The Chairman, Trade Facilitation Committee of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF, Dr. Fred Ajuzie has given reason why the federal government is still retaining the services of Webb Fontaine despite evidence of poor service delivery by the company over the years.
Ajuzie who spoke in an interview with Primetime Reporters in Lagos recently, insisted that there must be somebody in Webb Fontaine that the government is interested in, hence its inability to act upon several complaints and protests by different stakeholders in the port industry against the tech firm.
He noted that when such thing is there, there is little or nothing the stakeholders could do other than to mourn their fate in silence.
“It’s just like, for instance, Maersk Line and APMT, some powerful Nigerians own stakes in them and because of that, whatever you write about APMT or Maersk Line holds no water. So, I believe that is the case with Webb Fontaine”, he said.
Noting that Webb Fontaine is a service provider which ought to be up and doing, Ajuzie who is also the Zonal Coordinator of the NAGAFF 100% Compliance Team, Western Zone maintained that the government needs revenue to grow the economy adding that when the server is not functioning optimally, duties cannot be paid and customs cannot release cargo.
‘You are talking about trade facilitation, when the server is not working, how can trade be facilitated? What is trade? Trade is about the economy and when we are having persistent server failure, how will the economy improve?
“Server failure is one of the enemies of the nation’s economy because duties cannot reflect, trade will not be facilitated. Just last two weeks or thereabouts, before the last holidays, we had persistent server failure. In fact, last Monday or so when there was rainfall, for two days, there was nothing happening as a result of server failure. Freight Forwarders were ready to do their job, customs officers were ready to do their job but they couldn’t.
“And you know customs cannot just start fighting it because the person that is behind Webb Fontaine could be one of the powerful Nigerians. And nobody is saying anything. Stakeholders may say something but they could not be heard. We the stakeholders have spoken, we have protested, we have written petitions to no avail.
“We are having a new Comptroller General of Customs, you want him to dabble into it? He won’t talk, he was appointed, he will quietly make his report but he can’t do anything beyond that because he is not the one that engaged Webb Fontaine. Webb Fontaine has been there before his appointment as the Comptroller General of Customs.
“We don’t know what next to do, government has heard about it. We have a Minister of Marine and Blue Economy but customs falls under the Ministry of Finance. We will still be talking. I think the protest should be channelled to the CBN, Customs and the Finance Ministry to look into this Webb Fontaine’s epileptic service delivery. NAGAFF 100% Compliance Team has even gone to the CBN and make a report about this Webb Fontaine server failure. They did invite him to CBN when he protested the fluctuating duty rate for cargo clearance, yet nothing positive has come out of it”, he lamented.
He however, called for collective action on the part of the stakeholders to collectively make statement about the activities of Webb Fontaine as according to him, “I cannot promise or encourage withdrawal of service on this issue because that is not the answer.”
“But I think collectively, stakeholders should talk about it continuously who knows, government may review the contractual agreement with Webb Fontaine or the company may have an answer to the stakeholders’ concerns on the persistent server failure and improve on their service”, he added.
Insisting that freight forwarders are not interested in taking over the job of the tech company, Ajuzie who is a former Chairman of NAGAFF, Apapa chapter maintained that all that the freight forwarders are interested in is service delivery and for Webb Fontaine to improve on it’s service so as to curtail the cost being incurred by the stakeholders as a result of persistent server failure.
His words, “Nobody is against Webb Fontaine, if they do their work well, people will be happy with them but in this case, they are not doing what they are supposed to do. How can the customs be talking about server failure in this age and time? They should look inwards and do the needful. We the stakeholders are not asking for too much, all that we ask is that they should give us service and reduce the amount of money we lose in demurrage. We are business men, any delay in our chain of business, we are the ones bearing it.”
Photo: Dr. Fred Ajuzie, Chairman, Trade Facilitation Committee, NAGAFF.
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