The Certified Institute of Shipping (CIS) of Nigeria has stated that the Federal Government’s ban on importation of vehicles through the land border is not proper.
Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune in an exclusive interview, the Rector of the CIS, Dr Alex Okwuashi, explained that banning vehicle importation through the land borders cannot be justified since the land borders are Customs points.
According to him “the only reason government can ban importation of vehicles through the land borders is if the Nigerian Customs Service does not have the facility to handle vehicle importation through those borders. That is there are no methods of assessment of duty collection and others, that is when government can ban vehicle importation through the land border.
“But if there is a place where documentation of the vehicles can be processed before the vehicles are moved into the country at the border, then the ban cannot be justified.
“I don’t think it is right to ban the importation of vehicles through the land borders. If government puts the proper mechanism in place to collect duty, then why ban vehicle importation?”
On the prospect of the ban to the fortune of the terminal operators at the nation’s seaports, Okwuashi explained that the banning of importation of vehicles through the land borders will not change the fortunes of the seaport operators.
“How many Roll-On-Roll-Off (RoRo) vessels come to Nigeria’s waters to drop vehicles? How many of the terminal operators have facilities to handle RoRo vessels plying global waters today?
“It does not change or boost the earnings of the terminal operators because the importation of vehicles does not impact much even on the earnings of the seaport operators. Maybe except for the Grimaldi lines.
“What I think government should do is to pursue the establishment f the national carrier project. After the national shipping line has been established, government should do what we call portfolio distribution.
“Government should distribute its portfolio along the business opportunities that we have in the maritime sector i.e containerisation, tanker, RoRo and others; so that when they come, they can be allocated to the port operators that will make Nigeria to earn the needed revenue that has been diverted to our neighbouring ports.
“If we have friendly policies, a lot of these RoRo vessels will partner with Nigerian port operators so that these vessels will come straight to our seaports. This implies that Nigerian port operators must find a way to reduce charges.”
and then