Customs will auction off vehicles to decongest ports
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Owners of 7,000 uncleared imported vehicles at the Lagos Ports who fail to comply with the new Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) valuation policy of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) may lose them unless they act fast.
The NCS has threatened to auction off 7,000 such vehicles both to decongest the ports and make money for the treasury.
Festus Okun, NCS Area Comptroller of Ports Terminal Multiservices Limited (PTML), said “we have about 7,000 vehicles at the ports. They are mainly vehicles manufactured before 2013.”
But an importer insisted the vehicles could be more than 10,000 at the two Lagos Ports, Apapa and Tin Can Island, as well as in bonded terminals in the state.
Tin Can NCS Public Relations Officer (PRO) Uche Ejesieme said if the importers fail to pay duties required by VIN, after 90 days the vehicles will be moved from the ports and bonded terminals to the government warehouse in Ikorodu for auctioning.
He explained that relocating the vehicles will begin once terminal operators generate Uncleared Cargo Lists (UCL) to enable the NCS declare the overtime cargoes.
Ejesieme said the ports need space to facilitate legitimate business.
His words: “So many factors are responsible for the huge number of vehicles inside the ports. It is not just about the VIN.
“Some of the importers may be having issues with their banks and others may be having domestic challenges. But our prayer is that they should get the money to come and clear their vehicles.”
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Trade facilitation
“Our major assignment is trade facilitation. We need the space inside the port to transact legitimate business. The terminal operators are yet to give us the uncleared cargo lists to tell you the exact number of vehicles inside the port but they are many.
“We hope the owners will come and clear them before they would be declared as overtime cargoes,” Ejesieme added per The Nation.
“Once we do that, the vehicles will be moved to the designated terminal in Ikorodu where they will be auctioned to members of the public when the government decides.”
The importer, who declined to give his name, lamented that they are being run out of business as their vehicles are trapped in the ports and terminals due to the high cost of clearing them.
“The VIN policy is harsh. The cost of clearing vehicles is outrageous. I believe we have over 10,000 vehicles caught up by the VIN valuation stuff,” he said.
