There are indications that the 2019 annual globally-acknowledged China holidays may have caused a drop in importation of cargoes to Nigerian ports, especially the Tin Can Island Port in Lagos.
The spring festival is also known as Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year is a period that most Chinese go back home to spend some quality time with families and friends and take a short rest after the year-long working days.
Speaking with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos yesterday, Public Relations Officer of the Tin Can Island Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, Mr. Uche Ejesieme said that January and February 2019 has been characterized by low cargo volume.
For January 2019, he said the command collected N29.7 billion and in February, it made N24 billion.
He however said the command has started mapping out strategies that would help it to meet and surpass its revenue target for the year.
According to him, last year, the command was given a target of N354billion and it was able to get N344billion, translating to 98% of what was actually expected.
Ejesieme said: "You will also agree with me that this period of the year is characterized by low volume, we are expecting that coupled with the Chinese holiday and other factors, majorly the Chinese holiday, don't forget that the bulk of the cargoes that come to this seaport come from China"
"After this period, we believe that the cargo volume would come up and the revenue would come up"
"We have started very well, early January, the CAC summoned every sectional heads and key officers to a meeting and read the riot act to them to ensure that all hands are on deck and everyone is placed on their toes to make sure that issues of thorough examination and zero tolerance is given impetuous"
He reiterated that the command is actually very passionate about trade facilitation, particularly in line with the presidential directive on ease of doing business at the port.
He said the command is very particular about compliance from its stakeholders, he said once compliance is achieved, it would be easy to achieve the presidential directive.
According to him, "There are no longer bureaucracies in documentation, once you open your form M through your commercial bank and you get your invoices from the shippers and the bank uploads to Customs, you get your PAAR, you make your declaration, capture your jobs, pay duty and go".
He said the command is yet to receive its revenue target for 2019, he however said N29 billion was the monthly target issued to it in 2018.
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