Following the denial of access into the ports for non registered trucks by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the subsequent littering of the ports access roads with trucks laddened with empty containers on them, the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, (ANLCA) has come out to say that the development was commendable.
Dr. Kayode Farinto, the National Publicity Secretary (NPS) of ANLCA who stated this in an interview with Primetime Reporters in Lagos noted that though the action may be painful at the moment but would eventually be to advantage of the trading community at the nation’s ports.
Farinto added that what the agents may be losing now in terms of depletion of their container deposit with the shipping companies cannot be compared to what they had lost in the past when cases of diversion and stealing of cargoes, deliberately delaying consignments and subsequent delay in returning the empty containers back to the ports was the order of the day.
“It is not too good for us, as time goes on, it is going to be to our advantage. What we have lost in the past is more than what we are going to lose now. On many occasions, they will even go and push the empty containers in the bush, we have to be going along with Police to go and look for those containers. On many occasions, agents will have to go and provide a forklift to load the empty container back before they return.
“Then if went through all these that time, we had money that could not be retrieved back from the shipping companies as a result of this their own lackadaisical attitude, an attitude that was unnecessary, then what we are going through now is a minor thing, it is a matter of days.
“I also have an empty container that has not entered the ports but since the man has refused to go through the procedure, we are talking about procedure, you don’t flout procedure and they (NPA) gave them enough time. So, if we are feeling the pain, it is just for a while. What I am saying is that in a matter of two days, it will fizzle out. What we are suffering now cannot be compared to what we have lost due to their attitude.
On what will happen if the alleged withdrawal of service by the Coalition of Ports Dry Cargo Transport Operators (CPDCTO as a result of the implementation of the minimum standards for trucks operating in the Western Ports persists, he quipped,” Nothing will happen because we have fleet owners association, they are truck owners, they have more than five thousand trucks and they have complied, they have stickers, we can hire from those people.
“For now we don’t have shortage of trucks, we have not seen a situation whereby the agents are complaining that there are no trucks available because of this activities of the NPA. Don’t forget that there is a lull in business, so, you cannot use this as a yardstick to judged whether it is a success or not”.
On whether the association still maintains its directive to members not to patronize trucks without NPA sticker, the NPA insisted that that was still the position of the association on the matter as it was given in the best interest.
Farinto while commending NPA for having the courage to implement that policy that had been in the cooler for so many years said,” It is bye-bye to jagajaga” adding that it was not going to be business as usual.
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