Author: Saint Augustine

Key players in the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on Tuesday reeled out recommendations necessary for the successful implementation of the agreement following its takeoff in January, 2021. Top government officials, industrialists and financial services experts made the recommendations at a webinar organised by the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC). The webinar which held on Tuesday was themed: “The Opportunities for Africa and the Rest of the World in the Africa Continental Free Trade Area”. Mrs. Toki Mabogunje, President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) stressed the need for increased private sector engagements in the advocacy, awareness,…

The African Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON) has applauded the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Col. Hameed Ali (rtd.) on his call for the reduction of age limit on imported vehicles describing it as a good move if it could actually be implemented. The President, APFFLON, Otunba Frank Ogunojemite who made the position of the association known on the matter in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos on Tuesday noted that it was not the best for Nigeria to serve as a dumping ground for rickety vehicles adding that the rickety…

The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law otherwise known as Intersociety has said that it is strongly suspicious of the panicky and hurried announcement of the new security outfit by the Southeast Governors Forum more so as the outfit is coming when all hopes had been lost from state actor angles, forcing most citizens of the region to place their hopes, expectations and solutions on the table of non-state actors. The group in a statement issued in Onitsha, Anambra State by Emeka Umeagbalasi, Obianuju Igboeli, Chidimma Evan Udegbunam and Samuel Kamanyaoku disclosed that it was very surprised…

One of the three investors in Nigeria’s Backward Integration Plan on sugar, BUA Sugar Refinery has allegedly been shortchanging the Federal Government to the tune of billions of naira, which the company enjoys as concessions on import duty and levy for raw imported sugar, by not producing an ounce of sugar since the BIP was initiated, findings have revealed. BUA’s performance in the BIP already rated as poor and unacceptable by the National Sugar Development Council after the initial 4 years of BIP implementation continues to dip by the day, but its import quota on the other hand is rising,…

…Surpasses 2020 record by N21.05 billion          The Tincan Island Port command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has collected the sum of One Hundred and Twelve Billion, Six Hundred and Ninety-Five Million, Six Hundred and Ninety-Three Thousand, One Hundred and Fifty-Eight Naira, Sixty-Six Kobo (N112,695,693,158.66) in the first three months of 2021. The Customs Area Controller of the command, Comptroller Musa Baba Abdullahi who disclosed this in a statement in Lagos at the weekend stated that the amount showed an improvement of about N21.05 billion which translates to 23% when compared with revenue earnings of N91 billion in the first…

The National President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Increase Uche has called on those calling for the scrapping of the Standards Organization of Nigeria’s Conformity Assessment Programme (SONCAP) to provide an alternative as nature abhors a vacuum. It will be recalled that a former National President of NAGAFF, Dr. Eugene Nweke had in a chat with newsmen in Lagos recently called for the scrapping of SONCAP arguing that it is no longer in tune with the reality on ground even as he contended that the programme is anti-trade. However, speaking in an interview with…

Olufunke Agbor SAN has emerged the first female President of the Nigerian Maritime Law Association, at the end of the body’s Special General Meeting held on Thursday 8 April, 2021. In an election which ushered in a fresh tenure for the Executive Committee for the Association, Agbor was elected unanimously without opposition. Others elected as members of the Executive Committee are Mr. Mike Igbokwe SAN (1st Vice President), Mr. Olumide Sofowora SAN (2nd Vice President), Mr. Emeka Akabogu (Honorary Secretary), Mrs. Nneka Obianyor (Assistant Secretary), Mrs. Oritsematosan Edodo-Emore (Treasurer), Mrs. Oluseyi Adejuyigbe (Financial Secretary) and Mr. Adedoyin Afun (Publicity Secretary).…

In continuation of the fight against smuggling, the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone B Kaduna has presented a record of its stewardship in the last two weeks covering the period of March 22, 2021 to April 8, 2021. The Customs Area Controller, FOU Zone B Kaduna, Comptroller Al-Bashir Hamisu in a parley with newsmen last Friday in his office at the FOU Zone B headquarters, Kaduna, revealed that the Unit made a total of thirty-nine (39) seizures within the period. Comptroller Hamisu added that the seizures with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of fifty-one million, four hundred and ninety-nine thousand, seven…

Following the recent directive by the federal government on the re-introduction of the Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) to check the rising insecurity in the country, the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has hailed the federal government over the decision even as it called for a law to back up the policy. The National President of NAGAFF, Dr. Increase Uche who made the position of the association on the re-introduction of CTN known in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos recently, observed that the directive was in order adding that every well-meaning Nigerian, particularly, operators in the…

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has realized that skill mismatch contributes to persistent worsening of the Nigeria’s unemployment situation, its president, Mrs. Toki Mabogunje, said on Tuesday. Mabogunje said this at a news conference organized in collaboration with a group, ‘The Future Project’, on Tuesday in Lagos, on plans to train 1,000 young Nigerians under the Future Africa Internship Programme (FAIP). The LCCI President, represented by Mrs. Daramola Bamidele, Vice President, LCCI, said the training was part of efforts to improve the nation’s employment indices. “At the LCCI, we have realised that skill mismatch contributes to persistent…