Nigerian ports have lost a whopping N600 billion in the last three years due to diversion in the importation of vehicles from the nation’s ports to neighbouring ports, especially the Cotonou port in the Republic of Benin findings have revealed.
This figure is said to be the value of the revenue that ought to have been collected by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) if the vehicles were shipped directly to Nigerian ports.
This is even as activities at the terminals designated for handling of Roll on Roll off (RORO) have plummeted.
Similarly, rice smuggling through the country’s borders has been on astronomical increase since the ban on rice importation through the country’s land borders.
The federal government had in March, announced the re-introduction of the ban. This was a reversal of an earlier policy in October 2015, which allowed rice imports through land borders provided appropriate duty was paid.
It would be recalled that the NCS had stated that during the five-month period October 2015 and March 2016 when the importation was allowed, a total of 24.992 metric tonnes of rice valued at N2.34 billion was imported through the land borders. This however fell short of the projected revenue to be generated with the removal of import restrictions.
The smuggling of rice has continued at the land borders unabated, as evidenced by the volume of foreign rice in the country. Between January and February 2016, about 9,238 bags of rice were seized from smugglers, with about N64.67 million as duty paid value.
According to figures by the terminal operators in Lagos ports, the number of cars and vans discharged at the ports dropped by 63 per cent from 27,000 units in January 2014 to 8,000 units in January 2015 and 5,000 units in August 2016. It was learnt that Nigerian ports, which previously handled the importation of over 400,000 units of vehicles annually, now handle just about 25 per cent of the figure.
Terminal operators attributed the lull to the implementation of the automobile policy adopted by the country under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
It would also be recalled that the automobile policy was introduced in October 2013 to encourage local manufacturing and discourage importation of vehicles as well as gradually phase out used cars (popularly known as Tokunbo cars).
The commencement of the implementation of the policy in 2013 raised the tariffs on imported vehicles from 20 per cent to 70 per cent.
The managing director of Grimaldi Agency Nigeria Ltd, a terminal designated for the handling of Roll on Roll off (RORO), Mr Ascanio Russo, said in an interview that the terminal could only handle an average of 72,000 vehicles yearly since the start of the automotive policy.
“The major beneficiary of this policy has been Benin Republic because many of those vehicles go to Cotonou and from there, they are moved back to Nigeria. This was very evident in 2014 and 2016.
“Annually, the country is losing N200 billion to neighbouring ports. Interestingly, the volume of vehicles going to Cotonou has not shrunk; in actual sense, it has continued to increase. Today, out of four vehicles for the Nigerian market, three are discharged in Cotonou,”said Russo.
The chairman, Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN), Princess Vicky Haastrup, said that for trucks, the volume dropped from 2,700 units in January 2014 to 1,700 units in January 2015.
According to Haastrup, the fall in vehicular imports into Nigeria had led to an increase in the number of cars and vans discharged at the Cotonou Port.
“In Cotonou port, the total number of cars and vans discharged in January 2015 was 30,000 units against 20,000 units discharged in January 2014. This represents a 50 per cent growth. Similar trends have been registered also for trucks,” she said.
The managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Ms Hadiza Bala Usman, said a review of the automotive policy was being considered by the government.
She said: “There’s been a period of implementation of the automobile policy. There’s a need to relook at it to determine the opportunities lost by the federal government vis a vis the automotive industry. This is on-going.
“We’ll aggressively sustain this discussion to ensure that, in a timely manner, the government concludes its assessment of this policy and takes a decision on the way forward as it relates to the revenue being lost within the Authority and also the development of the automobile industry itself.”
It would be recalled that the Nigeria Customs Service at the Ports and Terminal Multi-services Ltd (PTML) declared a 32 per cent drop in revenue to N63.18 billion in 2015 as against N91.45 billion earned in 2014.
The command’s public relations officer, Mr Steve Okonmah, attributed the shortfall in revenue to the diversion of vehicles importation from Nigerian ports.
He noted that the policy had a devastating effect on the economy, as clearing agents had fewer jobs at the terminal because of the diversion of vehicles to Cotonou Port in the neighbouring Republic of Benin.
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