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“Nigeria is the only country I know in the world where cargoes are subjected to joint manual and very cumbersome examination…” ANLCA

Iju Tony Nwabunike, National President ANCLA at the town hall meeting
By Ezurike Ugochukwu
The National President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents ANLCA on Thursday took a swipe on the processes involved in clearing cargos at Nigerian ports says it’s globally out of order.
The ANLCA national President, Iju Tony Nwabunike who made the disclosure at a Port Industry Town Hall Meeting put together by “The JournalNg” at the Rockview Hotels Apapa, Lagos.
He decried the situation where importers or customs brokers are subjected to multiple alerts by different customs units, saying that Nigeria is the only country he knows in the world where cargoes are subjected to joint manual and very cumbersome examination
Nigeria he regretted has not shown any resolve to solve most of its challenges, noting that the expectations of port concession has  not been adequately met.
The ANLCA president who was the chairman of the event decried such unpalatable circumstance where Nigerian seaports are running without dependable port procedures and having no roads to terminals in Lagos, Onne and others whereas smaller neighbouring countries have developed their ports , mainly for cargoes to be consumed by Nigerians.
The governmemt presently seems helpless over the situation as expressed by Nwabunike who was the pioneer Chairman, Council for the Regulations of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) he further described the nation’s seaports as the worst in the world, stated:
“As a way of helping the government, who seems helpless in the face of obvious non compliance across board, private sector groups in the port have established compliance teams and this point to our collective inadequacy.
On the deplorable port roads and general collapse of the nation’s roads, Neabunike called on the federal government to declare the maritime industry as national emergency as such embark on 24 hours construction at the Apapa- Oshodi ports roads axis.
The ANLCA President decried that “We are nowhere near our peers to maximize the benefits of our port system for this single African trade regime.
“The earlier we act fast, the better because under the regime countries will see themselves as rivals and competitors in certain economic fronts. Nigeria must not be caught sleeping.
“Nigeria is the only country I know in the world where cargoes are subjected to joint manual and very cumbersome examination process and as an importer or customs broker, you are subjected to multiple alerts by different customs units.
“I don’t want to say our port system is about the worst in the maritime world. Sadly, that is what it is looking like in terms of shipping companies and customs operations.”he stressed.
In its efforts to reassure Nigerians of its preparedness to get the system well on track once more, the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) Controller, Tin Can Island Port Command, Comptroller MBA Musa said smooth port operations will soon commence once the ongoing assessment test on the scanners are concluded.
Comptroller Musa was represented at the event by Deputy Comptroller, Kikelomo Adeola.
The Customs boss disclosed that the service will deploy drones to monitor movement of cargoes within the ports.
The Town Hall Meeting has as theme “Towards Hitch Free Port Operations In Nigeria”.

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