As a result, many of these shippers have either shut down due to lack of business or are presently engulfed in debt after losing their investment to sudden closure of the border by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on behalf of the Federal Government.
At a recent stakeholders meeting organised by the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) on border closure, Ogbonnaya Gordon, former coordinator of the National Council of Managing Directors of Customs Licensed Agents, (NCMDCLA) at Seme border, who said that the port industry supports government policy on border closure, said there should have been a notice to shippers doing legitimate business at the border.
According to him, families that do business around the border is presently going through difficult times as some of these businessmen are entangled in debt such as bank loan.
“We want government to create a window that would enable importers and exporters, whose goods are trapped at the border to evacuate the goods even if is just for one or two months,” he said.
Nasiru Salami, a Benin Republic based businessman, said Customs needs to put structure in place to enable it collect information on Nigerian bound cargoes that leave neigbouring countries to Nigeria, adding that Nigeria should not expect other countries to build security data for them.
Citing example of Bukina Faso Customs, he said that Customs Service in Burkina pay for tracking of inbound cargoes in order to maintain and protect their revenue.
“Government needs to put proper structure in place to benefit from trade between neigbouring West African countries because these countries are building the needed infrastructure to support port operations,” he added.
On his part, Nicodemus Odolo, a trustee member of the Shippers Association of Lagos, who stated that border closure begins and ends with shippers, also solicited for government support in cushioning the effects on shippers.
He said that Nigerian ports are too costly and that is why Nigerian billed cargoes are diverted to other neigbouring West African ports where such goods are brought into the country through the land border.
“These ports have cheaper services and that is why shippers are going there. Our number one problem is corruption. From Benin Republic to Mile 2, we have up to 15 checkpoints and at each checkpoint, the cargo owner pays money,” he said.
According to him, if care is not taken within the next two months, congestion may set in Nigerian ports because goods that usually pass through the border are now being routed through the ports.
“Presently, to go into the port to pick cargo, trucks queue on the road for close to two weeks and this adds cost for the shipper that loses his or her Container Deposit Charges to shipping companies,” he said.
He called on Shippers Council to ensure that shipping companies and terminal operators are made to stop charging demurrage on containers that have paid Customs duties.
Jonathan Nicol, president Shippers Association of Lagos, who noted that government need to do more for Nigerians by reducing the cost of doing business to the barest minimum, said government can make more money when the volume of cargoes coming into the country increases.
Eugene Nweke, a former president of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) stated that nobody is against the idea that government has taken the bull by the horn to protect the economy.
According to him, government does not supposed to take people by surprise, adding that people need to take a trip to Cotonou to understand the number of trucks with goods that are on the queue to have access into Nigeria.
“Government ought to give people notice before embarking on such policy that could impoverish people. In closing the border, Nigeria also needs to take into consideration, the economic impact of the policy on people who depend on the border to survive,” he suggested.
Nweke further advised the NSC to collaborate with Customs to collate data and make such information available to the public. He said there should be harmonisation of operations in the ports to have single administrative document.
Timothy Awogbemi, a representative of the Council of the Regulation of Freight Forwarders (CRFFN), who faulted the idea of closing the border without notification to the shippers, said that government must address the reason people go to the port in the neigbouring countries to do business instead of using Nigerian ports.
“Nigeria needs security revolution because the interface between shippers and security personnel along the border route has become numerous. The government must regulate our tariff within the port and gradually change the imposition of high tariff on cargo owners who works based on budget,” he added.
