Importers and clearing agents might have to brace up for more delays and additional costs in the clearance of their cargoes, as two federal government agencies – the Nigerian Navy and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) – kicked out from the seaport several years ago, are scheming to return.
The Nigerian Navy was kicked out of the port more than 30 years ago while SON was thrown out ten years ago by the Federal Government to reduce the cost of doing business at the ports.
SON and the Nigerian Navy, however, anchor their argument for return to the seaports on the need to protect Nigerian consumers and on the need to curtail the proliferation of small arms respectively.
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) said its return to the seaports would help it check the influx of substandard products into the country.
SON Director General, Farouk Salim, said, “We are supposed to ensure that the borders and the ports are monitored properly, and in doing this we protect the country from substandard goods.
“One of such ways is to make sure that the employees of SON are in the port of entries in the country, especially the Lagos port where the majority of goods come into this country.
Meanwhile, stakeholders condemned the plots by the two agencies to return to the nation’s gateway.
The immediate past National President, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Prince Olayiwola Shittu, said SON’s to return to the nation’s seaports would further increase the cost of doing business at the ports.
He said, “SON coming to the port will increase the cost of clearance. Customs as the lead agency has been asked to invite any government agency whose operations involve clearance.
President, Shippers Association of Lagos State (SALS), Rev. Jonathan Nicol, also faulted the move by the Nigerian Navy to return to the port.
The National President, Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics in Nigeria, Frank Ogunojemite on his part said as far as he is concerned, Navy personnel at the seaports would not solve the proliferation of light and small arms into the country.
