Goods clearance at Lagos ports goes through 110 signatures

Firstclass newsline gathered that manufacturers in the country have
said that the process of clearing cargo at the two major seaports in
Lagos requires a combination of 110 signatures.
According to them, before a manufacturer can get his raw materials out
of the Tin Can Island Port, about 70 people will have to inspect the
goods and append their signatures to the documents releasing the
goods, while about 40 signatures are required for the same process at
the Apapa Port.
The industrialists made this observation during an interactive session
between the Nigeria Customs Service and the Manufacturers Association
of Nigeria.
Directing a series of questions to the Comptroller-General of Customs,
Col. Hameed Ali (retd), a manufacturer, who identified himself simply
as Bagu, noted that physical examination of goods and scanning at the
Tin Can Island Port took longer than at the Apapa Port.
He added that the situation was not limited to imports but also to
exports as well.
Bagu said, "We are also into exports; it takes three days to close
Customs export entry in Apapa. In Tin Can, it took me three weeks to
close the entry. My goods had already reached their destination and we
had to pay heavy demurrage; so, we stopped using them for exports.
"The 48-hour clearance is becoming a dream. The predecessor of the CG
was working very hard to achieve the 48 hours' clearance; I don't see
anybody discussing this again.
"And lastly sir, the scanners are not working in any of the Lagos
ports. Please help us look into it."
A corruption risk assessment report released by the Independent
Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission and the Bureau
of Public Procurement, with the support of the United Nations
Development Programme, on the Nigerian ports stated that importers or
agents required a minimum of 79 signatures of government officials to
clear their goods at the nation's gateways.
The President, MAN, Dr. Frank Jacobs, described the slow clearance of
cargo at the ports as one of the issues that had been hampering the
manufacturing sector.
In addition to the delay at the ports, Jacobs also bemoaned the late
response to complaints raised by members of the association.
In order to address the challenge, he suggested a decentralisation of
the complaints unit of the NCS in the six geopolitical zones of the
country as opposed to one location.
Firstclassnewsline.net