now with the pending 30% port reduction fee on his way i hope, i guess cars will considerabley cheaper

so no more excuses for excessives pricin

so 30% of #250,000=#75,000 hmmm nice one yaradua oh maybe it should be 40% ha

oya make i c wetin de car dealers will come up with

u sure say the dealers go want make all man hear this?

whatz d source of your post pls?

this day source

Yar’Adua approves 30% reduction in ports’ charges
From Kunle Aderinokun in Abuja, 11.05.2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008

President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has approved across board slashing by 30 per cent of all charges, fees and fines by all regulatory agencies on cargo and goods being cleared at the ports.

He has also sanctioned the abrogation levies on rice, textile and sugar as well as terminal charges by the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) and plant hire charges, amongst others.

Yar’Adua however, retained port development levy, which will be used “strictly” for ports development, especially provision of infrastructure.

These approvals followed the 19 findings and 84 recommendations of an Inter-ministerial Committee on 48-hour clearance of goods from the ports across the country chaired by the Finance Minister, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman and co-chaired by the Minister of Transportation, Mrs. Deziani Alison-Madueke, which was inaugurated on February 12, 2008.

The recommendations, which were submitted to Yar’Adua three weeks ago by the committee, have been approved.

Some of the recommendations that could be implemented immediately will be effected and those that require legislation before implementation will have to be referred to the National Assembly for legal backing.

Briefing newsmen yesterday in Abuja , Usman said the charges by the regulatory agencies were slashed because they are not revenue generating agencies. Usman explained that the need to facilitate trade at the ports and make them more competitive necessitated the setting up of the inter-ministerial committee on 48-hour clearance of goods.

The establishment of the committee, he said, had been preceded by a stakeholders retreat held on October 2, 2007, which had identified certain impediments to early clearance of cargo at the ports.

He listed such impediments to include “technological-inadequate infrastructure and automation; capacity-competence, skill gaps; administration-over-regaulation,over centralisation and multiplicity of government agencies at the ports; public policy,fiscal policy, tariff structure, ports charges and multiplicity of fees; and communication/lack of awareness.”

The administration at its inception in 2007, Usman lamented, had been confronted with “the rating of the Nigerian Ports by the international community as among those with the longest clearing cycle.”

He pointed out that, “the factors responsible for this rating were the issues of corruption, inefficiency and bureaucracy.”Usman noted that, as part of its findings on fiscal and other charges, the committee had discovered multiplicity of charges and fees for importers as impediments to early clearance of their goods. He added that, it also discovered high number of items under import prohibition.The Finance minister disclosed that the committee found out that, the nation’s ports were at disadvantaged positions because of inadequate infrastructure, especially parking spaces, rail services, electricity supply, non-dredging of inland waterways and ports, amongst others. The ports he said, were also disadvantaged owing to their inadequate IT infrastructure for most of the stakeholders, thus making it having little or no interconnectivity.The committee, Usman disclosed, realised the high level centralisation and multiplicity of agencies at the ports and as a result, only the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), National Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and National Quarantine Service (NAQS) will be at the ports, henceforth. According to him, “other agencies are to be invited as the need arises.”To kick-start the quick win process, which it is adopting, Usman said the Federal Government has commenced electronic payment on experimental basis as well as reviewed and revised the tariff book.He added that the NCS has been given the greater push to be able to do faster release of cargo, while the government has “succeeded in reducing the average time for clearance of cargo from 28 to 12 days.”Usman, who said efforts were been geared towards the implementation of the other recommendations of the committee, revealed that, a monitoring committee was being constituted to monitor and ensure the implementation of the recommendations.However, speaking on waivers and concessions, Usman said since he assumed the leadership position, Yar’Adua has not issued any waivers and concessions to any company or organisation. But he added that, the only organization, that has benefited from waivers and concessions, were the United Nations agencies, the World Bank because there is a provision for them to enjoy such by law.“Since president Umar came in, we have not granted any new waiver to any company or any organisation other than those provided by law. You know there is an arrangement that the UN agencies, the World Bank and so on, their transactions are extremely outside taxation. Certain humanitarian organizations are exempted from taxation. These are the only ones that we have given and they always have diplomatic backings. We have not given any waivers to any company,” he said.

I wonder what he would do about the long period it takes to clear at the port and why it is so hard for the importers to do a simple calculations without the clearing agents ripping people off.

@ikeyman00
thanks

i think they are workin on 48hrs clearin. hope this is real

igwe its all good!nice 1

yeah!!
your guess is as good as mine.

:Dwow, this is great news. does anyone know when this will take effect?
@ poster, God bless you for this valuable information.

babesine

thanks

Nairalanders, before we get excited, are we sure 30% reduction in port charges is the same as 30% reduction in import duty? Can someone please confirm this.

port charges and import duty are not the same thing. i think that the NAC levy( automobile levy still remains)
Reduction in port charges should bring about a slight reduction in total cost of clearing if clearing agents are going to be honest

I[b]keyman00,

You see life? Me and you dey agree for one topic?

