NAGAFF Kicks Against Imported Vehicles Pre-shipment Inspection Contract By SON

Freight forwarders have condemned the engagement of three service providers by the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) to carry out pre-shipment verification of imported vehicles coming into Nigeria

Leading the pack of the opposition, the National President of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) Chief Eugene Nweke said that it is wrong for SON to impose additional levy on shippers through the new scheme.

He said that NAGAFF, in collaboration with the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) as well as other bodies will soon issue a joint public statement on the development.

"It is in good direction, but where we may not agree is the arbitrary levies to be paid, you don't just wake up one morning and impose levies, we want to find out from SON what index they used to arrive at a vehicle paying N20,000, Nigerian shippers are not idiots, if they (SON) are living in that euphoria, then they need to wake up"

"These are things that government should fund, it is an administrative issue, it is their obligation" Eugene said.

Speaking in the same vein, the founder of NAGAFF; Dr. Boniface Aniebonam told our correspondent that statutorily, SON has the responsibility of quality assurance over goods coming into Nigeria and this is laudable.

He however said that for SON to implement the pre-shipment contract, there is need to carry out a review of age limit on vehicles imported into Nigeria. He noted that the quality assurance of the vehicles has already been taken into consideration at the time of manufacture.

"Before SON can implement some of these things they want to do, the government needs to review the age limit of cars, I think there is need for coordination so that we do not end up creating more confusion" Aniebonam said.