National Assembly Orders Customs To Block GTB From Duty Collection At Ports

Timi Bomodi, a deputy comptroller of Customs disclosed that the bank was on temporary suspension on the orders of the National Assembly.

FastNews reports that the Nigeria Customs Service has suspended Guarantee Trust Bank Limited, a subsidiary of Guarantee Trust Holding Company (GTCO) from the collection of duties on imported cargoes at Nigerian ports.

Investigations at the port revealed that several cargoes have been trapped at the port since Monday this week because freight forwarders could not complete their clearance.

Confirming the GTBank suspension to NewsOnline Nigeria, the National Public Relations Officer of Nigeria Customs Service, Timi Bomodi, a deputy comptroller of Customs disclosed that the bank was on temporary suspension on the orders of the National Assembly.

It was further observed by our correspondent that demurrages have started accruing on cargoes that have already made payments through the GTB Bank because they could not complete the processing of their imports because Customs has blocked GTB from the Customs portal.

Speaking on behalf of the Clearing Agents who have fallen victim to the development, the Taskforce Chairman of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Tin Can Port Chapter, Alhaji Rilwan Amuni lamented that there was no official notice or circular from customs to warn the agents against making payments through the suspended bank.

He said: “There are cargoes we have paid duty on, using Gtbank, some people have paid money, while some have captured the cargo for payment.

“It is unfortunate that when we are about processing our documents after payments, the Nigeria Customs Service did not attend to the jobs we have paid for, they said that Gtbank has been suspended from their portal.
“Since last Friday, most of our jobs have been trapped at the port until now, and this is happening at all ports generally.

“I want to believe that the remittances to the Federal Government have not been paid for some time and this could be the reason.

“Ordinarily, customs should have cleared the cargoes we have paid for, but they have refused.

“The effect is that we are going to be paying huge demurrages, the customs are supposed to inform the shipping companies, in order to help us from paying these demurrages but they would not do that, there is lack of communication among all the players at the port,” Amuni said.