Months after the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority approved export processing terminals to boost agro exports, exporters have lamented that the terminals have added extra cost to what they had before.
The NPA in 2022 approved five export-processing terminals to boost the nation’s agro-export.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, NPA, Mr. Mohammed Bello-Koko, at the public presentation of export processing terminal licenses in Lagos, explained that movement of agro-export boxes arriving at the ports from Lagos & Ogun states shall only be allowed into the ports from any of the five EPT.
Bello-Koko who was represented by the Executive Director, Marine and Operations, Mr. Onari Brown, disclosed that for export containers arriving from the Domestic Export Warehouses located across the country, the authority is committed to receiving export containers subject to compliance with the traffic management put in place by the Lagos State Government in collaboration with the Nigerian Ports Authority.
However, the Chief Executive Officer of LWL Concept, Mr Wasiu Lawal, in a chat with the PUNCH in Lagos on Wednesday, said the terminal is coming as an extra cost to exporters.
“We pay N34, 600 to make use of the ETP and if you miss your vessels and you want to validate, you will pay additional N30, 000 to the shipping company. But before now we don’t pay anything apart from the terminal charges N65, 000 and the local charges is N35, 000. We still pay for those things including the new ETP amount you see that the stuff is coming with an additional cost which made the stuff an extra cost to us.” he stated.
He said that the charges for EPT vary depending on the one you want to use.
Lawal also said that the situation has made it difficult for Nigerian exports to compete favourably in the global market as their prices are always higher due to the extra charges they pay here.
He, however, called for more ETPs, adding that the ones available can’t handle the volume of exports.
According to him, “We need more government interventions and we need exports to be less expensive. We need more terminals because the ones we have now are overcrowded. So far it has both good and bad effects, because if we don’t have these terminals, the situation may be worse. We need more of these terminals because it can lead to more export and also bring in bilateral relationships between Nigeria and other countries,” he noted.
The Chief Executive Officer of Femat International Services Nigeria Limited, Mr. Olabanji Olufemi, urged the necessary agencies to look into the double payment exporters are subjected to when using the facilities.
Olufemi who is also the Lilypond Chapter Chairman of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, said, “We pay double, they should do something about it.”
