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Lawal Wasiu, the Chief Executive Officer of LWL Concepts Limited, a clearing and forwarding, and maritime logistics company, speaks with ANOZIE EGOLE, on the need for the reform of the Nigeria Customs Service, the challenges in the sector and the way forward
How effective have the recently commissioned scanners in the ports been?
The scanners are working fine but because it is a new development, there are still some issues with the equipment. The agents are still complaining of delays with containers and it is creating a lot of backlogs. The system is still new to both the agents and the Customs, so it is having some issues, though it saves a lot. Let me explain what I mean by it saves. These scanners will save some importers of their goods from being damaged. Because the rainy season mostly distorts Customs examination of cargoes, agents will not want to offload goods for examination during the rainy season to avoid some goods being damaged by the rain. This hinders 100 per cent cargo examination and also leads to cargo delays. The coming of these scanners will really be very helpful. But because this system is new to both the Customs and the agents, it is still having little challenges. Another thing is that I think we need more scanners because the jobs that are coming here are more than these scanners.
Customs said that a scanner can handle 500 containers daily. Looking at the number of containers that come into the country, do you think that the number of containers a scanner handles daily is enough?
To me, that number is not enough. Imagine in a day if we have about 600-1,000 containers and the scanner can only handle 500 containers, it means we still have about 500 containers uncleared and some other containers will still be ready for clearing the next day. This sometimes hinders effective delivery. But if we have about 10 to 20 scanners, it will aid the clearance of cargo and make it faster and more efficient. And there is still manual clearance of cargo.
Why is manual clearance of cargo still going on when there are scanners?
It is because most people during examination are compelled to do their examination on the day they have been assigned and failure to do that, will have to pay for repositioning. So, imagine that you have about 1,000 containers booked for a particular day and only 500 are ready and all the 500 may not be attended to on that day. So, an estimate is different from reality. They might estimate that the scanners can handle 500 containers in a day and in reality, the scanner can only do 200 containers. You know they have to go through some processes. Sometimes human error would also affects the process. So, the scanner is a welcome development but we have to do more in terms of meeting the demand of the practitioners. We have one of the largest port activities in Africa, so some of these things are meant to happen. We need more funds in the industry to get more of these scanners.
Are you saying that because the scanners are not doing enough that is why there is still manual cargo examination?
Yes. We need more funds to get more of these scanners at the ports to aid 24 hours cargo clearance.
Customs recently introduced a platform for the clearing of non-standard Vehicles Identification Number vehicles. How has the platform been?
It is a welcomed development. I love the fact that Nigeria is adopting technology in all government parastatals as a way of boosting productivity. But the truth is that they still charge extra fees despite collecting what the platform recommends you should pay on a particular vehicle. For example, I recently cleared a car and in the process, the VIN gave me a value to pay for that particular car but Customs still found a way to ask me to pay extra. This is the reason you still find corruption in Customs operations. One of the problems we have is, for instance, not all cars are in the manifest. So, the new platform they introduced for non-standard VIN has been very helpful because most of these cars are now captured in the new platform. It is going smoothly but if we are to pay the actual money captured in the new platform, why are we still being subjected to paying extra money? All the cars that were not captured in the VIN valuation platform have been included in the new non-standard VIN platform. People are making use of it. But the problem is that we are paying the actual value the new platform gives but at the point of clearance, Customs will still tell us to pay a certain amount of money before the cars can be cleared. This has caused a lot of agitations by freight forwarders. These are one of the lapses we are having. This is why we are still soliciting Customs reforms. If there can be Customs reforms, and agents are equipped to take charge of certain things, it will go a long way.
The Nigerian Ports Authority recently commissioned Export Processing Terminals for agro-export. What difference has this made?
That project is a very laudable one. It has brought about high productivity and it has really increased the export volumes. Having a warehouse close to your location will boost your trade. This new EPT is a place you can do your Customs documentation, and after the clearance, you take your containers to the port for shipment. So, this has been helpful in so many ways. It has been very helpful. It is a lovely idea, like for the one at Lilypond, where you do your documentation and from there straight to the port.
You are into agro-export. How would assess the efforts Central Bank of Nigeria in boosting agro export in the country?
The intervention of the CBN in export has been a boost in the sector. It is very clear that Nigeria is doing well in the area of export. When we are in the season of this agro produce, we always see high volumes export of sesame, cashew nuts, cocoa, among others. The problem with the export of farm produce is that it involves a lot of funds because we are always checking to know if the cost of exporting meets up with what is obtainable abroad. So, these interventions are really making things a lot easier. One of the setbacks is the dollar scarcity. If there is a way the dollar won’t affect exports, it would have tripled the growth of export this year, because, despite the challenges with the dollar, we still see significant progress in the export sector.
Shipowners are lamenting low export cargoes, even when the Federal Government has approved the disbursement of CVFF. How do you think Nigeria can boost export cargoes?
If Nigeria can find a way of bringing the buyer to meet the supplier, it will go a long way. I know the Nigerian Export Promotion Council is doing something in this regard. But if there is a way they can sensitise people from the outside world and create a platform for exporters, where buyers from around the world can buy their goods, it will boost the export sector. It will be like bidding and we know that bidding does a lot of things like increasing prices and it brings about more sales. So, imagine there is a government app that brings registered buyers out there to registered exporters, it will make people drag for price.
Do you think that the war risk insurance premium paid on Nigerian-bound vessels and cargoes is causing a hike in the prices of food?
I don’t think that has a major effect. I still feel the major determinant is the dollar because the cost of freight alone cannot raise the cost of the products to that exorbitant level. It may affect prices but the major challenge is the dollar. The dollar is the major reason for the hike in prices of the commodity here in Nigeria.
What are the major challenges in the maritime sector in 2022?
One of the major problems that we faced in the maritime sector in 2022 is that we have a lot of qualified companies and agents but only a few are doing the major work. For instance, where we have about 100 agents, only a very few are doing the major work. This is the problem. Again, the dollar really has made car importation difficult. Some agents only deal in clearing cars, so the increase in tariffs, dollars and others really affected business in 2022. A lot of agents have stopped visiting the ports. The port needs money to standardise terminals to bring about high production. The maritime sector needs major funds but I can tell you categorically that the government has tried in terms of accessibility of containers to and fro.
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