Mr Tony Iju Nwabunike is the National President of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA). He recently had an interactive session with Maritime Journalists in Lagos, where he responded to various questions. Our Correspondent; Oluyinka Onigbinde was there.
“Nigerian freight forwarders and Customs brokers can’t compete with their contemporaries, because they aren’t certified, they are not trained”
What do you have to say about the factions in ANLCA, what really led to these factions?
We have numerous problems as it were in our maritime industry, and every sensitive stakeholder will be so worried about what is going on today, in our industry. However, having said that, I would like to say that there is no faction in ANLCA, when you say there is faction in the association, you mean there is a president of another faction, there is a secretary general of another faction, there is a NEC of another faction, but there is nothing like that in our association, but we only have some few aggrieved members who refused to attend NEC meeting and because of that, they were suspended, but I will tell you that we looking into the suspended officers’ issue, the association is coming back strongly, the association has gotten its bruises because it’s the mother of all freight forwarders’ association. And the very few NECOM members that were suspended will be looked into and the case will be resolved.
What will you say is the cause of the low patronage at the Kaduna Inland Dry Port?
The dry port is looking for patronage not because the border has been closed, but because nobody has actually make the stakeholders who are supposed to make the dry port viable to understand the principle of dry port, dry port has its own principles and guidelines, and what is dry port, a dry port is a full-fledged automated port; like Apapa seaport, or airport. So what that means is that it should be the final destination of any imported goods to that area, if you have the through bill of laden.
Through bill of laden has been the source of problems on low patronage of KIDP because you know we are supposed to have six dry ports today in Nigeria, but because of the efficiency of ICNL and Kaduna Government, they made it possible for that port to come as number one dry port in Nigeria.
But the reasons for the low patronage is because so many shipping lines that supposed to be giving them through bill of laden are not doing that, and there are so many importers who want their goods to go to the dry port and not Apapa or port Harcourt or Warri.
But you can’t pick your goods if you do not have a TBL that says designated to Kaduna, now the question is- why the TBL is not given to the importers, because we met some importers who told us we want to use KIDP, because of Lagos gridlock. But now the shipping line says we can yes we can factor freight charges from china to Nigeria for example at 3500 40ft but we cannot charge inland freight that is going to KIDP, because you know they are supposed to charge offshore so that they can pay and get the delivery to KIDP. So the logistics becomes a problem according to them they don’t have enough capacity to deliver the goods, and there is no locomotive and wagons from Nigeria railway corporation and this have become the banes of their transportation system.
But we are looking forward to see how we can partner with at very big logistic company that can have a serious relationship and agreement with the shipping companies, so that they can provide them vehicles that will permanently on a particular price for a period of six month or more.
What’s the reason behind Niger republic preferring Cotonou port rather than KIDP when it’s closer to them?
Yes like you rightly said Kaduna is less than 500km to Niger Republic, but almost 2000km from Cotonou to Niger, so why are they actually importing from there, there are two factors responsible for this, one Cotonou will not ask them to pay duties and they undo unstuffing of goods, when we do, we take delivery of those consignments in a very big truck purely designed for such transportation where four or five containers can be stacked into one truck , but Nigerians are telling them that, if you have to bring the consignment here, it must be under lock and key, it must be under seal and it must be under the same containerized goods to the border post of Nigeria and Niger Republic, and which we are sensitizing them on that; about the safety of their health, safety of their goods that their goods are going to be taken as it were from the source, pilfering on the goods will not happen and again they will have what will call total mind settling of their goods and services to the final destination. So we are putting the sensitization of the country as a second agenda which will begin to yield result soon.
What do you think government can do to resuscitate the other dry ports in the country?
You know dry ports are being run by private companies and many of the private companies do not have capacity to put the dry port to work. For us to put Kaduna Dry Port to work is not a joke, you know for you to come to a standard of an automated port it’s not an easy thing, so I think the other areas they are looking at is that they are weighing the viability and the pros and cons of profit and loss, but Kaduna Dry Port which has actually made bold to become the first should be encouraged, so that others can follow suit. I think the Federal Government of Nigeria through Nigeria Shippers’ Council is actually working hard to see that we are surviving, but it is not enough we still need a serious patronage on that.
Shouldn’t KIDP have factored the issue of logistic before the take-off?
We are coming to that level, we have partnership that we are going to sign, and I will still tell you we are working with some logistics companies, we can’t do everything together, but let me say this, for it to be very effective, as the carriers were charging the freight charges of a consignment coming from China, India, UK at that point in time, they would have factored it, if we finish our arrangement now with the shipping lines they will factor the transportation from Lagos to Kaduna, so that they will pay offshore there, the importer will not need to bother himself again, also let me say this; KIDP does not have the right to tamper with the consignment until it comes to the terminal, the carriers who are supposed to carry it from the port of origin need to get it to the port of final destination. All the same, if we keep folding our hands and expecting that to come, we may end up not doing very well, so we are having a relationship where we can have an MOU with other logistics companies, so that we can have a seamless transportation to Kaduna Dry Port.
During your campaign, you told us that you will engage the National Assembly, to set up a Chartered Institute of Customs Brokers, what is the update?
Yes, we are on that and we will engage the National Assembly, ANLCA has set up a national committee made up of professionals headed by the National Secretary, Alhaji Abdulazeez Mukaila on this issue. The committee has streamlined the process and we are taking this up with the National Assembly.
We want to have the Institute of Customs Brokers and be certified because that is what obtains all over the world. Nigerian freight forwarders and Customs brokers are lagging behind, they can’t compete with their contemporaries because they aren’t certified, they are not trained.
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