Former Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) Mr. Stanley Ezenga has said that despite the ban on vehicle importation through land borders, vehicles still come in through the unapproved routes in large quantity.
In a chat with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos, the former NAGAFF image maker said that importers especially; vehicles importers still patronize these unapproved routes because the duty on vehicles are very high and the government has failed to review it.
He reiterated that an average business man only looks for where he will maximize profit and if bringing in vehicles through Cotonou or any of those neighbouring borders is more profitable to him, he will do that.
“High rate of duty is the major reason people patronize Cotonou or any of those unapproved borders. Government should try and review the duty and ensure that it is brought down. It will make our importers to start patronizing our ports again. My advice for them is to review the duty as soon as possible. They should also try as much as they can to make our ports favourable so that our importers will start patronizing our ports”
“An average business man is profit oriented and will like to go to where he will make more profit. If the duty is high and the port is not favourable with lots of charges everywhere, people will look for where they will make more profit. I am telling you that in as much as the government has blocked vehicles coming in through un-approved routes, I can assure you that vehicle still come in”, he stressed.
He advised the government to beef up security at the borders to ensure that these smugglers are not given chance to operate.
“I will advice the government to beef up security at the borders to guard these places from those smugglers” he concluded.
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