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Clearing agents operating in the country’s maritime industry have said that 85 per cent of imported used vehicles were vandalised by both the shipping companies and terminal operators.
The agents, who spoke separately with The PUNCH in Lagos on Wednesday, said the worsening situation had led to massive job loss by practitioners, as most of their clients had stopped giving them jobs.
The Youth Leader of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, Tincan Island Chapter, Remilekun Saliu, told our correspondent that a lot of agents had been arrested and brutalised because of this issue.
“Many agents have been arrested and brutalised because of the issue of missing parts that were caused by the terminals/shipping companies. A lot of professionals have lost valuable importers as a result of these problems.”
Explaining further, he said that 85 per cent of vehicle keys and sensors brought into the country sometime in March by a vessel, Grande Cameroon, were stolen.
Saliu also said that the agents on several occasions had written several times to the management of the terminals and nothing had been done.
He said, “In Grande Lagos that just berthed on April 2, 70 per cent of the vehicles discharged have been vandalised. The majority of them do not have keys and the funniest part is that the clearing agents are the ones that bear the brunt.”
Also speaking, the Deputy National President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, Ugochukwu Nnadi, said, “In Grimaldi what we have is not vandalism it is pilfering. They still have the keys, especially these exotic cars that are controlled by remote. So, it is actually happening.”
Another clearing agent who simply gave his name as Leke, said a Toyota Camry 2020 model that came into the country through Grande Cameroon had the complete sensor key stolen.
He said he had complained and nothing had yet been done about it.
“We are tired of the operation of Grimaldi on the issues of missing items. 70 per cent of vehicles in Grande Cameroon were all missing sensors. And on Grande Lagos, a lot of parts were also missing. The worst part is the importers failed to understand that it is not our fault. It is what the terminal delivers to us that we are going to deliver to them. We plead with the management of PTML terminals to beef up their security because we are losing importers on a daily basis.”
Reacting, the General Manager of PTML, Mr Tunde Keshinro, urged the agents to come up with the details of the affected vehicles, adding that it will be difficult for him to respond to mere allegations.
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