…As AMCON says NBML to continue operation***
Importers, freight forwarders, shipping lines and other port
service providers, have registered their displeasure about the introduction of
a new registration fee by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council.
At a sensitisation workshop organised by the NSC on
Thursday, the stakeholders said there were too many charges in the sector from
various government agencies.
They contended that the new fee by the council would worsen
the burden of cost already borne by stakeholders in the sector.
The NSC had put the registration fee for shipping lines at
N100,000 per annum. The fee for cargo consolidators was set at N20,000; dry
port operators, N50, 000; freight forwarders and clearing agents, N10, 000;
haulage firms, N10,000; inland container depot operators, N50,000; off dock
terminal operators, N20,000; seaport terminal operators, N100,000; shippers,
N1,000; shippers associations, N5,000; stevedoring companies, N20, 000 and
warehouse operators, N20,000.
The Vice-Chairman, Freight Forwarders Trade Group, Lagos
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Las Shobande, suggested that the agency
should focus more on its regulatory functions than revenue collection as there
were many charges already existing in the port.
“We are already burdened with too many regulations; there is
the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, the Nigerian Ports
Authority, the Nigeria Customs Service, the Council for Regulation of Freight
Forwarding in Nigeria, among others. Try and streamline these charges.
You should look at the process where it should be more of regulation than
revenue collection,” he said.
The immediate past president, Association of Registered
Freight Forwarders in Nigeria, Frank Ukor, called for a downward review of the
fee.
While explaining the new fee, the Director, Legal Services,
NSC, Samuel Vongtau, said the registration of port service providers would help
the government in policy formulation and rid the sector of quacks.
He said, “Especially to our port environment, registration
will bring sanity and reduce congestion. Once the service providers are
registered and known, the number of people entering the port will be reduced.
Congestion will be reduced drastically as only the registered service providers
will be given access to the port environment.
In the meantime, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria
has said that the Nigerian Braiding Manufacturers Limited will continue
operations.
In a statement on Friday, AMCON said it recently took over
the NBML, a Kano State-based textile company, because of the company’s
non-performing loans purchased from the banks by the government agency.
In a statement signed by AMCON’s Head of Corporate
Communications, Mr Jude Nwauzor, he said, “The textile company’s indebtedness
to the corporation currently stands at over N1bn. This is despite numerous
overtures by AMCON for amicable resolution of the debt to which the company and
its promoters have remained nonchalant over the years, leaving the corporation
with no choice than to seek justice in court.”
The corporation stated that in line with the provisions of
the AMCON Act, 2010 (as amended), the corporation approached the court and
secured an order enabling it to take possession of the company through its
Receiver Manager, Dr Yakubu Fobur, under whose supervision the company was
billed to resume full production soon.
It stated, “In contrast to the rumours, AMCON was set up to facilitate resolution of non-performing loans in the banking industry with a view to stabilising the economy.
Punch
