Former Acting National President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Dr. Kayode Farinto has said that the rising cost of diesel, declining value of the naira and high rate of inflation, among other factors, justify the need for upward review of terminal operators’ charges.
In a statement, he said, “We all know that the indices of working in the port now are not as it used to be and things have changed. The terminal operators too are Nigerians and if we juxtapose what is happening vis-a-vis the fact that there has been increment in prices of fuel and the dollar has risen, so there has to be a rise in their charges too. We are in an era where you cannot predict the dollar and these people are rendering services so it becomes inevitable for them to increase. Nobody should be criticised for that. But I want to commend them because they are coming late in increasing their charges because I know that if it were to be the old operators, they would have increased the charges but they took their time before they did this. There is nothing anyone can do about it,” he said.
Farinto also charged the federal government to repair the dilapidated port access roads to reduce the hardship faced by importers and their agents.
Government, he said, has failed in their responsibility ab initio to even provide the services they need to provide.
“What are these services? It was in the concession agreement that the government will provide electricity 24/7 but this has not been made available. It is still the same terminal operators that are providing electricity so government must go back and do that. Secondly, government must put in place all the roads that are dilapidated particularly the access road to the seaports and I have also said it that it is high time we delineated the port area. As we speak, we do not know which area is the port area and that is why we have miscreants encroaching on port area,” he said.
He also commended the government for lifting the ban on 43 items, which could hitherto not access foreign exchange on the official market.
He said the ban caused inflation and “encouraged false declaration in cargo clearance”.
