Stakeholders at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) have lamented that the airport is currently operating at less than 30 percent capacity, a development which they have attributed to unfriendly policies of government.
The stakeholders ironically said that the terminals are currently empty because there are no cargoes to handle.
Stakeholders at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) have lamented that the airport is currently operating at less than 30 percent capacity, a development which they have attributed to unfriendly policies of government.
The stakeholders ironically said that the terminals are currently empty because there are no cargoes to handle.
Speaking with Shipping Position Daily, Chairman of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) at the airport, Mr. Segun Musa blamed the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) issued by the Nigeria Customs for the drop in volume of cargoes.
He described the PAAR as an intellectual fraud and a document that allows the Customs to collect money at all cost.
He told our correspondent that: "We are operating at less than 30% of the traffic we usually have at the airport, normally if we are operating at 100% cargo capacity, and now we are operating at less than 30%"
"Government needs to change its unfriendly policies, a lot of people are not importing now because the policies of government are too strict"
"And on the issue of PAAR, government needs to drop that PAAR, already it has been confirmed to be an intellectual fraud, it is an intellectual fraud and the essence is just to create avenue for revenue collection and to uphold some strict measures that will prevent importers from bringing cargoes into the country"
“So government needs to cancel the PAAR, it is the major problem to importation in Nigeria; it is a document of fraud" Segun Musa stated.
Also speaking with our correspondent, Public Relations Officer of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) at the MMIA; Mr. Emmanuel Njokwu noted that the warehouses were usually flooded and overflowing to the tarmac.
"But right now, you can play soccer inside the warehouse because there is no flow of cargo"
"The flow of cargo is at very low ebb, he lamented.
“The economic crunch, things are difficult, business is not moving as usual, coupled with the high exchange rate of Dollars, Euros and Pounds" he said.
Njokwu noted further that currently, the freight charge for a consignment is mostly higher than the cost of the cargo itself because air transport is expensive.
"Air transportation is used for fast cargoes, if not, an importer could wait for months for his ship to arrive and this has minimal freight charge. All these are placed on the table and because of the freight rate, importers cannot travel"
"The Federal Government should keep on reviewing their policies because things are no longer rosy as they used to be, we have all embraced the Buhari's administration for a change, but issues have to be addressed properly" he said.
Discussion about this post