NIWA Floors Lagos State Over Waterways’ Right

 • Federal High Court says , LASWA is illegal

 

The controversy over whether the Lagos state government has a concurrent jurisdiction over waterways in the state has been laid to rest by Justice Saliu Saidu of the Federal High Court, Lagos.
The Judge in a ruling which also affected the highbrow Lekki-Ikoyi link bridge in Lagos declared also that the Lagos State Waterways Authourity (LASWA) is an illegal entity; whose creation can not subsume the NIWA
Delivering judgment on Friday in the National Inland Waterways Authourity (NIWA) versus LASWA case, Justice Saliu Saidu ordered that NIWA, by virtue of its enabling Act has a clear mandate to manage the nation’s vast inland waterways, exclusively.
Shipping Position Daily recalls that the same Judge had on Thursday also ruled that there was no law authorising the collection of tolls on the bridge by the state government.
In a landmark judgment, the judge said the power to control the Lekki Lagoon and other Federal Navigable Waterways was vested in the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Lagos Seals Shipping Company Over Alleged Tax Evasion

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State.        

The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) on Wednesday sealed the premises of an indigenous shipping firm; Zeek Shipping td located in Apapa, Lagos, over alleged failure to remit N4 million tax to the state government.
The company is into cargo services, haulage, oil & gas services, marine services as well as product haulage.
The Head of Distrain Unit of LIRS, Mrs Folasade Coker-Afolayan, led a team that closed the company located at No. 25 Rhodes Crescent, Apapa.
Coker-Afolayan told journalists shortly after the closure that the debt accrued since 2011.
Coker-Afolayan said that the amount was workers’ income tax, which the company’s management failed to remit to the state government.

Customs Begins Phased Implementation of Automotive Policy

There are indications that the Nigeria Customs Service may have began the phased implementation of the controversial policy on importation of vehicles, even as importers and their agents have lamented the sudden increase in duties of imported tyres as a fall out of the policy.

It would be recalled that importers and their agents had staged a protest at the Tin Can Island Port recently, kicking against the new tariff on imported vehicles which was rolled out by the Ministry of Finance last year.

Confirming this to Shipping Position Daily yesterday, Image Maker of the Apapa Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, Mr. Emmanuel Ekpa said that the ministry had rolled out a fresh policy last week Thursday and that customs has commenced implementation accordingly.

Under the new arrangement, Ekpa said that contrary to the 30% levy and 35% duty proposed in the policy earlier, government has shifted grounds that imported vehicles should pay only 35% duties without levy.

According to him, the automotive policy earlier released will now go into full implementation by July 2014 as directed by the Finance Ministry.

Senate Committee Tackles Contractors Of Abandoned Projects In MAN, Oron

Managing Director, NPA; Mallam Habeeb Abdullahi ( L)
with visiting members of the Senate committee on marine transport inspecting
the renovation work on the NPA’s corporate head office yesterday

• Gives Rector 2 Weeks To Produce Contractors

Apparently shocked by the volume of abandoned contracts in the institute, the Senate Committee on Marine Transport has come hard on contactors handling the various projects at the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) Oron in Akwa Ibom State.

The committee has also expressed concern over these projects which dot the academy’s landscape.

 The Committee’s Chairman, Hajia Zainab Kure lamented the cost of the abandoned projects to the economy, saying that "the Rector of the academy has been directed to summon the contractors and resolve whatever the problem is.

Kure whom led members of the committee on a budget fact-finding mission to the academy, also noted that  the projects were still in the same position it met them when the Committee visited two years ago.

1 Dead, 3 Hurt And 1 Missing After A Cargo Ship Catches Fire And Sinks Off Sharajah

One sailor died, three were hurt and one is still missing after a cargo ship caught fire and sank off the coast of Sharajah yesterday.

The accident happened 8 km (5 miles) from the coast at around 9 AM. According to the acting Director-General of Sharjah Civil Defence, Colonel Khalid Obaid Bin Kanoon the fire occurred after the ship had loaded its cargo at Port Khalid. The area was enveloped by a thick blanket of smoke.

PAAR BLAME GAME CONTINUES:

• Operators Accuse Bank Officials Of Underhand Dealings
• Anxiety Over Looming Congestion At Lagos Ports

The on-going blame game over the Customs Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) continued yesterday, with fears of an imminent port congestion being expressed by freight forwarders, who also alleged that some bank officials are already doing brisk business with the essential customs clearance document

The stakeholders raised alarm of an existing racket between the commercial banks and some custom officers in the PAAR office.

Speaking with Shipping Position Daily in an exclusive chat yesterday, President of Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN) Dr. Frank Ukoh alleged that in order for your PAAR to be issued within two days, a substantial amount of money is attached to the document which is forwarded from the bank to the customs PAAR office.

Election Crises Hits Association Of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents

The National President; Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents;
Prince Olayiwola Shittu.

• Board Cancels Elections
• May Sack Electoral Committee
• Pro-Shittu, Anti-Shittu Camps Emerge

The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) is currently divided between supporters of the outgoing national president; Prince Olayiwola Shittu and loyalists of the Board of Trustees (BoT) over delay in conducting elections into the national executive committee (NECOM) of the association.
The festering crisis is coming less than one month into the expiration of the four-year tenure of the incumbent national president.
After weeks of denial of any in-fighting, a clear indication however emerged last week when the board summoned the President and the chairman of the association’s electoral committee (ASECO); Alhaji Mukaila Babatunde as well as the president’s spokes person; Mr Joe Sanni.
Sources close to the parties confirmed to Shipping Position Daily last Friday that the board actually met and that “some far-reaching decisions “were taken.