A civil society organisation, the Citizens Advocacy for Social & Economic Rights (CASER) has called for “discreet investigation with serious dispatch the flagrant violation of extant procurement laws and standards in the procurement of the service of Cargo Tracking Note (CTN).”
According to the group, in a statement signed by its Executive Director Frank Tietie, “all Nigerians should take cognizance of an ongoing malfeasance involving the Federal Ministry of Transportation and the Nigerian Shippers Council, in a determined effort to subvert the national security of Nigeria and to circumvent into private pockets, maritime revenues from Nigerian seaports, meant for the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
CASER said, “this call is being made in the face of a blanket of deception, lies and abuse of privilege that has been pulled over the President Muhammadu Buhari recently by the Honourable Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi on a very significant national issue of the Electronic Cargo Tracking Note (ECTN).”
The group further said “the failure to implement the CTN has made Nigeria to lose billions of dollars in revenue because of unscrupulous importers who connive with unpatriotic and corrupt port officials to under-declare value of imports.
“Fraudulent agents who were earlier engaged but failed to sustain the CTN process in Nigeria have refused to date to remit several millions of dollars and euros accruable to the Nigerian government and currently been charged to court after an extensive investigation by the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“In addition, the failure to implement the process which appears to be deliberate acts by some government officials to corruptly enrich themselves and their crony-companies has allowed the importation of illegal weapons freely into Nigeria, making our country the 3rd most terrorised country in the world, after Afghanistan and Iraq.”
The statement noted that on the basis that, over 350 million small arms and light weapons (SALW) currently in Nigeria, according to the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa.
According to the statement, Nigeria’s current state of widespread insecurity is partly attributable to previously failed attempts in implementing the CTN, both in 2010 and 2015, being because of incompetent and corrupt agents that were recruited to operate the scheme at those times.
