The National President of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Mr. Lucky Amiwero has described as a welcomed development the registration and standardization of trucks to operate at the Nigerian ports as being championed by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Western Ports.
Amiwero who made this position known in a press statement he issued in Lagos and made available to Primetime Reporters however stated that the NPA should do the needful by immediately repairing all the access roads to the ports as well as stop what he called the duplication of collection of the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) which he said had been paid to the terminal operators who had taken over cargo operation from the NPA.
According to him,” The Nigerian Ports Authority are no more involved in cargo operation which limits them to the access and loading of trucks at the terminals that is the responsibility of the Terminal operators who are legally in charge of cargo operations that are responsible for loading and off loading and not that of Nigerian Ports Authority that is no more involved in cargo process…The collection by NPA on cargo related charges such as loading is illegal and not within the responsibility of NPA.
“There is the need to provide packing bay for transporters entering the Ports to Load, which has already collected by the Terminal operators under the delivery charges as Tenure Packing Rate(TPR) and Vehicle Entry permit(VEP).
“The registration of standard Vehicles to the Port is indeed welcomed but NPA should do the needful, that is to immediately repair the access roads linking the Ports, stop the duplication of the collection of Vehicle entry permit (VEP) that is already paid to the Terminal operator who has taken over cargo operation from NPA and the provision of packing bay to transporters that is paid by Licensed Customs Agents/ importer as Tenure Parking Rate”.
While contradicting the position of the Managing Director of NPA, Mallam Habib Abdullahi who was of the opinion that reconstruction of the ports access road was not the responsibility of NPA, Amiwero quoted Section 32(a) of the NPA Act which he said placed the responsibility of maintenance, control and management of the approaches to the ports on NPA.
He maintained that as it is there was no standard tucks that could move within the Lagos Port access road that was not expose to the risk of falling, which was neglected and constituting hindrance to importers, licensed customs agents and transporters, who were exposed to loosing the cargoes, trucks and sometime death or the fall of container on a car.
“The access road is the direct responsibility of Nigerian Ports Authority as provided is section 32(a) of the port Act (Regulating traffic within in the limits of a port or the approach to the ports.
“The Port Access roads in Lagos area are death traps filled with very serious potholes with constant falling of containers from trucks due to the terrible state of the Port access roads linking various Ports within Lagos (TIN CAN ISLAND, APAPA, PTML, BRAWAL, LILIPOND) are in terrible state of disrepair”, he stated.
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