation by revealing that NAGAFF members were currently facing considerable financial losses. 

With approximately 1,600 containers trapped at each of the major ports including Apapa, Tin Can, PTML, and  Kirikiri Lighter terminal respectively, members’ daily losses have exceeded the sum of N192,000,000 (One hundred and ninety-two million naira) 

According to him, when the sum is multiplied by more than two thousand containers that are equally denied exit from off dock terminals, due to the server failure/breakdown, the consequential effect is better imagined than experienced.

The full text of the letter reads:

 “The Honorable Minister Sir, we are deeply saddened to inform your good office that for the last three weeks, we have been saddled with an unbearable yoke of intermittent server collapse and or failure in the Nigeria customs service platform.

Sir, this breakdown and failure of customs servers have in no small measure occasioned unimaginable hardship, demurrage, loss of revenue, and serious disruption of services in the maritime industry. The attendant losses are better imagined both for us as freight forwarders and for the federal government.

“The Honorable Minister Sir, we as stakeholders and users of the customs servers are going through a lot in the hands of our teeming customers, shipping companies and terminal operators. This is so as the terminal Operators charge the sum of (sixty-two thousand naira) per day. The Shipping companies charge #58,000.00 (fifty-eight thousand naira) per day.

“For instance Sir, we have an average of 1,600 containers trapped by the server failure in each of the ports of Apapa, Tin Can, PTML and Kirikiri Lighter terminal respectively, with an estimated sum of #192,000,000 (One hundred and ninety-two million naira) being lost daily.

Personnel On Fastrack Cargoes

“When this sum is multiplied by more than two thousand containers that are equally denied exit from off-dock terminals due to the server failure/breakdown, the consequential effect is better imagined than experienced. This had been a recurring decimal over time with the customs service provider, namely, WEBB FONTAINE.

“Sir, it is now being alleged that a new outfit or new service provider has been appointed to replace the WEBB FONTAINE. If that is the case, Honorable Sir, we respectfully call for a total review of their contract because the situation has degenerated into an unbearable state.

“We are taken aback as to why such outfit that has over time manifested gross incompetence is hired and allowed to oversee such critical infrastructure of the Nigeria customs service,” the letter explained.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NAGAFF Petitions IGP Over Alleged Extortion, Harassment by Maritime Police at Lagos Ports

By Anne Ejuka
The 100% Compliance Team of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) over alleged unlawful conduct, extortion, intimidation, harassment and obstruction of trade by officers of the Maritime Police Command operating around Nigerian seaports. The petition, dated August 14, 2026 and addressed to the Inspector-General of Police at Force Headquarters, Abuja, specifically identified the Lagos Port Complex, Apapa; Tin-Can Island Port and other designated port locations, including bonded terminals, as areas where the alleged misconduct is taking place. In the petition, which was signed by Alhaji Ibrahim Tanko, the National Coordinator of 100% Compliance Team, NAGAFF described the situation as a growing impediment to trade facilitation and a factor contributing to the rising cost of doing business in Nigeria. According to the association, freight forwarding practitioners have, over a sustained period, repo...
Post a Comment
Read more

NCS Medical Team Trains Apapa Area Command Officers On First Aid

By Anne Ejuka
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) medical team yesterday trained officers and men of the Apapa Area Command on basic first aid training. ‎ ‎The Customs Area Controller of the Command, Comptroller Emmanuel Oshoba according to a press release issued by the public relations officer of the command, Superintendent of Customs SC JT Ayagbalo described the initiative as a crucial investment in workplace safety and operational readiness. ‎ ‎In his welcome address, Comptroller Oshoba emphasized that the programme reflects the priority placed on staff welfare by the Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR. ‎ ‎He described first aid knowledge as a universal life skill that every adult should possess, especially officers as they are frequently exposed to high-risk operational environments. ‎ ‎ Oshoba noted that simple but timely interventions such as; CPR, bleeding control, choking relief and stroke recognition often determine whether a victim survives, fully recov...
Post a Comment
Read more

NCS Seizes 13 Containers of Unwholesome Imports

By Anne Ejuka
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Apapa Area Command has intercepted 13 containers with over 7.6 tonnes of cannabis sativa, 170,000 bottles of codeine syrup, security-sensitive drones and large quantities of expired consumer and pharmaceutical products. The Comptroller-General of Customs, CGC Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, PhD, MFR, disclosed this during a press briefing held at the Apapa Area Command in the presence of the Customs Area Controller of the command, Comptroller Emmanuel Oshoba and heads of other sister agencies earlier today, 10th September, 2026,  according to CGC, the seized consignments have a combined duty-paid value of ₦43.59 billion. He said the seizures were made as a result of sustained intelligence-led operations supported by enhanced cargo profiling, risk assessment, documentary scrutiny and targeted physical examination. "The containers behind me are not an isolated event and they should not be reported as one;  the Service’s mandate extends beyond revenue c...
Post a Comment
Read more