Experts in the maritime industry have called on the federal government to embark on a massive enlightenment campaign programme to ensure that importers of fairly-used vehicles into Nigeria patronise the nation’s seaports.
A cross-section of the stakeholders that spoke with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos said that the patronage given to neighbouring ports in the West Africa region has contributed to the low volume of imported vehicles and other consignments that are supposed to call at the Nigerian ports.
Experts in the maritime industry have called on the federal government to embark on a massive enlightenment campaign programme to ensure that importers of fairly-used vehicles into Nigeria patronise the nation’s seaports.
A cross-section of the stakeholders that spoke with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos said that the patronage given to neighbouring ports in the West Africa region has contributed to the low volume of imported vehicles and other consignments that are supposed to call at the Nigerian ports.
A frontline importer of vehicle, Mr Stephen Uzonuoma said that lack of awareness programme on the part of the government gave rise to why importers still bring in vehicles through the land borders.
Uzonuoma said that a lot needs to be done by the government to enlighten Nigeria importers to bring in vehicles through the ports.
He reiterated that customs revenue dropped last year due to the high tariff and the proposed benchmark on imports, saying such scared most of them away from the country's port.
According to him, Nigerian vehicle importers were gradually patronising Nigerian ports when the Federal Government reviewed the policy on importation of vehicle from 10 years to 15 years.
The importer added that the nation's port recorded quite a high volume of imported vehicles in 2011, pointing out that the terminal operators and shipping lines are unfriendly to Nigerians.
He said that "government needs to carry out massive awareness campaign programme for vehicle importers because they contribute immensely to the government revenue ".
He added that, "if the money been paid as duty to neighbouring country is collected here in Nigeria, it will add value to revenue generation for government but the government did not recognise that because they feel we are not important to the economy growth of the country."
"But the only way out of this is for the government to bring us together, enlighten us on why we should stop bringing in vehicles from Cotonou, Lome and Tema ports, because most of us have nothing to do with the Nigerian ports again".
He also disclosed that 40% of used vehicles enter the country through neighbouring ports, adding that the remaining 60% come in through the seaports.
Uzonuoma urged the federal government to look inward on how to gain the confident of importers to patronise the Nigerian ports.
However the importer noted that maritime agencies, like the Nigerian Shippers’
Council has what it takes to create awareness programme for them.
In a similar reaction, Mr. Evans Ogbonnaya stressed the need for government to empower the importer.
According to him, "if not for the importers who bring in cars through the ports and from other ports in West Africa, I don’t think a lot of Nigerians could afford to own or drive a car"
"If the government of the country is not aware that we are important, then they ban the importation of used vehicles from coming into the country"
There is the need for them to educate us so that we can embrace our ports 100%" , he appealed.
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