By Olamilekan Adisa
Nigerian economy is said to be passing through the era of trade terrorism with the way and manner the federal government is only showing interest in revenue than improving the economy.
The acting President of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Dr Kayode Farinto, stated this in a keynote address he delivered at the 4th edition of National Roundtable Discussion held at Rockview Hotel, Lagos.
The theme of the discussion was tagged, “Security Challenges, Economy Instability and 2023 General Election”.
Farinto lamented that the Federal Government has stretched customs agents at the nation’s ports to the point where some of them could no longer continue in their businesses.
According to him, the youth who are expected to contribute meaningfully to the growth of the economy are now concentrating on drug abuse and Yahoo business thereby becoming liability instead of an asset to the country.
He expressed worries that the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), set up to regulate substandard products in Nigeria, has been turned to revenue generating agency.
On the Nigeria Customs Service, the ANCLA boss said some Customs officers who were due for retirement had lobbied to extend their retirement from the Service.
This, he said, has denied the young vibrant officers to contribute their quotas to the economy.
While calling for the unbundling of the Ministry of Transportation to have efficiency in the transport sector, Farinto accused the Tin Can Command of the NDLEA of extorting agents in the ports.
Also speaking at the Discussion, Mr. Francis Omotosho, the Registrar of the NAGAFF Academy, pointed out that the strength of a nation is in its foreign reserve, saying that 75 percent of Nigerian importers could no longer import because of devaluation of the Naira.
According to him, it is difficult for the economy to grow because some people are sabotaging the nation. He described subsidy as a scam because subsidy is meant for export only.
Omotoso lamented that the economy was nose-diving on daily basis as government was not monitoring the movement of nation’s oil as Saudi Arabia was doing.
In his own speech, a representative of Apapa Command of Narcotic NDLEA, ACN Aminu Jega admonished Nigerians to join hands with the agency to eradicate the menace of drug addiction and importation to have a sane society.
The National Coordinator, Save Nigeria and Importers and Exporters Coalition, Dr Sir Chukwu Osita, lamented marginalisation of some section of the country.
He called for equal rights for all and commended the NDLEA in its war against drug abuse in Nigeria.
Dr Segun Musa advised the NDLEA to co-opt the community leaders in it war against drug abuse in the country.
The convener of the discussion, Mr. Olamilekan Adisa thanked the participants and pledged to do more, saying that the organisers have been keeping to the yearly Discussion since its inception.
