Murtala Muhammed International Airport
Importers
and clearing agents are unhappy about the congestion of goods at the
cargo section of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
It was gathered that two weeks after the re-opening of the cargo terminal, activities had yet to return to normal.
Our correspondent, who visited the
terminal on Wednesday, observed a general state of rowdiness, with many
packaged goods lying unattended to.
Importers and clearing agents, who spoke
to our correspondent, said the situation was becoming unbearable as it
was making business difficult for them.
An importer, Mr. Uche Njoku, said the way things were going on at the cargo terminal was rather unfortunate.
He said, “Ever since this place was re-opened, things have not been the same.
“Things are really difficult for us here;
if you bring in goods, you can’t clear them and the whole place is
flooded with goods that have not been cleared, and this is creating a
big problem for us.”
He called on the government to step in to
address the situation, adding, “I do not know why the government has
been quiet on this issue, they need to do something fast because a lot
of people are being affected and people are now planning to take their
goods to the Cotonou Port in neighbouring Benin Republic.”
The President, Association of Finished
Textile Dealers of Lagos, Mr. Patrick Uzomah, told our correspondent
that goods imported by members of the body had been held down at the
terminal for many days.
He explained that the dealers were being
charged extra fees by the ground handling company as demurrage incurred
during the period that the terminal was shut.
Uzomah said, “You can’t imagine the pains
we have been going through, our goods have been held down and they are
asking us to pay huge sums of money for something we know nothing about.
“We have tried to meet with those in
charge of the customs’ to intervene in the issue, but their response has
not been encouraging so far and these are the goods we were supposed to
sell for the Christmas period; it is really sad.”
Responding to the complaints, the
Manager, Corporate Communications and Branding, Nahco Aviance Plc,Mr.
Tayo Ajakeye, said in a text message that the organisation was not at
fault for the challenges at the cargo section of the Lagos airport.
He said, “Nahco Aviance has not asked any
of its esteemed customers to pay demurrage on goods that are on time.
However, we acknowledge that the closure of the warehouses by the
Nigerian Customs Service has created a situation whereby some agents
have unintentionally incurred demurrage.
“Nahco sincerely sympathises with these
few agents and is prepared to waive up to 50 per cent for them on a
case-by-case review.”
The Federal Government had on December 3 re-opened the cargo terminal, which was shut for two weeks.
Activities had been brought to a halt
following a clash between the officials of the Nigeria Customs Service
and clearing agents over alleged manhandling of a senior Customs
official
The order to re-open the warehouses was
made by the Comptroller-General of Customs, Alhaji Dikko Abdullah,
following meetings held by various stakeholders on the crisis
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