Eromosele Abiodun

Licensed customs agents in the country have called on the federal government to grant waiver concession on imported goods held up at the ports due to glitches and lengthy procedure of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) trade modernisation project, which resulted in high demurrage.

In a petition addressed to President Bola Tinubu, seen by THISDAY, the agents claimed they are subjected to delays in the process of clearance, from the Trade Modernisation platform of Nigeria Customs Service, which resulted to huge Demurrage and Rent on Terminal and  Shipping company Charges on the imported goods, which is unpredictable  Cost by Importers/Licensed Customs Agents running into millions.

National President of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), the umbrella body of customs agents in Nigeria, Lucky Amiwero, who signed the petition said: “Most Importers/Licensed Customs Agents have to source for the amount to pay the additional charges  from the banks, while some have to abandon their goods in the Port, in search of the additional demurrage and rents to pay for the deficiency caused  by Nigeria Custom Service trade modernisation Platform Called (“B” ODOGWU) that is disrupting trade in the port environment.

“We implore the  federal government to urgently intervene to redress the situation in Nigerian Ports, by granting waiver concession  to importers/licensed customs agents on Terminal  and Shipping charges, to those who  borrowed from bank or yet to clear their goods from the port, which is not their own making but that of  Nigeria Customs Service.

This is happening after three years  and two months of  the concession contact of trade modernisation was signed by the customs and trade modernisation, which has drawn the port back to 2014 era of (West Blue Consulting) introduced by the former Comptroller-General of Customs, Dikko, which experience delays before the intervention of the then Coordination Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.”

The agents added that the movement of uncleared goods from Nigerian Port to Ikorodu was Initiated by the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agent in a letter addressed from the presidency to its president.

The letter, they added, allowed most consignment to be transferred and cleared by the Licensed Customs Agent at Ikorodu government warehouse as proposed by it, and brought great relief to agents and the economy, “as they were not auctioned but cleared as proposed by the council.”

The agents added that the Nigeria Customs Service should be held responsible for their inability to process the shipping documents from their trade modernisation platform after three years of signing the contract.

They added that the publication by the Nigeria Customs Service giving 14 days for such goods to be declared or classified as overtime, is wrongly timed and should be retracted.

“The main issue of inefficiency of their operation is what constitutes the delays, which resulted to the additional payment of Demurrage and Rents by customs agents/importers. The concession should be granted by waiver of the additional payment made by customs agents/importers to terminal  operators and shipping companies,  so as to reduce the tension in the port, by addressing the concern of cost burden to the customs agents and the effect to the economy in general,” he stated.

The post Customs Agents Seek Waiver for Imported Goods Held Up at Ports Due to Glitches appeared first on THISDAYLIVE.