The National Coordinator, Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders, Importers and Exporters Coalition (SNIFIEC), Chief Osita Patrick Chukwu has accused the shipping line agencies operating in the Nigerian seaports of taking advantage of the failure of the Nigerian government to do the right thing to rip off Nigerians.
Chukwu who was reacting to the condition of the port access roads in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos alleged that the shipping companies benefit a lot from the condition of roads in Apapa while praying that the roads remained untouched.
According to him,”Shipping companies are taking advantage of the failure of the Nigerian government to do the right thing to put Nigerians into a terrible mess. Do you know how much we loose to the shipping companies every quarter on container deposit? Because as you see those empty containers lying there, it is money that are attached to it that made them queue up in the line for days otherwise nobody can carry empty containers for those number of days if money is not attached to it. At times, they will usurp the whole money and then you owe on top.
“The shipping companies benefit largely from the condition of roads in Apapa, it is an advantageous way for them to exploit Nigerians. They don’t pray that the roads are reconstructed. If works are going on on the roads, they will be crying”.
He pointed out that in a clime where shipping is well understood, they don’t go on holiday as was the case with Nigeria where people go on holidays during the weekends.
“Go to anywhere in the world that is running shipping, nobody knows Sunday or Saturday, those are the days that these people (shipping companies) make outrageous money because somebody has gone on sallah or Christmas holidays and you see that person coming back after one week and he will just say that he took a pass, like the customs will say. And nobody will be posted to his desk to replace him for the period he was away.
“Virtually all the jobs he has collected are abandoned as he goes for sallah or Christmas in the case of a Christian or for the Easter”, he said.
He noted that in other climes, as one leaves his or her post, somebody is replacing him immediately adding that the Port of Cotonou should serve as a typical example of transparency in port operation.
“If we are transparent here, we won’t be waiting for somebody until he comes, everything will be done online”,he submitted.
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