President of the Licensed Customs Agents of Nigeria, Alhaji Shittu, says the pruning of eight government agencies from the ports by the Finance Ministry may force down prices of goods and services in the country by up to 20 or even 30 per cent.
The federal government, early this week, ordered the withdrawal of eight agencies operating in the nation’s ports, saying that the number should be pruned from 14 to 6 with immediate effect.
In the same vein, the federal goverment, in collaboration with the top management of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), disband the Customs task force and abolished the cargo tracking note (CTN), saying that operations at the nation’s ports must be streamlined to enhance efficiency and reduce cost as obtained in developed economies.
Minister of Finance and coordinating minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, made the disclosure when she inspected APM Terminals Apapa Limited in Lagos.
She was accompanied by the Minister of Transport, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman; thecomptroller – general of Customs, Alhaji Inde Dikko Abdullahi; and the Customs area controller (CAC),
Federal Operations Unit, Zone A, Mr. Victor Dimka.
Okonjo-Iweala listed Nigerian Maritime
and Safety Agency (NIMASA), NCS, Ports Health, Immigration, Police and State Security Services (SSS) as the agencies authorised by government to operateat the ports.
The actions, the association believes, will benefit licensed customs agents more but even more so, the average Nigerian who happens to be the end user of all the goods imported to the country.
An enthusiastic and overjoyed Shitu told reporters in Lagos that his men have waited endlessly for this day when the ministry would take the bold step of pushing out unwanted government agencies from the ports.
He said, “The business of clearing goods from the nation’s ports will now ease up and the costs that go with having to deal with all those agencies that only ultimately become transferred to the end user of these goods are now reduced.”
At the meeting according to Shittu, the participants agreed that the number of agencies that operate at the ports were too many and needed to be pruned.
He said it was in this regard that a committee was set up by the Finance minister based on the recommendations from the meeting.
Shittu also commended the efforts of the minister of Finance and the management of agencies, including; Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency and the Joint Intelligence Board amongst other relevant stakeholders for their untiring efforts in ensuring strict compliance with laid down rules and regulations.