Mr Judge Okafor is the Ports & Terminal Multipurpose Limited (PTML) chapter chairman of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF). In this interview with Anozie Egole, he speaks on the challenges in the Nigerian maritime sector.
“One of the reasons they smuggle vehicles is because of the high duty rate”
“Nigerians attach much interest to money and not trade facilitation”
Recently the CG of Customs called for a reduction on the duties payable on imported vehicles to 10% from 35%, what do you have to say about that?
I think it is welcome development because that is one of thing we have been agitating for here at PTML. Because I know that when they bring the duties down it will make things easier here, more vehicles will come in. It will also address the issue of vehicles smuggling through the land border because I know that one of the reasons they smuggle vehicles is because of the high duty rate. Everybody wants to go where the duty will be cheaper; so, it is welcome development.
In your own opinion, what percentage do you think it should be reduced to?
The problem is that Nigerians attach more interest to money and not trade facilitation. The most important thing is the facilitation of trade, the more we facilitate trade the more money comes in. If we bring down the duties on imported vehicles we might still meet the target because there will be high cargo throughput and you pay duties on the vehicles as they come in, but now we are losing a lot of money because many vehicles are not coming in.
The Customs CG also said that third party cargo clearance will no longer be allowed. How are you ready for that?
But we are pleading with them to give consideration so that the people whose goods are already on transit will take delivery of their cargoes. We are not saying that the government should not ban third party cargo clearance, what we are saying is that they should allow people whose cargoes are already on board to clear it. There is nothing we can do, it is a policy the government wants to introduce, it is a government policy. If they can give us up to six months we will be glad. You know some cargoes come within 2 months and some have already done their shipment but they are not yet on board. So within those six months we will be sure that the people who have shipped and the ones yet to board must have arrived.
Some freight forwarders argue that a certain percent of the customs revenue should be given to them because they were the people who helped the customs in revenue generation. What is your take on that?
Exactly, by right it is constitutional because we are supposed to have at least 1% of the duty paid, that is constitutional they used to do it before. So it is not out of place, it is constitutional.
Few months after the inauguration of different sub-committees of the CRFFN, how would you judge their performances?
Well I believe that this new governing board and the sub committees will bring a new phase in the freight forwarding profession in Nigeria. Because the people that constitutes the committees are those who have interest in freight forwarding profession and that is one of the problems we used to have when some people who were representing us there before did not have interest in the freight forwarding profession. They don’t have interest in the freight forwarding industry, they are just there to complete the number and enjoy their tenure and go, but now we have professionals among them. So I believe that there will be innovations, there will be a change in the sector.
Do you think the automobile policy should be scrapped?
It should be scrapped, the only thing that should be done is for the government to bring down the duties on those vehicles that are paying levy , they will still pay levy . If they have 10% duty they levy should also be 10% it’s just the same. The 35% duty and the same with the levy making it 70% it is too high, it is as good as banning it.
What do you have to say about the MoU between Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria and truckers to address the Apapa traffic gridlock, do you think that is the best approach?
On the issue of trucking, the freight forwarders is the people suffering it, if there is anything the government can do or if there will be a synergy between the freight forwarders and the truckers it will help in tackling the Apapa gridlock. Where you spend say N1million to clear a cargo and spendN1.5million to transport it to the destination; is not good, the price is exorbitant. So if there is anything they will do about that, we pray they do that because the thing is not helping at all. Some of the causes of that traffic are man-made and bad road some of these people, security agents that are on the roads are not helping issues, they are even the ones that are causing the traffic. Because they have an amount you pay at each location before you go and some drivers may not want to spend the money and you see them on the queue for almost more than a week. But if you are ready to spend the money it will take about three days you will go and drop the container and go.
Do you support the idea of moving tank farms out of the ports as a way of tackling the Apapa traffic gridlock?
Every reasonable human being will support the idea of moving tank farms out of Apapa because it is a time bomb. If anything happens, may God forbid, it will be a disaster, the whole world will hear it, and you can imagine the population of people here and if such a thing happens people that can escape will be few. Apart from the traffic which the tank farms are causing, it is very bad because if any explosion happens, it will be a terrible thing. When the roads ere goods things were moving smoothly but the problem now is that the roads are bad and the security agents are not helping matters at all.
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