Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the economy, Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, recently at a press briefing in New York during the World Bank meetings, said that the President has directed that port operations must be on 24-hour basis.
Investigations, however, revealed that the directive is yet to be implemented. Though stakeholders agree that the directive is practicable and good for the economy, they however disagree on why it is not being implemented. The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) attributed the delay in the implementation to agents and banks, but maritime operators said the NCS is responsible for the delay.
Speaking with Vanguard on the issue, spokesman for APM Terminals, Bolaji Akinola, said that 24-hour operations have been going on in the ports in Lagos. He explained that the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, has been carrying out marine operations (pilotage of vessels) on 24-hour basis over the years.
He also pointed out that loading and off-loading of containers to and from ships has been on for a while, stressing that what is missing is the absence of 24-hour examination of goods at the ports by Customs.
Akinola said that another problem that hinders 24 hours ports operations was that of insecurity in the country, saying that it makes it difficult for consignees to take delivery of their goods after a particular time of the day.
“Consignees cannot come forward for their consignments after certain time; they cannot take delivery of their consignments after certain time of the day because of the security challenges in the country,” Akinola said.
Debunking the claims, Public Relations Officer, NCS, Wale Adeniyi, said that NCS has drawn up a roster for 24-hour operations, although the schedule is not operational at the moment.
Adeniyi said that the Customs service had actually commenced 24-hour operations immediately after the directive but had to stop because shipping companies and banks were not operating the same hour of service to complement the 24-hour port operations.
He said that the Customs had prepared a roster and had posted men and officers to man its various positions at the terminals, but the Service had to return its men and officers to their various posts because the banks and agents were not forthcoming and the agency could not continue to waste manpower.
He noted that in a situation were shipping companies were not sending containers for examination and the banks were not open for agents to pay their duties, the efforts of the Customs came to naught.
“If one, two or three agencies are ready for the project and the banks and agents who are also very key to the entire project are not ready, there is nothing anybody can do about it”, he said.
National President of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents, Prince Olayiwola Shittu, in his response to the position of the Customs said that it is not true that shipping companies and banks hinder the implementation of the directive on 24-hour port operations.
According to him, “24-hour examination of consignments does not need shipping companies or banks.” He said that what they need are terminal operators who will position consignments for examination. Shittu explained that they recently held a meeting with the Comptroller-General of Customs, Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko, where they requested for officers to be posted to the ports for weekend operations.
He noted that their request was granted and the Customs boss promised to direct the Customs Area Controllers, CAC, at the various ports to take action. The ANLCA boss however, noted that midnight ports operations is possible but may not be realistic for now as a result of the challenging security situation in the country.
VANGUARD NEWSPAPER
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