Author: Saint Augustine

The Managing Counsel, Forwarders Law Partners, Barr. Valentino Buoro has emphasized the need for the establishment of a Maritime Panel of neutrals and a Roll of Maritime mediation Advocates. Speaking at a one day Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Awareness Programme for Maritime journalists at the Lagos Multi-Door Courthouse (LMDC) in Lagos on Thursday, Barr. Buoro observed that the several Challenges between the various segments of the industry would be best resolved by a structured process where industry disputes were managed by the industry professionals who truly understood the process of the industry. According to him,” there is an urgent need…

Dr. Fred Ajuzie is the Chairman, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Apapa Chapter. In this interview with our correspondent, he bares his mind on the efforts of the various government agencies in the nation’s ports to check the incursion of the deadly Ebola Virus into the country through the Nation’s seaports, the recent blasts that rocked Apapa, his association and many more. Excerpt. Going by the growing concern over the Ebola scourge in the West African sub-region and the ports being potential entry points for the carriers of this dreaded virus, do you see the authorities at…

By Chigozie Chikere Importers and Freight Forwarders have continued to lament over the billions Terminal Operators and Shipping Companies are making out of strangling terminal and service charges they impose on importers. Though the concessionaires claim to be collecting their statutory charges as contained in the concession agreement, high demurrage charges stand out as rather inflationary and to some extent illegal. Recently, in Lagos, leaders of Freight Forwarders operating at Lagos Ports urged the Federal Government to stop Port Concessionaires from charging demurrage during weekends and public holidays. This is, obviously, not the first time Freight Forwarders are putting across…

The stakeholders in the maritime sector have attributed the increase in the volume of vehicles imported into the country as contained in the 1st half of 2014 report released by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) recently to apprehension as a result of the new auto policy that was billed to take effect from July 1, 2014. NPA had in its 1st half report for the year 2014 disclosed that the vehicle import in the country in the 1st half of 2014 was up by 16.5 percent with a total of 154, 846 units of vehicles handled in the said period…

After months of intense lobbying and politicking amongst the members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), the dusts appeared to have settled down as the BoT members finally re-elected Chief Henry Njoku to be the board Chairman. Chief Njoku was the BoT Chairman in the last dispensation and with his re-election, he has entered his name on record as a two term Chairman of the Board. Recall that several attempts were made in the last seven months to elect a new BoT Chairman for the association since after their elections that…

Following weeks of argument over who pays the one percent commission as proposed by the Licensed Customs Agents, the President, Shippers’ Association of Lagos State (SAL), Rev. Jonathan Nicol has said that the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) provided that one percent of every duty collected by the freight agents be paid to them. It will be recalled that in his inaugural speech after his re-election as the National President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Prince Olayiwola Shittu has promised his members that he would pursue and get the federal government to pay the Licensed…

REV. JONATHAN NICOL is a Nigerian born into the family of Bowei of Patani in Delta State in Nigeria. There after relocated with his Parents to the then Midwest region shortly before the Nigerian Civil war in the sixties. Having attended and concluded his post Primary Education in Delta and Lagos State, Nigeria he worked briefly in Lagos with the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA). He studied Personnel and Industrial Relations. While studying abroad, he derived an interest in shipping and transportation; this gave birth to Harlem International Limited. Our Icon, Rev. Nicol is currently among the five maritime gladiators…

…Commissions ANLCA National secretariat The Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Architect Namadi Sambo has called for the amendment of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) to provide for stiffer penalties for non compliant traders who under-declare their imports as well as smugglers whose activities were bent on short changing the government in order to discourage others from undertaking such ignoble act. Sambo who was speaking as the Special Guest of Honour at the 60th anniversary celebration and the commissioning of the ultra-modern permanent National Secretariat of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) in Lagos on Friday,…

The Comptroller General of Customs, Alhaji Dr. Dikko inde Abdullahi has pleaded with the stakeholders in the maritime sector of the economy to show patience and understanding with the Service as it battle to tackle the challenges still noticeable with the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) introduced by the Service about nine months ago. Dikko who was speaking in a message at the 60th anniversary and the commissioning of the Ultra-modern permanent National Secretariat of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) in Lagos on Friday recalled that just as the erstwhile Service Providers were unwilling to go, one should…

By Joe Sanni The idea of a permanent National Secretariat was first muted two years into the first tenure of Prince Olayiwola Shittu – led NECOM, when the issue of the two plots of land in the Abule Ado area of Amuwo Odofin – Lagos – was being discussed – and moreso, because of the actualization and fulfillment of all his campaign promises as at then. The land was acquired during the period of interregnum in the association, when the Board of Trustees, chaired by Chief Henry Njoku, administered the association, because of the absence of a National Executive Committee.…