Shippers’ Council Says Port Reform Has Not Reduced Corruption In The Port

The Nigerian Shippers’ Council has once again lamented that one of the main purpose of the port reform exercise carried out by the Federal Government seven years ago, which is essentially to eliminate corruption and reduce the cost of clearing has not yield desired results.

The Nigerian Shippers’ Council has once again lamented that one of the main purpose of the port reform exercise carried out by the Federal Government seven years ago, which is essentially to eliminate corruption and reduce the cost of clearing has not yield desired results.
The Executive Secretary of the Council, Barrister Hassan Bello pointed this out when he received a delegation of the Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders, Importers and Exporters Coalition (SNFFIEC) who had sought the council’s intervention for shippers who according to them, lose about N2billion weekly to shipping companies as container deposit fees.
Bello said that Nigeria is still grappling with high cost of doing business which according to him is supposed to be reduced after the port reforms, but he however assured that the Federal Government is not unaware of the situation.
“The issue of corruption if care is not taken will work against the port reforms, in the past six years we have been making reforms, and corruption is the victim of these reforms, port reforms are supposed to address issues of corruption, fighting corruption does not mean to arrest people and prosecute them, the moment you reform a system, it means you are fighting corruption”, he stressed.
Bello said that government is trying to remove corruption by bringing increased participation of the private sector into transport system.
 “Things are not rosy as we wish but it is a process, the port reforms are revolutionary and we still have a lot of work to do, what we want is an efficient port, what we need is a productive port that Nigeria will be proud of, a port that is comparable to other ports all over the world” he said.
He described the pressure group; Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders Importers and Exporters Coalition (SNFFIEC) as the eyes and ears of Nigerian shippers and by extension the government.
Speaking earlier the President of the group, Chief Osita Patrick Chukwu lamented that shipping companies hide under different guises to defraud importers of container deposits. He also alleged that government agencies like NIMASA are now being included among agencies that should collect revenue through debit notes.
“Freight forwarders loss N2billion weekly as regards container deposits, some shipping companies fraudulently use one system or the other to exonerate themselves from paying the shipper back, initially we thought the concessioning will be of alleviation from where we were before, the question now is, is it not better to go back to where we were before?”
He also lamented lack of empty bays for containers which is the main cause of long queues of trucks along the Apapa expressway.