The Association OF Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has identified poor port access roads, multiplicity of government agencies as well as the yearly Customs revenue target as factors inhibiting the ease of doing business at the port.
In an exclusive interview with Shipping Position Daily correspondent, the National President of the association; Mr Tony Iju Nwabunike pointed out that there are so many factors inhibiting ease of doing business, while adding that the cost of moving containers from the Lagos port has skyrocketed in recent time due to the human factors.
Nwabunike lamented that the cost of moving a 40ft container from the Lagos Port to Alaba a suburb in Lagos was less than N250,000, but presently it costs about N1.5 Million to move the same container to the same destination.
According to him “We can see that last year was a sham because of gridlock, gridlock actually messed up the whole system, before last year a container that is going to Alaba in Lagos it’s not more than N 250, 000 today its now N1.5 million naira before getting to Alaba.
“The roads are bad, the trucks are bad and even the call up system, and NPA and Customs are troubling themselves and too much cash are being collected from truck owners and agents alike
“The port operators are not actually helping matters when we talk of ease of doing business, there are areas of charges when somebody imports, an importer cannot be assured of getting his goods in one week or two, or one month.
“Demurrages are rising through the shipping companies and the terminal operator s because of the road and because the importer cannot access his container”.
Nwabunike also noted that the multiplicity of government agencies at the port has also worsened the situation, as he observed that each government agencies has segmented themselves into units, thereby frustrating the ease of doing business initiatives.
The ANLCA boss also kicked against the N2trillion revenue target set for the Nigeria Customs Service in 2020, saying that the target would make customs officers more desperate in their attempt to meet up.
In his words: “ANLCA is against the federal government giving the Nigeria Customs Service a target, this is the only country that is setting target for their customs, the Customs Service is supposed to facilitate trade and ensure security of goods and services in and out of the country, and moreover to maintain the standard of import guidelines and procedures”
“This issue of setting target for customs is putting them under pressure, the government should look for trade facilitation, our customs should not be an inland revenue body or VAT agency, they should allow customs to work according to world standard, and they should look into the proper nomenclature of how customs is being run”
“The issue is very clear, by the time you give them revenue target, have you targeted the inflow of goods and services into the country? What is the number of cargoes coming into the country that would enable us generate that kind of target? Are they trying to impress people to import more when the government is preaching export and local manufacturing, it negates each other” he said.
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