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Minister to engage customs on 6,000 abandoned cargoes at ports

Lagos, Sept. 7, 2023: The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola, says government plans to engage the management of the Nigeria Customs Service(NCS) to resolve issues of about 6,000 abandoned cargoes at the port.

Oyetola said this at his maiden visit at the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) in Lagos on Wednesday.

According to Oyetola, these cargoes occupy space and the country is loosing revenue in that regard.

“On abandoned cargoes, I went on a tour in Apapa Port and they took us to where they have overtime cargoes and these cargoes have been there since 2011.

“So, I now want to believe that it is likely to happen in other ports. This is, particularly, because Tincan and Apapa ports have about 6,000 abandoned cargoes.

“There must be a time frame by which a cargo can stay, otherwise declared abandoned. To have kept a cargo since 2011, it’s unrealistic and unacceptable.

“Again, I think people have not seen much need for clearing of cargoes if it has accumulated demurrage for one reason or the other. It is because it’s uneconomical for him or her to clear.

“The person will abandon it there but as a port regulator, you may encourage early clearance of such cargo,” he said.

The minister added that the Nigeria Customs should be encouraged to use scanners more than the physical examination that takes long to be completed.

He advised stakeholders at the ports to desist from corruption, saying, President Bola Tinubu administration has zero tolerance for such.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Mr Emmanuel Jime, Executive Secretary, NSC, highlighted issues requiring attention to include the amendment of NSC Act to institute effective port economic regulation.

Other are actualisation of one per cent freight stabilisation fee on import and export to the council, as enshrined in the NSC Subsidiary Legislation.

It also involves the mplementation of the International Cargo Tracking Note (ICTN), establishment of a national fleet and others,” he said.

The NSC boss also expressed delight that the minister had already shown immense commitment to transform the economic fortunes of the nation via the maritime sector.

“The ministry of marine and blue economy is very strategic. It was not created out of any whimp. This ministry was created because of its recognition by Mr president.

“It has on very strategic importance of the marine and blue economy, to the starting and further creating movement of fundamental principles to the Nigerian economy.

“This agency of yours that you supervise is the laboratory where policy making is, and the industry that drives the marine space will be actually cultivated.

“I have seen your body language and immediately you assumed office, there is this passion that you have displayed to make certain that as you supervise this very strategic nerve centre of the nations economy, there would be no vacuum,” he said.

Jime noted that he was convinced that the minister had come with a determination to change the narrative of the industry.

Accordingly to him, Oyetola will make sure he meets people’s expectations.

“This one agency in this industry will keep you in the route in helping in achieving that objectives of yours which is to turnaround the fortunes of the maritime domain.

“The objective of everyone in this room, I can assure you is to make certain that in less than no time, Nigeria becomes a maritime hub in the East and west of Africa and I believe that is what you want,” he said.

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Cargo evacuation begins in Nigerian opens

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Lagos, July 1,  2023: The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has begun the evacuation of overtime cargoes to help decongest the port.

Mrs Josephine Moltok, the General Manager, Corporate and Strategic Communications, NPA, said this in a statement in Lagos.

Moltok said the decongestion of the ports to pave way for efficient operations received a boost on June 23 when the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Dr Magdelene Ajani, led an inter-agency team on assessment tour.

“The team comprising of the NPA, the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council made an assessment tour of overtime cargoes littering the ports.

“The Lagos and Tincan Island Port Complexes and the Terminals therein including Ikorodu Lighter Terminal have over the years been occupied with 3,200 units of overtime cars and about 3,295 units of overtime containers respectively”, Moltok said.

She added that the eastern ports had a combined total of 956 overtime containers.

“This awkward situation apart from constraining terminal spaces required for seamless cargo handling operations in the ports, has contributed to deterioration of port infrastructure,” she said.

She added that the port infrastructure are designed as transit locations as opposed to holding dead weight tonnages for years which these age long overtime cargo constitute.

“Following the inspection tour which held on June 23 and June 24 respectively, an all-stakeholder sensitisation involving shipping lines, and association of freight forwarders and clearing agents was convened on June 26.

“It was unanimously agreed that all cargoes and containers that have overstayed their required time at the ports should be auctioned “in-situ” (in their current locations) and removed immediately from the ports,” she said.

Moltok said that to ensure transparency and inclusiveness, the modalities to govern the auction process would be finalised by all stakeholders.

She said this would be after a similar sensitisation meeting with stakeholders in the eastern ports of Warri, Rivers, Onne and Calabar.

It will be recalled that Mohammed Bello-Koko, the Managing Director, NPA, had at several fora sought the cooperation of the NCS to ensure speedy removal of overtime cargo from the ports and terminal yards.

This is to free up space and preserve the durability of the capital intensive port infrastructure.

Minister-of-Finance-Budget-and-National-Planning-Zainab-Ahmed..

Finance minister inaugurates 3 mobile scanners for examination of cargoes

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The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr Zainab Ahmed, on Tuesday in Lagos, inaugurated three newly acquired NUCTECH mobile scanners for the use of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

The three scanning machines are to be installed at Apapa port, Tin Can Island Port and Onne Port in Rivers.

Ahmed said that 120 personnel of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) have been trained to operate the scanners at the three ports, describing the development as a milestone in efforts to expedite operations of  the service.

