By Uche Usim
ACUTE shortage of foreign exchange, high operation costs and cumbersome clearing processes may have forced Nigerian importers to divert their cargoes to neighbouring ports in Benin Republic and Ghana where they enjoy lower rates than what is offered in Nigerian ports.
Investigations by Daily Sun show that over 60 per cent of Nigeria-bound goods are now being diverted to Cotonou port and then transshipped by road into the country.
The development has led to sharp drop in earnings of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the terminal operators, shipping companies and other members of the import community.
According to a recent World Bank research, Nigerian ports are the costliest to operate in within the sub-region. For instance, terminal delivery/labour charges in Nigeria stand at N62,682, while it is N9,655 in Ghana and N24,000 in Benin Republic. In Senegal, the charge is dependent on weight and volume of cargo. For cargo dwell time, Nigeria also records the highest in Sub-Saharan African with 20- 28 days. Togo is 18 days, Benin Republic-10-15 days, Ghana (Tema Port) 15-21 days, Kenya (Mombasa port) nine days, South Africa (Durban) four days and Zambia seven days.
An importer who does not want his name in print said: “It is cheaper and easier to import and clear goods through Cotonou. We now take naira to Cotonou or Accra to source forex. We then order for our goods and route them to Cotonou port. Please go to Cotonou, Lome and Ghana ports, you’ll see they are booming. Close to 70 percent of the clearance jobs done there are for Nigerians and the goods are going to come into the country by land. Is it rice? Is it vehicles? Is it other products? That is the transshipment we now do. It is very costly to do business in Nigeria today. High terminal charges, shipping companies charges, container deposit, bribe demands and demurrage. It’s Just too costly.
“It is also a cumbersome clearance procedure and this foreign exchange shortage is the deadliest of the blows. Do you know that you can hardly transact any legitimate business without incurring demurrage? Customs will delay you in one way or the other. Over 50 per cent of my colleagues have closed shops and they are idling away at their offices. Once their rents expire, they may leave Lagos. They have sacked their workers. If this economy is not reinvigorated in the next two months, there will be crisis”, he lamented.
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