In the last seven year of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, one thing he has vowed to improve upon is Nigeria’s export trade to other countries especially agro-export to earn more foreign exchange.
Before now, agro-export has been a source of concern to government and stakeholders over rejection by government of the ports of destination.
This rejection, is however, caused by the long time the cargoes spent in traffic, queues before it accesses the port and are loaded on seagoing vessels. Due to this, most export cargoes are already rotten, expired or past their shelve lives before leaving the nation’s seaports.
However, to solve the logistics challenges facing export in the country, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), licensed five Export Processing Terminals (EPTs), to process export into Apapa and Tin-Can Island ports seamlessly.
The five terminals are Diamondstar Port & Terminals Ltd, Ijora; Esslibra Terminal in Ikorodu; Sundial Global Trade & Service Ltd in Kirikiri; Bellington Cargo Ltd in Okokomaiko; and Tenzik Energy Ltd in Kirikiri Lighter Terminal 1.
The terminals are certified as pre-gates for all exports where export goods will be sorted, inspected, certified, sealed, and escorted by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to the port and when the goods get to the ports, they would no longer be examined by Customs.
Speaking on the importance of the EPTs, managing director of NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, said said the initiative signposts the NPA’s commitment to implementation of the National Action Plan on agro-export and the federal government’s desire to diversify the national economy from oil export to non-oil export.
He, however, stated that the authority was positioned to infuse greater efficiency into the logistics surrounding the entry of export boxes into the ports and the eventual loading on sea-going vessels.
His words, “The launch of this and other terminals also strategically positions Nigeria to optimise the advantages of the benefits inherent in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) Agreement. The need for the Export Processing Terminals (EPTs) is underscored by the limitations of current port facilities in the Lagos area which are operating beyond their ‘as built capacity’ for cargo handling.”
“The EPTs are, therefore, holding areas positioned in Lagos and Ogun states to help exporters prepare their arrival at port terminals in-view of the traffic management challenges that are visible in Lagos.
“The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has served as our technical partners through this journey for which we are truly grateful. We are also currently working to integrate the CBN NXP to the e-call up regime and have progressed on discussion to operationalise same using the electronic call up as the gateway.”
Bello-Koko, however, applauded the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), for creating an export command, saying the authority was not unaware of the existence of export warehouses handling manufactured products.
He stated that the NPA will work with the Customs’ export command to bring up seamless modalities that will govern that aspect.
“As we can all see, the comptroller general Nigeria Customs Service in response to the request by the Authority by graciously establishing an Export Command to support the federal government efforts in this regard.
“We are also currently working to integrate barge and train movements to complete the circle in collaboration with Nigerian Customs. The Nigerian Ports Authority is not unaware of the existence of export warehouses handling manufactured products. We will work with the NCS export command to bring up seamless modalities that will govern this aspect.
“To emphasise the importance of export in our strategy, movement of export boxes from the Lilypond Export Terminal shall be directly through Warehouse Road to cut down on time for arrival into the port. Similarly, movement of export boxes to Tin-Can Island Port shall be from the DiamondStar consolidation point at Emmadunamix Terminal, Okota.”
The managing director of Diamond Star Port and Terminals, Mr. Olatunji Baale, said that the appointment of the company is a confirmation of the competencies, capabilities, and available facilities of the company to manage export processing terminals at a degree of operation demanded by the Nigerian Ports Authority.
“Diamond Star Port and Terminals, is a fully integrated cargo and terminal logistic company, with core competence and expertise in port and terminal operations, barge operations, cargo handling services, outer port terminal operations, warehousing services and all related ports and cargo handling services.”
He affirmed that this appointment will add immense value to the operations of the company, and to the Nigerian economy.
Speaking further, he said that, with the commissioning of the terminal by the Nigerian Ports Authority, the company is fully ready for the commencement of operations. He added that right from start “We are going to be seeing a seamless delivery of export cargo boxes to the vessels. I am glad to inform you that at these terminals we have all the government agencies that are in charge of examination and processing of export terminals.”
Also speaking, the Assistant Comptroller General (ACG), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Zone A, ACG, Adeyanju Aremu, said the service has developed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), to remove impediment along the export value chain.
Aremu, said, “We have developed a standard operating procedure for our export operation to ensure that all form of impediment are removed along the trade value chain in line with global standards.
“We urged the users of the port to take advantage of the service’s commitment to facilitation of legitimate trade to excel in their business and put Nigeria on the global map of non-oil export.”
“We are confident this terminal will serve the purpose for which it was established as the Initiative is quite apt and coming at a time the country really needs a paradigm shift. Nigeria is no doubt blessed with enormous natural agro based resources which if well harnessed can lead to accelerated growth in our GDP. May I advise that exporters of agro based products must adhere to both regional and international market standard to enable them compete favorably in the international market.”
On his part, the Customs Area Controller, Lilypond Export Command, Compt. Mohammed Babandede, said going forward, export heading to Tin-Can Island port and Apapa port will come through the EPTs.
Babandede, said promoting export was a potential that has been identified by the government in order to drive FX earnings.
“NPA has approved five terminals and all export for Tin-Can and Apapa must come from these terminals. The Nigeria Export Promotion Council also has 13 approved export warehouses across the country. So, our officers can only attend to the cargoes coming from these places alone,” he said.
He said the Customs is doing everything possible to promote export by establishing an export command to ensure quick turnaround as Customs is expected to work with other government agencies to jointly inspect containers.
He assured that all the bottlenecks impeding fast shipment of export originating from Nigeria would soon be a thing of the past because Customs has the mandate to ensure the seamless movement of exports.
His words, “Customs is passionate about export and that’s why for the first time in the history of the service, we created a command in charge of export. NPA has approved five terminals to facilitate the business of export and all the bottleneck to be disbanded.”
“With the approval of by NPA,the export from Lagos ports will come from the five terminals. These are the only places we will ask out officers to support exports.”
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