The minister, who said that the provision of the scanners would facilitate trade, prevent port congestion , increase revenue generation , improve security at the entry points, noted that physical examination  of cargoes was not only time consuming, but led to revenue loss.

She, therefore, implore the management of the NCS to collaborate with the scanners contractor, to ensure proper maintenance and full utilisation of the scanners within the 30 months provided in the contract agreement.

“I wish to inform the management and entire officers, men of the NCS and other stakeholders that efforts are being made to procure more scanners for the seaports, land borders and airports in the country.

“The essence of this is to improve efficiency and generate more revenue to the government.

“I urge the importers, customs agents, freight forwarders and other ports users to support the NCS for successful scanning operations.

“I further commend the Comptroller General of Customs for his unrelenting drive in modernising the NCS and  thank the management and officers and men of the NCS who supported the CGC on this initiative,” he said.

Also, the Comptroller General of Customs, retired Col. Hameed Ali, said that as part of  the reform strategy of the present administration, it was compelled to embrace technology as  catalyst for trade facilitation.

“Our modernisation project seeks to automate all our processes and procedures, of which the inspection of imports and exports is fundamental.

“We know that to remain competitive, our ports have to be more effective and efficient. As trade increases in volume, so must our capacity for facilitation.

“Efficient cargo management and the full automation of Customs and other regulatory processes is guaranteed to bring down the cost of clearing, and ultimately the prices of goods in the open market.

“This is an occurrence that will be beneficial to consumers in Nigeria,” he said.

The customs boss acknowledge the importance of partnering with other relevant government regulatory agencies, and  said that it had therefor created windows that would enable connectivity to its systems.

“Where physical joint examinations were previously conducted by all relevant agencies, the scanning process will not only reduce the stress associated with positioning, off- loading and taking inventory of containers.

“It will store recorded images in a safe format easily accessible by all agencies from the comfort of their offices.

“It makes the auditing of transactions using these images easier and will definitely checkmate attempts by non compliant traders to cheat the system,” he said.

He added that the challenge of security was of immense concern to all well-meaning citizens.

“Since we know that a good number of items which pose a threat to national security find their way through our various entry points, we believe that the equipment that is being commissioned today will greatly enhance our capacity to defend our dear nation.

“As we approach phase one of the e-customs modernization we shall see the deployment of scanners to all sea ports, airports and approved land borders.

“We shall also witness the launch of a central data management system when live feeds from our ports and borders can be viewed and monitored from our headquarters,” Ali said.

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TIN problem causes delay in clearing cargoes in ports

The inability of shippers and their clearing agents to link Tax Identification Numbers (TIN) generated by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has made several cargoes stranded in Lagos ports.

The problem is reportedly caused by unstable server.

Importers said there was need for the Federal Government to build a single window interface between critical agencies involved in the clearance of goods to reduce demurrage charges.

An importer, Mr Segun Adeoti, said that at Tin Can Island and the Apapa ports, cargoes imported could not be cleared by their owners because of delay in linking their TIN numbers to NCS server and he urged the government to find a permanent solution to the problem.

Although, Adeoti acknowledged that prior to this time, linking TIN to Customs server was never a problem because the clearing agents always come to the rescue by using their own TIN number for their importers.

However, the management of NCS had stopped the practice, saying that importers must use their personal TIN numbers.

Another importer, Mr Adelaja Sunmonu,  stressed the need for Customs to step up and manage its own network by training officers, rather than concessioning it to service providers.

His words: “This is the time for the Nigeria Customs Service to license its own communication technology and manage it. The service has what it takes to do it; the service provider they gave it to is not doing a good job.

“The lack of network in linking the TIN to the customs platform is causing delay in cargo evacuation. Even within the Customs server itself, to exit cargo from the system has been epileptic, sometimes we don’t work for a whole day.

“The problem right now is not from FIRS, the TIN numbers have been generated, but they cannot be linked up to the customs server. The server is epileptic and that is the biggest challenge we are facing as we approach the new year.”

Sunmonu also said before the latest problem, clearing agents used their TIN numbers for their importers, saying that the NSC recently stopped it and insisted that importers must use their own TIN number.

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Council, firms mull removal of demurrage on cargoes

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By Tanko Mohammed

The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) and shipping companies are planning the the removal of demurrage on cargoes due to recent disruption and violence that impacted on the shipping industry.

Mrs Rakiya Zubairu, Head of Public Relations, NSC, said on Monday in Lagos that it was one of the ways to alleviate the hardship of shippers.

She said that activities at Apapa, the port city of Lagos, was gradually returning to normal after the disruption of the past week.

“The Lagos State Government has also eased the curfew by pronouncing that residents can move freely between the hours of 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.

“And there is no doubt the activities of the past week caused a lot of disruptions for shippers just as it did during the COVID-19 lockdown,

“Nigerian Shippers Council is working with shipping companies to find ways to ease the hardship occasioned by the disruptions,” she said in a statement.

Zubairu noted that several discussions were taking place between the leadership of the council and shipping companies in Nigeria.

She said that it was to find ways to accelerate clearing of cargoes from the terminals and collection of the same by shippers who were unable to access the ports.

Zubairu said  that the Executive Secretary of NSC, Mr Hassan Bello, would also visit some terminals to fine tune discussions on the waiver and other issues.