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[2010-01-26]
Manufacturers petition Presidency, legislators over new port charge
| OPERATORS of the nation's troubled manufacturing companies, yesterday, decried the recent introduction of Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) system by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), which they described as a bitter pill that could further raise corporate fatality in the sector.
Already, the sector operators have petitioned the Presidency and the National Assembly over the new charge, recently approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
Under the new CTN regime, with effect from January 11, every commodity loaded or unloaded, either in Nigerian ports or outside but destined for the country, has to, prior to shipment, obtain the note from an NPA representative at the gateways.
The arrangement, by the assessment of industry operators, would hike freight costs by 20 per cent. Besides, NPA's sole representative for the scheme-Transport and Ports Management Systems Limited (TPMS), based in Belgium, would be charging $50 as global cargo administration, against $2 under the old regime.
The CTN scheme was approved by FEC at its meeting on December 9, 2009, as part of cargo security and safety procedure at the ports.
Condemning the new initiative however, the President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), who spoke on behalf of the Organised private Sector (OPS) declared: "It was the collective position of the stakeholders that CTN would add to port cost, increase bureaucratic process, make port business environment unfriendly, of no value and therefore should be nullified".
Borodo, who was represented by the association's chairman, Apapa Branch, Mr John Aluya, added: "We wish to highlight that several studies have concluded that Africa's economic development partly depends on reduction of trade transaction costs, which are currently unacceptably high. The port is a major focal point in trade facilitation and therefore has a great role to play in the reduction of trade transaction cost.
"It is a matter of regret that from all account, the motivation and major reason for the introduction of CTN is revenue generation projected to be in the region of N96 billion annually for the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
"This policy is not supportive of vision 20:2020 and it is totally at variance with global effort to help Africa and Nigeria in particular, to break away from stunted growth and economic underdevelopment.
"If however, NPA considered it imperative, then it should make direct contact with the foreign shippers and pay for the service".
Buttressing OPS' stance on the development, Borodo noted that the implementation of the new policy involved the mandatory payment of a fee determined by TPMS.
He added that the mandatory payment is graduated and foreign exchange- based, particularly euro and dollar denominated.
He then declared: "Stakeholders have observed that CTN cost represents 20 per cent of freight cost and it is being introduced at a time that Nigeria's ports are considered one of the most expensive in global terms.
"In addition, TPMS is charging $50 for global cargo administration whereas globally, normal fee is only $2. In fact, all other charges associated with Nigerian ports are considered outrageous in comparison to charges in other ports, particularly in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
sub-region."
Borodo continued: "The CTN constitutes an unwelcome addition to the bouquet of port charges faced by importers/exporters who out of patriotism, have made Nigeria's port network their obvious choice in shipping transactions".
He described TPMS' tariff for its services as outrageous and completely unacceptable to the business community and in particular, manufacturers, which constitute the majority of importers.
"In terms of documentation, a review of CTN shows that it is for data collection required to serve administrative purpose. We wish to let all stakeholders know that the information required is readily available from shipping lines operating in Nigeria and they are willing to provide same at no cost to the government.
"Our conclusion is that CTN is a duplication of the Bill of Lading and an open invitation to unnecessary waste of the nation's scarce foreign reserve.
"We wonder why the choice of foreign based company as the sole representative of NPA for the collection of issuance of the CTN at a period that the effort of government is directed at eliminating private sectors monopolies in the economy," he said.
OPS' letter to the Vice-President, which was conveyed through MAN and dated January 11, 2010, sought government to:
* Immediately stop the implementation of the new policy pending the review of the total considerations of its implications for the maritime industry and the economy in general;
* set up a panel made up of stakeholders in the industry for a review of the policy as indicated above; and
* consider the inclusion of MAN as a member of the governing Board of the Nigerian Port Authority which we had earlier requested in 2009 having discovered that such decisions were taken without stakeholders' input.
Source:© Copyright Guardian Online
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