NPA Warns Terminal Operators against Charging Importers for Use of Badges

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By Shola Fadeyi & Emmanuel Ajiboye

New pix of MD NPA

Hadiza Bala Usman, NPA MD

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has warned terminal operators against imposing extra charges on importers and customs agents for allowing them to transport their goods by badges from the seaports, just as it set to evacuate all overtime containers from the Lagos seaports to Ikorodu Lighter Terminal to check congestion at the terminals.

Consequently, the Authority has pledged to investigate the operations of the various terminals with a view to imposing penalties on those it discovered to be surcharging importers for the use of badges instead of of offering the service free of charge.

Use of badges is the actof transporting cargoes generally by small craft through the waters  to facilitate their delivery to specific destinations.

NPA, in its capacity as the technical regulator and the landlord of the seaports supervises the activities of the terminal operators or the concessionaires in accordance with the agreement which the latter signed with the Federal Government under the concession programme of 2006 which saw the ports terminal operations ceded to the concessionaires for different periods.

The organization has decided to go tough with terminals on the issue of commercializing the use of charges, for the fact that it was also offering such service for importers without charging for it but has been doing so as part of measures to facilitate clearing of goods and beat the gridlock on the Ports Access Roads.

The  authority, through its Executive Director , Marine & Operations Dr Sokonte Davies  actually threathened to punish the concessionaires involved in such acts , wen he represented the Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Usman at the quarterly  meeting , the organization  held for    its stakeholders in Apapa Lagos over the weekend.

He had issued the warning sequel to complaints by stakeholders that some terminal operators were introducing extra charge on importers for the use of badges, thus increasing the cost of clearing goods at the seaports.

Dr Davies said rather than having port users to pay more for using charges to ferry goods , a development he said may discourage them , more importers should  be encouraged to  adopt the measure in the spirit of Ease of Doing Business (EODB)  and  reduction  of  the level of cargo dwell time .

Following,  the gridlock which has characterised the Lagos  Seaports Access Roads for some years now , stakeholders , including the NPA , terminal operators , the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) among others have been assisting importers to clear their goods through the use of badges.

On the the issue of overtime containers, which are goods that have stayed at the ports for more than 90 days , Dr Davies said that the NPA has finalized arrangements to remove them from the terminals  to free space for incoming cargoes.

A good per centage of the containers at most of  the Seaports are believed to be overtime cargoes which have been taking up spaces at the various terminals  and making the places to be nearly congested , even when volume of goods that are imported have declined  over time.