NDLEA Arrests Fake Customs Officer, Others For Drug Trafficking

Aguezeala Bob Chidubem;
The Fake Customs Officer Arrested By NDLEA

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a man who claimed to be a Customs officer.

The suspect, Aguezeala Bob Chidubem, 45, was arrested while attempting to smuggle drugs into China.
When he was arrested, Chidubem claimed to be a serving customs officer at the Tin Can Island Port, Lagos.
But, preliminary investigation carried out by NDLEA agents revealed that he was an impersonator.
He was arrested along with Obi Onyeka Emmanuel, Obidiazor Stanley, Ezeocha Henry Chidi and Alor Tochukwu Isaac.

Bird Flu Alert: Ghana To Ban Importation Of Nigerian Poultry

Following a renewed outbreak of bird flu in Nigeria, the Ghanaian Government said it is taking steps to temporarily ban the importation of poultry products from Nigeria into Ghana.
This move, according to the Ghana’s  Ministry of Food and Agriculture will help prevent a possible outbreak of the disease in Ghana.
An outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in Nigeria has spread to 21 commercial farms in seven different states, with more than 140,000 birds having been exposed to the virus, the agriculture minister; Akinwumi Adesina had confirmed recently.
He said the deadly virus had arrived in Lagos, in the southwest, and Kano, in the north, last week, even as he added that it had now spread to five other states across the country: Ogun, Delta, Rivers, Edo and Plateau.
Around 100,000 of the birds exposed were in Kano, Adesina said.

Ghanaian Court Remands 8 Nigerian Pirates Into Prison Custody

The eight suspected pirates arrested by the Ghana Navy aboard vessel, MT Mariam, have been remanded into prison custody by the Adjabeng Magistrate Court in Accra.

The Ghana Navy on Saturday, January 17, foiled a pirate attack on a Nigerian cargo vessel, MT Mariam, and captured all eight bandits.

FG Set To Gazette Shippers Council Appointment As Economic Regulator

R-L: Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Shjippers Council;
Barrister Hassan Bello, Chairman, Nigerian Ports Consultative Council;
Otunba Kunle Folarin and Representative of Controller Apapa Command
of Nigeria Customs Service; Mr Emma Ekpa at a forum between the Shippers’ Council
and maritime journalists in Lagos yesterday

…As Council Appoints Three Consulting Firm For Legal Framework

There are strong indications that the federal government is about to gazette the appointment of Nigerian Shippers’Council as the ports’ economic regulator, even as the Council has appointed three consulting firms to assist in her new role.

The Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Shippers’ Council, Barrister Hassan Bello dropped the hint yesterday at an interactive session with maritime journalists in Lagos.

According to him, President Goodluck Jonathan is about to receive the gazette, which will confirm the appointment of the council.

AT INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMS DAY CELEBRATIONS:

Comptroller General of Customs; Alhaji Dikko Inde Abdullahi
Presenting a World  Customs Organisation award to
the National President of ANLCA; Prince Olayiwola Shittu yesterday in
Abuja on the occasion of the International Customs Day 2015

Customs CG Says Agency Issues 273,148 PAAR In 2014

The Comptroller-General, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Alhaji Dikko Abdullahi, said the service issued 273,148 Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) documents out of 291,156 applications received in 2014.
Abdullahi disclosed this on Monday during the celebration of 2015 International Customs Day with the theme: "Coordinated border management, an inclusive approach for connecting stakeholders".
He said that PAAR had delivered on promise of generating revenue to government within the first of its implementation by the service.
The Comptroller-General said the successful implementation the PAAR scheme resulted in the collection of N977.09 billion revenue into the federation and non-federation accounts in 2014.

Nigeria Customs Abandons CET Implementation Over 2015 Budget Delay

The implementation of the ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET)  in Nigeria has been suspended by the Nigeria Customs Service as a result of the delay in the passage of the 2015 budget by the National Assembly.

Nigeria along with other members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) after an economic integration meeting in October 2013 agreed to begin the implementation of an adopted Common External Tariff. Last year, the community’s secretariat, after the final endorsement by the Heads of State and Government agreed to flag-off the CET among its 15 member nations on January 1st 2015, but Shipping Position Daily gathered that implementation may not see light of the day yet.

