The management of Lilypond Container Terminal Nigeria Limited has donated office furniture to the Lilypond Area Command of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
The office furniture which include 20 ergonomic chairs, 10 desks and 5 drawers were last Wednesday presented by the management of the terminal to the Command’s Customs Area Controller, Comptroller Isa Talatu.
Manager of Lilypond Container Terminal, Mr. Tristram Denyer, said the company donated the items in appreciation of the cooperation it has received from the Area Controller.
“It is a gesture basically of thanking her for her cooperation. Her cooperation has changed the reputation of Lilypond and made a big difference to Customs clearance. We are far more efficient, and that can be backed up with figures, in terms of clearing containers than the main ports and probably our competitors which are other ICDs (Inland Container Depots). We are something like 25 percent quicker than our competitors and she has contributed considerably to that,” Denyer said.
He said the sampling method employed by Talatu in the examination of large number of containers with homogenous products has eliminated delay in cargo clearance.
He said: “There is reduced percentage of containers required to be examined. For the bigger clients whereas we used to examine fifty to eighty percent of their containers; now she has introduced a system that might have something to do with PAAR (Pre-Arrival Assessment Report) system. She is efficiently administering that to the big customers that require very quick delivery. All they need is to examine five to ten percent of their containers before they get cleared for delivery out of the terminal so we are able to run a very efficient service in that regard.”
Denyer also commended the Command’s Customs officers for their improved attitude to work.
Comptroller Isa Talatu, in appreciation of the gesture by the Lilypind terminal operator, said that it pays to have a cordial relationship with other stakeholders.
She said that her barely six months stay at the command has been worthwhile because of the cooperation she gets from her officers, clearing agents and operator of the container depot.
Chairman, Lilypond Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Prince Chuks Njemanze, who was present at the event said: “There have been a lot of improvement in terms of services provided by the terminal operator and a lot of commitment from the side of Customs as regard the calibre of the controller we have.”
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