How long is the Duration?
The cargo has to wait 19-25 days to get cleared from the port. The
reason for this is the large number of units each government agency have at the
port, and the import documents have to pass through each unit for its
clarification. The Nigeria Custom Service alone has more than 10 units through
which the documents pass, and this is not it, there are more agencies that have
the unit count of 4 to 5 and this is a strong reason of the delay.
More Reasons of Delay:
Other than the number of agencies and their units, there are other
reasons that account for the delay in the cargo pass out. One is the increase
in the number of agencies. Two more agencies namely,
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| Nigerian Ports |
Nationally Agency of Food
and Drug Administration Control and Standards Organization of Nigeria have
entered the already huge number of agencies making the process more slow and
tedious. Also the slow documentation process of each section is very
exasperating and by not availing the new system the Nigerian
ports are putting themselves in difficult situation.
Why to Decrease the number of Agencies at sea-ports?
For a speedy certification or clearance process the number of
agencies must be decreased at the ports. This is not the only reason why this
step should be taken, by doing this it will also lower down the level of
corruption going on at the site. The more the departments, the more they will
ask for bribe to have the document pass from its premises and it will cost the
importer more to have the consent for having the imports taken out of the sea
port. This is a very tiring and frustrating exercise as the freighter has to do
an extra exercise to have his cargo cleared. Although this whole lot of
agencies may be there to decrease the illegal transfer of prohibited goods in
the country, but it is increasing the problem on the corruption end and the
delay discourages the freighters to do business with the country.
What more adds to the Situation?
Not only that the number of days for the
clearance of the cargo is very high, the number of free days for storage of
cargo is also very less.
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| Cargo Storage |
Only three free days are granted to the importers and
then the terminal operators start charging according to the items. These are
very odd conditions that the government is putting the traders in the region.
The Government
of Nigeria should pass a better order for improving the situation on
its territory.