Anyway sha as far as I am concerned, this 48hour gimmick is a ruse , Why?

1) The Customs guys will ensure it does not work as it will greatly affect their pockets.
2) The clearing agents and importers are not honest enough to make declarations that tally with the duties to be levied.
3) Corruption is the cause of the delay, not the process.
4)All the shipping terminals are unable to deliver boxes as and when required to do so from stack to lorry bed.
5)examination and final delivery through the greasy palms of a myriad of agencies also slows down the process.

LET US NOT FOOL OURSELVES.


CONCESSIONING

WE are now reaping the results of our foolishness in concessioning. The terminal operators are sharing the same loading lanes with the oil tankers at IBAFON and Tin Can Island. TRansport costs for containers have risen because there is a backlog of empty containers that have not been evacuated to their ports of origin ( no export cargo). It is more economic to move a revenue yielding container.

All our big men wanted to be shareholders/sponsors of concessioning to MAERSK GRIMALDI & CO and never listened to reasonable people crying that it is too early in the day to do so. They were only seeing the cash flow in the business plans and their brains were working overtime on how to corner it into their pockets.

The reasonable thing to do then was to establish a deep sea facility on Snake Island/ BAdagry continuum and tell MAERSK and co to move there and establish their transhipment/distribution center . The old ports should have been turned into export processing centers. Imagine destroying a ware houe built when cement was 2 shillings per bag!!!! and replacing it with a hard quay at today"s prices. Ultimately you will still require warehousing space. Access to Snake Island should be through the flyover at KLT or Beach land Estate. Frankly, the country has lost ground to Sao Tome as the transhipment hub because of this development for the following reasons:-

1)Virgin and independent territory
2)Deep beach head with reasonable draught that can admit vessels drawing over 10 meter alongside
3) Availability of cash an investment friendly climate with the oil trade zone and no dominant corruptive influences.
4) Completely off shore location and equidistant to other destinations on the West/Central African coast.

It a shame , really that the greed of our leaders has once more manifested itself in vivid colours.

This is the bane of Nigeria, our albatross.

When you see all these halfbaked, unintelligent solutions people push out, you begin to wonder whether we have a shipping policy, shipping programme or SHITTING POLICY.

You are reducing rates on a terminal you have concessioned, meaning that you have no control over the business and have reduced yourself to a rent collector. What tariff are you using. The same NPA tarriff or have the concessinaires fashioned their own?Do you have control over shipping company charges, demurrage and terminal handling charges or haulage? EVen the customs duty collection is porous and every specialist is blowing hot air.

A beg , me I dey vex too much for this country as FELA say ---- BIG BLING COUNTRY with VAGABONDS IN POWER.[/b]

citizen

i think im with u, u know

dnt know much about those 419 rules; just keepin close eyes

hi ikeymann, are u representing a clearing and forwarding company?

ziontrain:

Nairalanders, before we get excited, are we sure 30% reduction in port charges is the same as 30% reduction in import duty? Can someone please confirm this.

As Obua mentioned above port charges are not the same as custom fees/tarriffs. The bulk of the customs clearing fees are supposed to be the said custom fees. As far as vehicles(cars/SUVs/Vans) are concerned, here are the current port charges:

VEHICLES  AMOUNT(=N=)  

http://www.shipperscouncil.com/nsc/portal/trade/portcharges.html

(a)  Under 25 CBM  N600/Unit   
(b)  26 - 70 CBM  N750/Unit   
(c)  70 - 140 CBM  N1,200/Unit   
(d)  Over 140 CBM N2000/Unit

As you can see, even if your vehicle is over 140cubic meters, your new charges will be N1400 instead of N2000, for a paltry savings of N600! 

Legislative action may be required in order to change customs tariffs, I don't think Yar'Adua can do it with an executive order

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hi ikeymann, are u representing a clearing and forwarding company?

nope none just interested in what is goin on as in future i might goin into sellin cars to nigeria

and i live n uk so emm ,

i think custom fee are the biggest rip-off tariff in nigerian history! the world most rip-off

yara-act now

Now 30% is good, since import duty on cars is 20% by law(now 20% of what).There is a committee every 2 years to look into port efficiency, but the catch is it takes them a year to workout how they'll get their cut.Once its taken care of as Usman just did, they'll come out with a bogus recommendation that is never going to work.I wonder what they are going to fix that the Obasanjo's presidential audit + monitoring could not figure out.Even when Okonja Iwaela was asked by the House, she said she had no idea how the port runs right under her nose(ministry)


IMHO I think the less developed north (through custom comptrollers officers) is trying as much as possible to inhibit thedevelopment of south through wealth transfer from Nigerians in the west.If the port was truly open to Nigerians as the ports in Cotonou, and 5% import duty is as  legislated, then the development we've all seen with India, and Mexico in recent years due to economic impact from immigrants in the west will be nearly on same scale with Nigeria.But we are still stuck because for every dollar of technology being transfered by individual, the 'government' want 40% duty on something that will be working for Nigerians.

