By Uzor Odigbo
Apparently dissatisfied in the last six years to address some of the problems under the purview of the Nigerian Shipper’s Council (NSC) in port operations, the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has called on President Mohammadu Buhari to shop for a new management team for the council.
The foremost licensed customs association accused the current leadership of the council,led by Barrister Hassan Bello of contributing to the bottleneck and hindrances in line with the ease of doing business in the Nigerian seaports.
Speaking with journalists over the weekend, Chairman,Tin Can 2, Chapter of ANLCA, Mr. Olufemi Olabanji called on the federal government to replace the current council’s boss and his management team, saying , much have not been achieved in the last six years.
Olabanji who spoke against the backdrop of the newly introduced registration fee by the council ,frowned at the economic regulators involvement in levies and fees imposition on maritime operators, pointing out that the umpire in port operations has failed to perform in its core mandates.
The ANLCA chairman challenged the council management team to explain to the public on achievements recorded in the last six years under Bello administration, adding that no meaningful impact has been made to address issues of gridlock on the port corridors and arbitrary charges slammed on importers and exporters by shipping companies and concessionaires .
According to him, the Lilypond command of the Nigeria Customs Service has been under utilized for years yet the council has claimed to be a port economic regulator without proffering solutions to the challenges.
Highlighting some of the many challenges which according to him, falls and the purview of the council regulations, the Chairman reiterated that importers have threatened to dump Nigerian ports yet the council is not bothered with such moves, thus remains adamant as collcollect fees from stakeholders.
Continuing ,the ANLCA chieftain averred, the council had promised to address issues of traffic along the access roads linking the ports but added that problem has excavated.
One of the core mandates of Nigerian Shippers‘ Council is to provide a forum for the protection of the interest of shippers in matters affecting the shipment of imports and exports to and from Nigeria ;and to advise the Federal Government on sundry matters related thereto.
But the licensed customs broker maintained that the present management team of the council has continued to add more charges to the cost of doing business in the port.
“How can we say the council is a regulator when a whole command like Lilypond and KLT are dying .
“To me Mr Hassan Bello who is in charge needs to be sacked because he is not serious on how to tackle the challenges in anyway as the boss and the regulator is not working as expected under him”
He lamented that series of letters have been written to the council on the numerous issues confronting the port industry with no positive results.