Apparently worried by inactivity at the Ikorodu Terminal, the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), has said it will pay a visit to the Comptroller General of Customs, Col Hammed Ali ( rtd ) to seek approval for the quick transfer of overtime cargoes that currently liter Lagos ports to the facility at Ikorodu.
In a telephone chat with our correspondent, the Chairman of the Ikorodu chapter of NAGAFF, Mr. Obinna Okafor said the visit is to appeal and seek the Comptroller General’s approval for the movement of cargoes that have stayed for more than 90 days in the port to the Ikorodu Government warehouse as stipulated by the law.
He noted that the prompt transfer of these cargoes will help the service increase its revenue target.
He disclosed that customs was unable to collect the revenue that was accruable on them, that rather than customs to collect government revenue on the overtime cargoes by moving them to Ikorodu terminal, shipping companies were the ones carting away billions of naira through demurrage collection. He argued that overtime cargoes constitutionally belong to government and controlled by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), and not the shipping company or the terminal operator.
“So we seek the support of the CG of Customs, with the support of the Nigeria Customs, knowing that this would benefit the government in terms of international trade sustainability, revenue drive, port decongestion, maximisation of the Nigeria Customs Ikorodu facilities.
“We will appeal to the CG to ensure that all overtime containers which the consignees were ready to take delivery of, through their respective freight forwarders be expressly transferred to Nigeria customs lkorodu warehouse.
“Customs are in charge of overtime cargo movement, they have the political backing to control anything called overtime cargo, since we have all these overtime cargoes congesting the port and making normal clearing difficult, the consignees cannot take the delivery of their cargoes considering the demurrage”, he said.
