The management of the Nigerian Aviation Handing Company Plc (Nahco aviance), has said that the one week closure of its warehouse by the officials of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, was necessary in a bid to achieve improved security surveillance around the cargo complex and streamline activities of other stakeholders.
This is as the ground handler assured that it will strictly adhere to the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, signed by all the stakeholders on cargo operations at the airport.
An emailed statement signed by its Head, Corporate Communications, Mr. Adesanya Onayoade, said that the order will go a long way in enhancing cargo clearance processes. It would be recalled that Customs had on September 4, 2013, shut down some warehouses at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, MMA, Lagos to review clearance process, improve it and forestall unwholesome acts.
The statement reads in part: "We are pleased to state that together with the Customs Area Command, we have achieved these objectives, which have led to the execution of a Memorandum of Understanding, which is essentially a Code of Practice for all stakeholders in the cargo business at the airport.
"We wish to inform importers and exporters that the exercise was a necessary sacrifice that will allow us to redefine our relationships with the other stakeholders with whom we are signing the MOU to enforce improved conducts and seamless clearance of cargo. We also wish to inform all government agencies that the MOU will enforce proper documentation and correct payment of duties to government."
Onayoade further informed that its modernised 21,000 sq m warehouse, which can handle a throughput of 230,000 metric tonnes per annum, will help facilitate the new cargo clearing procedures at the airport.
