Even as the 90-day ultimatum issued to tank farm operators by the Lagos State Government will expire soon, there are fresh indications that a group of operators of tank farms are making moves to compel government to turn the Lillypond Container Terminal at Ijora into a truck park.
Lagos State Governor; Mr Akinwunmi Ambode had in November 2015 given all tank farm owners in Apapa area of the state 90 days ultimatum to build loading bays or be shut down.
But, a close source to one of the marketers who pleaded anonymity told Shipping Position Daily that only a few of the petroleum depots have holding bays for their trucks, hence the apprehension.
The source also said that due to the lack of containers at the Lillypond Terminal in recent time, the concessionaire is already tinkering with the idea of leaving Nigeria because of the unfriendly policies of the Federal Government.
It would be recalled that the management of Lillypond Container Depot Nigeria Limited had in 2013 announced its inability to continue operating its container depot in Ijora, Lagos, owing to poor patronage.
The company’s manager at the time, Mr. Tristram Denyer had notified the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) of the imminent shut down of the facilities.
Speaking on the latest development, our source said, “the ultimatum from the Governor will expire next month, and already efforts are on-going to secure the container terminal (Lillypond) so that we can convert it into a truck park, by so doing the place will come alive again”
“That place has capacity to accommodate not less than 15,000 containers when it was busy, so we believe it will serve our purpose” the source said.
Further investigation by our correspondent within the Nigeria Customs Service showed that the concessionaire would have left Nigeria, but the terminal only came alive again when Compt Isa Tallatu was posted to the command as customs area controller.
“It was when Tallatu was brought to the terminal that things picked up a little, and since she left the place is dead, when she was in charge, she enjoyed a lot of support and containers were stemmed to the place”
“If you go to the command, officers are always sleeping in their offices. For agents, it is still okay because they can divert to other terminals” a customs officer told our correspondent.
When Shipping Position Daily contacted the Chairman of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Lillypond chapter, Mr. Olufemi Olabanji, he condemned the moves saying that he is not aware of it.
He noted that though it is currently empty, Lillypond Terminal is a port on its own with a full customs command; he said that goods can be imported from any part of the country with the terminal as destination.
“Nobody should begin to call for the terminal to be turned into a truck holding bay for tankers, it has its license as a port of destination”
“You can go to any part of the world today and import your cargo and on the bill of laden direct them to send the container to Lillypond, it would be delivered”
“Unlike the bottleneck we usually have in Apapa and Tin Can port, when you ship your cargo through Lillypond there cannot be any delays”
“Why should the place be converted to a holding bay? It is not possible; do you know how much money the government has pumped into that place? We would not advise it” Olabanji said
The ANLCA chairman also said that the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Alli is already working on how to resuscitate the terminal in order to shore up revenue for customs.
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