…Cites economic reasons
…Urges government to engage the organizers
As August 1 date for the planned nationwide protest approaches, the National President of the Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria, APFFLON, Otunba Frank Ogunojemite has lend his voice to the call on the organizers of the protest to call of the protest and embrace dialogue with the government.
Ogunojemite who made his position on the planned nationwide protest known in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos yesterday said that the protest, rather than solving the problems, would aggravate the situation hence defeating the reason or reasons behind it.
Insisting that he would never subscribe to any form of protest at this point in time, the APFFLON boss said, “Looking at it from the economic point of view, it will cause disruptions in maritime trade and activities because the port will be forced to close down for security reasons thereby leading to accumulation of rent and demurrage on our cargoes.”
He continued, “The cost of clearing will soar higher by the time the protest ends which may lead to a lot of people abandoning their cargoes because of their inability to pay both the customs duty, rent and demurrage that accumulated during the period the protest lasted, which you know is not good for our economy.
“Come to think of it, the vessels that berth in our Port will pay additional money for each day it is anchored in our seashore. For instance, Vessel waiting time per day amounts to N50,000 to N100,000 which is approximately $125 to $250 USD; Fuel and operational costs amount N10 million to N20 million per day which is approximately $25,000-$50,000 USD while Demurrage and detention charges may amount to N5 million to N10 million per day which equally approximates $12,500 to $25,000 USD.
” Going by the above estimated statistics, the total estimated economic loss to the maritime industry in Nigeria over 10 days would amount to N5.5 billion to N14.2 billion, approximately $13.75 million to $35.5 million USD.
“Note that these estimates are rough and based on general assumptions. Actual losses could be higher or lower, depending on the specifics of the situation and at the end of the day, this may attract surcharges and discourage Shippers from coming to Nigeria because they will think that the country is not stable. The image this will portray about the country will not be good for the country.”
He maintained that the protest, if allowed to go on would bring additional hardship to the people, saying, “personally, I will not subscribe to the protest.”
“There’s no possibility that we will get it right through protest than we would have done through dialogue with the government. As far as I am concerned, we are in a journey to getting things right. Before now, we don’t have any of our refineries working but currently, some of them are coming on stream, which when actualize may earn the country some foreign exchange and move Nigeria away from import to export dependent nation. When we start earning foreign exchange, the value of Naira will appreciate and the inflation rate will gradually come down.
“The hardship we are facing today is the reason we should be patient and allow the government to get things right because we can see that the government is taking some drastic measures towards rebuilding the economy. What we need to do is to intensify engagement with the government to improve on security of the country so that farmers can go back to the farm to farm and be able to evacuate their produce out from the farms so that we will improve on food security.
“I don’t want the protest to go on because there may be transfer of aggression as some hoodlums may use the opportunity provided by the protest to attack themselves and this may lead to anarchy and at the end of the day, the protest that started off peacefully, one may not be able to predict how it will end. Again, some innocent lives may be wasted. Nigeria is too fragile for us to embark on any form of protest for now. From the economic point of view, this is not the best time for any form of protest”, he submitted.
He however, called on government at all levels to listen to the demands of the people and put heads together towards meeting the people’s needs. “They should think of how to make food available and affordable for the people as well as improve on essential amenities like power, roads, hospitals, building materials among others. It’s high time the Nigerian government stand up to its responsibility to Nigerians”, he stated.
Photo: Otunba Frank Ogunojemite, President of APFFLON.
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