Ghana To Arraign Nigerian Pirates In Court Today Over Hijack Of Oil Tanker

There are indications that Ghana’s Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) may today (Friday) arraign eight Nigerian pirates earlier arrested by the country’s Navy in connection with the hijack of crude oil tanker MT Mariam.
Eight Nigerian high sea robbers were arrested last Saturday by the Eastern Naval Command of the Ghana Navy in Tema, for hijacking a fuel vessel in Nigeria. The BNI said it has sufficient evidence that eight hijacked ship.
The suspects: Molih Williams, 32; Peggy Aki, 32; Ebiyaibo Amos, 32 and Molih Klinsman, 31.The rest are David Jacob, 30; Ayetimiyi Oyinle, 29; Pinamo Samiyo, 26 and Picolo John, 25. are alleged to have hijacked the ship in Nigeria and demanded a huge ransom from nine crew members.

'NPA Lacks Manpower To Monitor Terminal Operators Activities'-------NPA Senior Staff

Managing Director, NPA;
Mallam Habeeb Abdullahi.

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) branch of Senior Staff Association of Communication, Transport and Corporation (SSACTAC) has said that the management of the NPA does not have enough manpower and personnel to monitor activities within the ports, especially the activities of the port concessionaires.

President of the union, Comrade Benson Adegbeyeni in an exclusive chat with Shipping Position Daily faulted the port concession exercise of 2006, saying that it was hurriedly implemented.‎
Comrade Adegbeyeni noted that the terminals were shared among the big wigs in government and within the NPA and that this was main reason it will be difficult for the NPA to give close monitoring to the activities of the concessionaires.

ENL Raises Alarm Over Abandoned Wrecks On Lagos Waters

..Says  Criminals Use Abandoned Vessels As Base To Attack Vessels At Berth

Operators of terminals ‘C’ and ‘D’ at the Lagos Ports Complex (LPC); ENL Consortium Limited has raised an alarm over the‎  abandonment of vessels on Lagos waters, saying that criminals now use  the wrecks as a base to  access the terminal and vandalise cargoes.
This revelation was made known yesterday in Lagos by the Health Security Safety and Environment manager of the terminal; Mr. Oyinloye Raphael during an interactive session with the Western port police.
According to him, miscreants have made the abandoned vessels their hideout to perpetrate evils, adding that series of attack on cargoes at the terminal have been traced to the bandits who often hibernate in the abandoned ships.

Ghanaian Navy Arrests 8 Nigerian Pirates In Crude Oil Tanker Hijack

Three Of The Nigerian Pirates Who Were Arrested By Ghanaian
Navy For Hijacking Oil Tanker; MT Mariam Last Weekend In Tema

Ghana’s navy has freed a tnker ship hijacked off the coast of Nigeria and arrested eight pirates believed to be responsible for seizing it, a military spokesman said on Sunday.

Pirate attacks have increased in West Africa in recent years, jacking up insurance costs for shipping companies. Experts say gangs based in the waters off Africa’s top oil producer Nigeria are extending their reach across the region’s Gulf of Guinea.

Colonel Aggrey Quarshie would not say when the MT Mariam was seized by pirates. The small tanker’s owners, using an onboard tracking device, informed Ghanaian authorities of its position in Ghanaian waters on Saturday.

ANLCA President; Shittu Blasts NAGAFF, National Council, AREFFN Others For Attempting To ‘Kill’ CRFFN

National President of ANLCA; Prince Olayiwola Shittu

Even as the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) continues to battle for relevance, National President of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA); Prince Olayiwola Shittu has accused freight forwarding associations including; NAGAFF, National Council of Managing Directors, AREFFN and others of being responsible for the Council's woes.

Shittu who spoke exclusively with Shipping Position Daily in his office last week noted with concern that apart from ANLCA, other freight forwarding associations have refused to pay their annual subscription fees to the Council. Shittu said that this money is the only statutory source of livelihood for the CRFFN.

Customs Insists Defaulting Rice Importers Must Pay Duties On Excess Imports

About 48 hours after the Minister of AgricultureRural Development; Dr Akinwumi Adesina, disclosed that some major importers of rice were owing the Federal Government a whopping N36.5Billion, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) yesterday insisted that rice importers who exceeded their allocated quota must pay the equivalent duties on excess imports following the expiration of the two weeks’ notice given to them.
The Public Relations Officer of the NCS, Mr Wale Adeniyi, said this in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
The minister had given the importer up to this week to pay or face sanctions, but the Customs spokesperson confirmed yesterday that the notice given to the importers to reconcile their imports expired on Wednesday.

