• Decries 50% drop in importation of vehicles
By Steve Agbota, [email protected]
Presently, the state of the nation’s ports have become a serious issue of concern for freight forwarders and other port users, as government’s policy summersault, obsolete infrastructure and other challenges crippling the nation’s maritime sector effectiveness.
Speaking with Daily Sun, the Managing Director of Sula Marine Global Limited, Sulaiman Ayokunle said that importation of vehicles into Lagos port has dropped by 50 per cent due to fluctuation in exchange rate and other challenges facing logistics aspect of the nation’s maritime sector.
Ayokunle who is a chieftain in the Association of National Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and vying for the post of national publicity secretary of the association’s NECOM forthcoming election spoke on the implications of the 42 items prohibited by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and among other things. He urged government to listen to practitioners and do the right thing to move the sector forward.
What is your view on the current state of the nation’s maritime sector?
The maritime is an umbrella name and within this umbrella, we have our own profession as one of the connecting roads that make things happen in the maritime sector. We are the customs agents and freight forwarders.
However, to talk about the state of maritime today, technology has played a vital role in improving the efficiency of the sector. But most of those things affecting our activities are government policy summersaults. For instance, look at what is happening to the exchange rate, the parallel one, it continues to fluctuate. How on earth can one fix such a thing? For instance, in practical terms, if an agent captures some of his consignments at the current exchange rate and you are able to pay N2.5 million, within the next 24 hours, another person may capture the same consignment maybe a vehicle of the same model and the same year and you find out that the the person will be paying N3.5 million. Why? Because of the fluctuations in the exchange rate. Another person may capture on Friday, and you find out the person might not pay more than N2 million. Then, how can we reconcile this? The Federal Government said they want it to be uniform. But what about the implication down to the common man on the street? Because whatever that comes out of the port goes to the market even as a raw material, it will still end up final with the consumers. Mind you, all these cost implications definitely will be transfered to the common consumers and who are those final consumers? They are Nigerians.
Then, about the port operators, we find out that profit is their overriding objectives. Look at the position and the condition of the port and the access roads. This is an economic route to Mile 2. No government has not put hands in the reconstruction of this road, yet we are still at the state of comatose. For the economic route, apart from oil and gas, government relies more on customs excise and duty than the issue of oil and gas.
Then why is government looking the other way when it comes to putting facilities around the port in order? Some of the facilities need to be declared under a state of emergency. Without perfect facilities, the logistics aspect of the port will be affected.
In the past, you see some of our professional colleagues losing their lives in accidents because of state of this road. You see some containers falling of from the trucks because of the state of the road and that is someone’s life earning. So many people have been pushed out of import and even export business because of the condition of our road. The government needs to wake up and listen to what the practitioners are saying. He who wears the sh
Practitioners blame increase in NAC levy for rising prices of vehicles
NAC by definition means National Automobile Commission and what brought about NAC is that they want to enhance productivity or even assemble vehicles in Nigeria to discourage importation. You and I know, the NAC levy has never added any value to that sector. We have not seen any importance of that NAC. We are not even talking of reduction again, let it be scrapped. However, President Bola Tinubu recently said they want to make sure that all these various taxes are being streamlined in a way that it will be more effective. We have not seen anything important for the purpose of that NAC. Initially, we are talking of reduction but having gone deeply, we discovered that it doesn’t play any important role. Those people collecting this money need to be investigated because nobody has been able to convince us what this money has been utilised for judiciously.
Should government review ban on 42 items banned by CBN from assessing forex. If an item needs to be prohibited, definitely there must be already made alternative. Because what they told us then, those items are part of the things putting pressure on our exchange rate. After prohibiting those items, we all know that what has been affecting our exchange rate is ‘galloping’ at a geometric rate. If it is arithmetic, it will be very slow. Then why do we still need those things to be prohibited? We are not having it, we are unable to use it, yet people bring them into the country in their own way. Why other countries enjoy these taxes, levies and duties that we think those things supposed to bring into Nigeria. They will find a way and still bring them in. Our border is so porous because by the time they bring it in, consumers will consume it, Federal Government will lose while other countries will benefit from it.
Why witnessed sharp drop in importation of cars,
Importation of vehicles is fluctuating. In terms of percentage, we can put it at minimum level of 50 per cent drop compared to what we have been having before. At Grimandi, everybody knows that there is sharp drop of importation of vehicles but that might not translate into number of vehicles that enter Nigeria. Like I told you, our border is porous. Cars might come in through the border, pay duty to other countries yet Nigeria is the one losing because those vehicles have their final destination in Nigeria.
How relevant is VIN valuation now, given unified rate?
You know what Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) does is to regulate the expertise price. What this fluctuation in exchange rate does is that you calculate the current rate and you multiply it by your expertise price. The difference between VIN and the old practice is the technology. Once you log in, all things being equal then you have the amount in expertise. But as it is, is till relevant but it will have no way reduce or increase except for the exchange rate. Exchange rate it the one that determine this fluctuation.
Your message to the new CGC
The new CGC is still in acting capacity butn we know he wouldn’t want to disappoint the practitioners or the service. He has been in the system and we want to believe that since he knows how the system worksl, he would be able to put up his capacity and put up his strength to make sure things work.
Did you see the new CEMA against ease of doing business as it concerns freight forwarders? Yes, for every policy or act, the believe will be for improvement that it should be able to reckon with the present day reality.