Protests by freight forwarders and customs brokers at the Lagos Port, which began at the weekend, may have cost the country over N200 billion as port activities remained paralysed as of yesterday evening. Port expert and President of National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents, Mr. Lucky Amiwero, told New Telegraph that the N200 billion is a rough estimate, saying when the full assessment of losses by the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Terminal Operators and other are computedthelossmaynotbe less than N300 billion.
He saidthe protests would not have been necessary if the NCS had carried port operators along during the formulation of the policies. “There is a need for urgent resolution of this crisis becausethecountrycanill-afford thiskindof disruptionof businessactivitiesatthiscritical point when the country is recoveringfromtheeffectsof theCOVID-19pandemic. The port is the gateway into our economy,” Amiwero said. According to him, the protest, which started at the Tin Can Island Port, entered itsfifthdayyesterday, paralysing all Lagos ports. NewTelegraph learntthat theprotestsaretoregisterthe port operators’ disapproval of the newly introduced Vehicles Identification Number (VIN) valuation introduced by the NCS on all imported vehicles.
The protesters are calling for the stoppage of the VIN valuationpolicybecausethey claim its estimates are outrageous and unrealistic. Our correspondent, who visited Tin Can Island Port yesterday, observed that most offices at the Customs Processing Unit were locked, with some of the workers around saying no freight forwarder had come forward for containers in the last five days. The entire environment remained tense as angry looking Freight Forwarders and Customs Brokers were all over the place stopping visitors and their members from accessing the terminals for any cargo clearing business. ThetwogatesintoTinCan Island Port were manned by young men suspected to be clearing agentsensuring that there was no vehicular or humanmovementinandoutof the ports.
However, the Public Relations Officers of both the Tin Can Island Customs and PTML command, Uche Ejesime and Muhammud Yakubu said the matter is being addressedattheCustoms Headquarters in Abuja and the areas of disagreement with the protesting clearing agents would soon be resolved.
