Author: Saint Augustine

PDP says APC is a sinking part trying to destroy Nigeria’s democracy. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has dismissed as false alarm, the statement by the All Progressives Congress, APC, that federal lawmakers were being bribed millions of dollars to defect to the ruling party. The APC issued a statement on Tuesday claiming that the PDP had rolled out an enticement package that promised $2 million (N328 million) to each Senator who returns to the PDP; $1 million (N164 million) to a member of the House of Representatives, and $10 million (N1.64 billion) to a “leader” who abandons the APC for…

The Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) has been urged to urgently check the standards of life jackets and other marine safety wares being imported or manufactured in Nigeria for use by water transport workers and passengers. This charge was given recently by the Director General of the Nigeria Chamber of Shipping (NCS) Mrs. Ify Anazonwu Akerele in Lagos when she received a group of maritime journalists at the chamber’s head office. Akerele said SON’s intervention in checking these protective wares has become imperative as operators and passengers on-board commercial boats are likely unaware of the danger they are exposed to…

…Says Shippers Council Is Capable Not NPA The Nigerian Chamber of Shipping (NCS) has harped on the need for the federal government to put in place a commercial regulator  on port operations. The NCS has also advised the federal government to  empower the Nigerian Shippers Council to act as the ombudsmen in port operations saying that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) is saddled with too many responsibilities to content with. Addressing journalists under the aegis of Maritime Correspondents Organisation of Nigeria (MARCON),Director General of NCS, Ify Akerele pointed out that there is an aggressive need to put in place a…

…as ANLCA ASECO assures on conduct of the election Ahead of Thursday’s scheduled election for the members of the Board of Trustee(BOT) of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), the Treasurer ANLCA Apapa Chapter, Hajiya Bola Muse has called on both the would be winners and losers in the election to come together and work as a team in order to advance the vision of the association. Speaking to newsmen in Lagos Tuesday, Muse applauded the efforts of the outgoing members of the Board whom she said had done their best urging the incoming ones to sustain the gains…

Lucky Amiwero is the National President, National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA). In this interview with our correspondent NWADINAMUO SAINT AUGUSTINE, he bares his mind on his expectations from the Maritime sector in the year 2014, the commercial regulator function of the Nigerian Shipper’s Council and lots more. Excerpts;  Sir, what are your expectations from the Maritime sector as this year 2014 sets in? Our ports cost in terms of clearance is threatening the economy because every day the Shipping companies, the terminal operators, they increase their charges at will. I do not know who gave…

The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) has been advised to employ undercover officers that will work underground to arrest erring officers of the service as a way to curb excessive corruption now glaring in the Service. Mr Bankole Akande, a security expert told newsmen in Lagos, Wednesday that corruption at the seaports, airports and land borders by men of the service has hindered the president’s reforms and that there is need to nip corruption in the bud. Advising the comptroller general of customs on the need to absorb some officials from State Security Service (SSS) into the service, the security expert…

Passes Vote of confidence on Alhassan Dantata More reactions have continued to trail the founder, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Boniface Aniebonam’s threats of withdrawing his association from the nascent group called Maritime Advocacy and Action Group ( MAAG ) as the leaders of Lagos Chamber and Commerce, Industry ( LCCI), the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN), Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) and the Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders Importers and Exporters Coalitions (SNIFFIEC)  have all taken a swipe at the association saying that it lack total coordination. The leaders present however passed vote of…

Comptroller Willy Egbudin, Customs Area Controller of Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has urged newly promoted officers under the command to redouble their efforts in the service to the nation. Egbudin said this while formally decorating some promoted officers with their new badges of rank at the conference room of the command headquarters in Seme Border where he also admonished all other operatives of the command to keep the fight against smuggling up. ”I want to tell you today that it is of utmost importance for us to justify the confidence reposed on us by the Comptroller…

Barely two months of the establishment of Maritime Advocacy and Action Group (MAAG), there are strong indications that the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) may disassociate itself from the group. MAAG a group comprising freight forwarding associations, maritime haulage associations Lagos state Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and other relevant maritime groups with the aim to address issues surrounding ports operations has Alhaji Alhassan Dantata as the Coordinator. NAGAFF through its founder Dr. Boniface Aniebonam in a press briefing held recently in Lagos cautioned the group over policy statement directed to the government. Aniebonam faulted the group’s…

Stakeholders at the Lillypond Container Terminal has called on the newly promoted Customs Area Controller (CAC) in the command, Comptroller Talatu Isa to sustain the gains made in the last few months following the successful turnaround of that almost moribund terminal. The stakeholders who had earlier gathered at the command to celebrate the recent promotion given to the Controller who before now was a Deputy Controller was full of appreciation for the level of activity going on in the command recently. Speaking to newsmen, the Chairman,  Igbo Maritime Forum, Ijora/Lillypond Chapter, Chief Lawrence Ubah thanked the Comptroller General of the Nigeria…