The Nigeria Customs Service has said that the non-passage of the national budget is already taking a negative toll on activities at the port.
The Apapa Command of the Service said that the level of importation at the port has reduced drastically because business men and importers are waiting for fiscal policies and the prohibition list which are the by-products of the budget before venturing into importation.
The Nigeria Customs Service has said that the non-passage of the national budget is already taking a negative toll on activities at the port.
The Apapa Command of the Service said that the level of importation at the port has reduced drastically because business men and importers are waiting for fiscal policies and the prohibition list which are the by-products of the budget before venturing into importation.
Speaking exclusively with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week, ASYCUDA Project Manager (APM) of the Apapa customs, Mr. Yussuf Malanta disclosed that the number of containers dropped at the port has reduced from 250 to 37.
Malanta who spoke with our correspondent in his office said that a lot of Nigerian importers are still not sure of the mind of the government and this has stalled importation.
"Terminal operator; APMT can only drop 37 containers out of 250 they used to drop per day, this means the work is not there, this is the beginning of the year, so importation is always at its lowest because people are expecting fiscal policy after budget, changes in tariff, changes in prohibition list"
"Secondly, some major importers take leave for a month or two after Christmas before they now look at what the market needs, so, as it is, nobody can tell me that there is congestion in the port" Malanta said.
He called on freight forwarders at the Apapa port to be honest in their cargo declaration, value and classification of their cargoes, in order to be considered as professionals.
According to him, operators need to have attitudinal change as all activities in the port are now done electronically.
Malanta pointed out that the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) is generating a lot of controversies and challenges, because freight forwarders wait for their consignments to arrive the port before commencing the process of obtaining their PAAR.
"People just get Form 'M' when the cargo is already on ground and this is not the intention of PAAR, it’s supposed to be before the arrival of cargo and not after the arrival of cargo"
"I have more than 1000 PAARs in Apapa that people have not come to utilize, the moment they come, they just ask for provisional release and they go" he said.
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