LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – The Nigerian shipping community are in a horns of a dilemma as they lament the rising operating cost which is already taking a serious toll on their businesses.
Speaking under the National Shippers Association of Nigeria (NSAN), at the maiden press conference in Lagos, recently, the stakeholders said it has become tough surviving the turbulent economic situation in the country today.
Speaking at the event, the President-General of NSAN, Sir (Dr.) Innocent Akuvue said the inconsistency of policies on the part of the federal government is largely to blame for the parlous state of the economy.
READ ALSO: Lagos-Kano Narrow Gauge Freight Operations To Begin December – FG
“There is also a complex nature and inconsistencies in the process of clearing plus the rising cost of doing business at the ports. Our roads and other infrastructure including logistics of goods from the ports have been a challenge,” Akuvue said.
Citing an instance where regulators sign off an agreement arbitrarily without getting the buy-in of all other persons involved in the processes and procedures, the NSAN boss said such draconian rule may not apply anymore.
Specifically, he said the Form M, a line item required for processing of consignments as stipulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria is supposed to stabilise the pricing regime but it is mostly acted upon in breach by customs officials at the port to apply surcharges at their own whims.
On plans to open up further discussion with truckers and the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANCLA), he said, it is the only way to resolve the impasse.
READ ALSO: FG Inaugurates Freight Services On Apapa-Ibadan Cargo Rail
“There are deluges of protest letters to the Nigerian Shippers Council, asking them to come back to the MoU they had signed. And that is already a warning that compliance is going to be an issue. What we will do if we get back to the truck owners themselves, and say look, this decision however you got to it, it is going to be difficult for us to comply.
“We want everyone to be on the same page because if we decide for some reasons not to work with them, and bring truckers from elsewhere, you are going to create a lot of pandemonium at the port. So, it is the intention of this body to engage all the stakeholders. Like I said the Shippers Council at the various state levels have been bombarded with protest letters, and as a national institute we are going to engage the Shippers’ Council at the headquarters, and encourage them to do the needful because you know at times when you have signed of a document asking you to recall it may be a problem because of ego problem. But there are times when the national interest should override ego. So, it’s hoped that we will be able to get that resolved. It makes common sense that before you make any decision you must carry people along, otherwise it’s going to create a problem.”
He also hinted at plans by the Association to put up a policy brief that would encapsulate a new order that should drive change and transformation within the shipping industry.
READ ALSO:FG Raises Exchange Rate For Cargo Clearance To N1, 356 Per Dollar
Thankfully, he said, “There is an ongoing amendment for the Shippers’ Council Act. It is our expectation that the Shippers’ Council Act amendment at the National Assembly will be amended in such a way that everyone plays his or her own role where as a regulator, you regulate fine , and as the Shippers Association you as the businessmen tell the world your problems.
Echoing similar sentiments, the Secretary-General of NSAN, Mrs. Ijeoma Ezeasor, blamed the high cost of clearing and the fluctuating exchange rate for cargo clearance for the rising inventory among manufacturers.
While noting that shippers are exporters, importers, manufacturers and owners of cargoes being exported or imported into the country, Ezeasor, who is also a Director at Cutix Plc, a cable manufacturing company, lamented that manufacturers’ warehouses were filled as Nigerians could not afford to buy their products.
“Some of the goods we ordered for and paid for since the era of COVID-19, which were disrupted then, are still coming back now and we are faced with the challenges of clearing them with the new rate.
READ ALSO: NDLEA Arrest 2 Freight Agents With Cannabis Concealed In Cereal Packs
Also speaking on the occasion, former Chairman of Shippers Association Lagos State (SALS), Rev. Jonathan Nicol, said it was rather scandalous that the concerted efforts made by the immediate past administration to ameliorate the sufferings of shippers has been completely eroded.
Citing the creation of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council by the past administration, Nicol said things have taken a turn for the worse.
Former President Muhammad Buhari had in July 2016 set up PEBEC to remove bureaucratic constraints to doing business in Nigeria and make the country a progressively easier place to start and grow a business.