Northern states, businessmen not patronising Kaduna dry port —Director

A Director in the Inland Containers Nigeria Limited (ICNL), operators of the Kaduna Inland Dry Port, Mr Iju Tony Nwabunike, has disclosed that state governments in the northern part of the country, and businessmen involved in importation and exportation have not been using the facility well enough.

This is even as the ICNL director who is also the national president of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) stated that the dry port, which has the potential to boost export activities and generate employment is presently under-utilised.

Speaking to reporters in Lagos recently, Nwabunike said a lot of importers in the northern area, who the port is meant to serve, have not been using it as their port of destination to attract cargo traffic.

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He also blamed shipping companies for not giving importers the bill of laden that will cause cargoes to be taken to Kaduna as port of destination.

Nwabunike said: “The 19 northern states of Nigeria are actually importing. The importers there are not using Kaduna Dry Port. There is need to reconsider this. Private sector and government operators in import and export should take advantage of the dry port.

“Kaduna dry port is still in the state of trial because I will tell you the traffic is not high just for one reason. It is a port and it is supposed to be a port of final destination for goods coming in and as point of exit for export, but the shipping companies have not been giving importers the bill of laden that will cause cargoes to be taken to Kaduna as port of destination.

“Now, Nigeria is not doing enough export:  we have not gotten enough patronage in that regard. However, on import, we are supposed to be having patronage but shipping companies are not giving the importers the true bill of laden to Kaduna dry port.

“If you ask them what the problem is, they will tell you that a 20 feet container coming from China can be said to cost $3,600 on freight charges, but they don’t know how much they can charge from Lagos to Kaduna on land charges.

“What this implies is that they are sabotaging the Kaduna dry port by saying that the haulage operators are not giving them a static amount of money for transporting the goods to Kaduna, therefore making it very difficult for them to charge the importer.

“They are supposed to charge the importer from the source. If you look at it critically, it is a good argument, but what stops them from doing an agreement with a logistic company, who will give them trucks at a particular price, on agreement of one year?

“The roads are not good and the trucks are not good. Sometimes the train we use is carrying only 20 containers to Kaduna. So, when you look at their case, you find out that they are actually saying the truth; but if for example this Kaduna dry port is owned by Maersk line, do you know that those containers will be going there? That will now tell you that it is sabotage. Don’t forget that in Kano, Maerskline do have a bonded terminal and they will not charge you until you get your consignment in Kano.”

The Kaduna Inland Dry Port was inaugurated by President Muhammad Buhari in January 2018 to bring maritime activities closer to the northern part of the country.

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