The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has issued a memo listing conditions that customs brokers must comply with before subletting their licences to others.
Customs brokers, also known in Nigeria as licensed customs agents, must statutorily be licensed by the NCS before they can be involved in the clearance of goods at airport, seaport and land border. However, very few clearing agents in Nigeria possess the requisite customs licences, hence, the resort to subletting.
In the memo dated 15th July 2021 and titled ‘Subletting of Agency Licence’, the Deputy Controller, Revenue at the Tin Can Island Port Command of NCS, DC K.I. Adeola, said the holder of a sublet Customs licence will be held responsible for irregularities detected in the use of the license.
The memo reads: “Sequel to the rising issues of declarants subletting their agency licence, the following decision has been taken:
“Any declarant who sublets his/her agency licence should endeavour to ensure that all assessment attached to such SGD is duly paid.
“Any form of irregularities with the documentation on the SGD, the owners of the agency will be held responsible.
“Note that failure to comply with the directive would attract sanctions on defaulted agencies.”
SGD, which refers to Single Goods Declaration form, is a Customs document, which shows unabridged details of imported or exported goods.
In Nigeria, SGD is obtained electronically by the importer or customs broker through the Direct Trader Input (DTI) café operated by the Nigeria Customs Service.
