Maritime experts have again criticized the Lagos State Government over the collection of the controversial Wharf Landing Fee, saying that the fee is illegal and it is the peak of lawlessness in Nigeria.
Shipping Position Daily recalls that the collection of Wharf Landing Fee was introduced during the regime of former Governor Babatunde Fashola to empower the Lagos State Government to collect various sums of money as fees from goods that land at the Lagos Ports of Apapa and Tin Can Island.
Under the Wharf Landing Fees law, various levies, which vary from N300 to N2, 000 were imposed on consignments transported from Lagos ports to other parts of the state and the country.
It will also be recalled that in 2006, the Federal Government asked the Supreme Court to declare the Lagos State Wharf Landing Fees Law No. 5 of 2009 unconstitutional and to order the state to refund all the monies collected through the law.
Reacting to this, in a separate interview with our correspondent last week in Apapa, Lagos, experts including the national president of the National Council of Managing Directors of Customs Licensed Agents (NCMDLCA) Mr. Lucky Amiwero and the President of Shippers Association Lagos state, Rev Jonathan Nicol, faulted the continued collection of the fee.
According to Amiwero, the fee is illegal even as he urged people to take the agency to the court.
“That fee being collected by the Lagos state government is illegal; they are just sitting down collecting money. It is a law passed by the Lagos State House of Assembly which has nothing to do with federal law. They have to go and defend it in court, as far as I am concerned that thing is not a legal fee. People should take them to court, because me I have taken so many people to court. The laws are there; people should go and look at the law”
Corroborating what Amiwero said, Rev Nicol said that the matter is still in the court and such fees should not be collected pending the outcome of the court process.
According to him, “I think that matter is still in court and if they are still collecting, it depends on what the court says, the case is still at Appeal I don’t think they have heard that case. So if they are still collecting it depends on what the court is saying. If the court has given them order to collect it means they can collect but if the court says don’t collect if there is any injunction against the state government then they should not collect”
Nicol however said that it is very wrong for the state government to be collecting fees directly in the ports which is a federal government territory, adding that it makes the country lawless.
“Normally, that area is the federal government area, so the state government should not have come into the ports to be collecting money. All federal government locations belong to the government and it is the father of everybody”
“If the federal government collects money, state collects money and the local government also collects money, it means we don’t have a country. The federal government is collecting on behalf of everybody and I think that is enough because the people paying these monies are human beings. That is the way I look at it” he concluded.
Meanwhile in his response, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Lagos State Wharf Landing Fee Authority, Mr. Oputeh Michael, said that the fee is legal.
He explained that the monies collected are used for infrastructural development in the state, even as he added that the payment is receipted.
Michael fingered lack of corporation from truck drivers as one of the challenges the agency is facing with the collection of the fee.
“The Wharf landing fee is legal, it was established by the state law in 2009. The monies collected are used for infrastructural development and maintenance. One of the greatest challenges we are having is that drivers most times don’t like paying the fee, which is why we deploy task force to work with some of our staff to ensure that the fees are collected. The payment is receipted, so it is not like you are bribing somebody it is a legal payment”
According to him, “whether there are challenges using the ports or not, as far as you import a commodity in the country through the seaport whether a car or containerized goods, you must pay. It is wrong for someone who imports a car worth millions to pay a token of N500 for SUV and N300 for cars and N1000 for 20ft and N2000 for 40ft?”
“If you default, we will impound your goods until you pay N100, 000 for cars and N500, 000 for containers. But most times when they default we put human face to it and we don’t follow the law the way it is”
Explaining further, he said some truck drivers in a bid to avoid the payment deliberately block the road making movement impossible for other road users.
“Other government agencies in the ports know about the fee because they gave the approval to us on the collection of the fee. Sometimes the truck drivers deliberately block the road because they don’t want to pay for the fee. We also have companies who pay for these fees in bulk ahead of time”
The agency’s image maker said that they will soon embark on a sensitization program to let the people know the importance of the fee.
“We will soon be embarking on advocacy we will go on air to sensitize the public and tell them the importance of the money, we will tell them that the money is for infrastructural development of the state”
Denying the misconception that most of their revenue collectors are touts he said, “we are not using touts, all the people you see on the roads collecting the money are our staff, they are doing it on our behalf” he concluded.
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