“We Will Go After STOAN, Shipping Coys To Return N1trillion They Collected Illegally---Olisa Agbakoba

Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba has threatened a renewed legal war against terminal operators under the aegis of Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN) and multinational shipping companies under aegis of the Association of Shipping Line Agencies (ASLA) over their refusal to return the over N1trillion they have alleged collected illegally from imporers.
Agbakoba, who is also the pioneer President of Nigerian Chamber of Shipping, during a press conference in Lagos on yesterday lamented that the activities of terminal operators and shipping companies in increasing‎ port charges has only succeeded in driving away genuine investors and crippling the Nigerian economy.

Fully Laden LNG Carrier Runs Aground In Bonny Island

A full-loaded Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) tanker has run aground off Nigerian coast after taking on a cargo at the Bonny Island export plant, two trading sources said.

MWUN Petitions President Jonathan Over Alleged Moves By NPA To Sack 10,000 Dockworkers

President Dockworkers Branch of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria,
Comrade Adewale Adeyanju (M) flanked by some members
of the union during a protest in front of Lagos Port Complex

Some members of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) under the auspices of a body called ‘Concerned Dock Workers’ in Warri Delta state have written a petition to President Goodluck Jonathan over alleged moves by the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) to sack more than 10,000 Nigerian dockworkers.

The letter which was sighted by Shipping Position Daily yesterday alleged that NPA is making moves to reduce the number of dockworkers in the nation’s seaports, it fingered the NPA Managing Director; Mallam Habib Abdulahi of being the brain behind the moves.

They also appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to act fast and sack the managing director of the NPA, Mallam Habibu Abdullahi from office in order for the ports to be saved from the very dark era of militancy and criminality.

Fear Grips Tenants Over NPA's Plan To Concession Office Complex At Tin Can Port

• Terminal operator named in secret deal to acquire expansive property
?There is palpable apprehension among maritime operators who occupy office spaces in the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) complex at the popular National Bus-Stop at Tin Can Island port, over alleged plan by the NPA and it's subsidiary, Seaview Properties Limited to concession the complex to a terminal operator (names withheld)
?Even though the Managing Director of the Seaview Properties Limited; Mr. Phillipson Falade told Shipping PositionDaily via telephone last week that he is not aware of such plans, occupiers of the complex, which include members of and the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) and the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) confirmed the move to our correspondent, officials of ANLCA insisted that there are underground plans to concession the office building.

Customs Rakes In N977.09bn Revenue In 2014

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) said yesterday that it raked in about N977.09 billion revenues in 2014, down from its target of N1.2 trillion for the year.
According to the service’s summary of monthly revenue figure obtained yesterday in Abuja, the revenue came from import and excise duties, levies and other fees.
The revenue figure showed an increase of N143.79 billion over the N833.4 billion that the Service collected in 2013, representing about 15 per cent increment in collection.

Mass Movement Of Freight Forwarders To Neighbouring Ports Over Poor Procedures At Lagos Ports

CG Customs; Alhaji Dikko Abdulahi Inde and
Managing Director, NPA; Mallam Habeeb Abdullahi.

There are strong indications that many freight forwarders operating at Nigerian ports have abandoned clearing of goods from the ports due to what they called unfriendly operating atmosphere at the ports.
Shipping Position Daily investigations revealed that many freight forwarders have either left the profession or relocated to neighbouring countries surrounding Nigeria to practice their trade.
Investigations carried out by our correspondents revealed that the decline is attributed to alleged poor clearing procedures at the seaports; most especially in Lagos, coupled with the introduction of the Pre Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) by the Nigeria Customs Service.
Our correspondent, who sampled opinions of freight forwarders at the seaports in Lagos, gathered that there has been massive loss of jobs by the operators because according to them, the PAAR regime has been characterized by irregularities.

Shippers’ Council To Close Down Shipping Companies With No Holding Bays

The Nigerian Shippers’ Council has threatened that beginning from this year; 2015, shipping companies that do not have holding bays for empty containers would not be allowed to operate in the maritime industry.
The threat was issued recently at a stakeholders meeting between the Economic Management Team of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and maritime stakeholders in Apapa, Lagos.
Speaking at the meeting, which was chaired by Mr. Gabriel Aduda, Director of Economic, Research and Policy Management under the Federal Ministry of Transport, the Director of Commercial Shipping Services of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council; ‎ Mrs Dabney Shal-Holma lamented that shipping companies operating at the port do not have provisions for holding bays for empty containers and this contributes to the congestion and traffic gridlock at the port.