Sorry teacher, I obviously need to learn more about how ports should be structure and leave the amount to be paid as tariff/duty to the jaundiced less educated Nigerians.

I have the right to express my opinion, all you can do is to correct me if you feel I'm wrong. You calling me jaundiced is wrong for your level of education.

The Nigerian government was giving waiver to foreign companies to come into Nigeria yet they ignore a treasure trove of Nigerian individual trying to trying to build the fundamentals of a vibrant economy(small enterprises). If an individual ships equipments/technologies not available in Nigeria to start up something and he/she has to pay $10k as as duty per container, start ups can't start up,

There is a problem if Nigerians will rather use Cotonou ports, and South Africans are muscles with technology, while Nigerians have to scale back on what they can bring into the country to pay off duty or get their hard earned work impounded.

http://odili.net/news/source/2008/nov/10/304.html

When Government Policy Aids Smuggling
Written by Franklin Alli
Monday, November 10, 2008

Driven by the urge to earn more non-oil revenue, the temptation to strengthen excise and custom tax collections invariably provides the lure for smuggling, reports Franklin Alli. The temptation to strengthen excise   and custom tax collections has been    identified as strong factors aiding smuggling in a given economy.




SON DG




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This was the submission at a workshop on ‘Economic Costs of Illicit Trade and Trade Concession,’ organized  by Initiative for Public Policy Analysis (IPPA), and Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association (CICAN), recently in Lagos.


According to one of the speakers, Mr. Martin Oluba, the President/CEO of Fronteira Limited, smuggling in many instances may not look good because it is breaking of the law, yet it may simply be necessary and inevitable because some market participants who feel cheated by policy makers’ neglect of vital market information. 


Driven by the urge to earn more non-oil revenue, the temptation to strengthen excise and custom tax collections invariably provides the lure for smuggling. Thus, the attraction, he opined, is that the higher the size of import duties that can be avoided, this meant big profits for those who could get the products into the country without paying excise, as they could sell them cheaper than those who paid it.


Oluba, while giving a peep into the international perspective, noted that excise and customs duties are just one aspect of the barriers to global trade which invariably hurt overall development. ”Tariffs hold the ace to the promotion of both the crime of smuggling as well as the promotion of economic prosperity through enhanced trade.  Market controls generally produces same effect. When prices are forcefully prevented from adjusting freely to the forces of demand and supply it leads to alternative (parallel) markets which is some approximation of the smuggling business: underground markets,” he said.


The Executive Director, IPPA Nigeria, Mr. Thompson Ayodele, posited that effective trade either with our neighboring countries or outside the continent still remains a critical way to reposition Nigeria in terms of creating wealth and achieving economic prosperity. He further observed that trade becomes illicit when some people subvert the legal process in other to make profit.  Trade, in this sense becomes counter productive and all stakeholders are affected.


Just as smuggling is detrimental to any meaningful development, trade concession that benefit few individuals will obviously distort the price of local products and becomes a political weapon to reward lackeys and punish opponents. Aside from that, those who are privileged to get those concessions may tend to use it to import items that do not contribute any meaningful development.


At best it will be another drainpipe on the economy.

He further asserted that smuggling is not only detrimental to the national growth but also constitutes a health hazard particularly when goods involved are consumables such as essential medicines, wine and spirits, software and household items. In many respects, smuggling undermined intellectual property and consequently discouraged innovation.


The economic impact of smuggling, he said, is huge. Local industries suffer huge economic loss as they lose a tremendous percentage of market shares to smuggled products. Government also suffers because smugglers naturally evade tax. Border security competes for financial allocation with other social services. Workers face job loss and legitimate manufacturers face huge economic disincentives.


A lot of substandard pharmaceutical products are smuggled. Many of them find their way into the market and ultimately to patients. Many household items also find their ways into several homes with huge health consequences. Many pirated copies of software find themselves into the market with huge financial loss on the innovators. What is most striking is that smugglers do not conform to local regulations, standards and health warnings and deprive others the fruits of their labor.


For instance, before 2004 in Nigeria, the incidence of counterfeit cigarettes was over 50 per cent. Smugglers largely served the local market. With combined efforts of local manufacturers, regulators and enforcement of standards, smuggling in the industry has been reduced to 10 per cent. That is why the current campaign to disrupt the activities of local manufacturers would end up reversing the gains already made in reducing smuggled cigarettes and ultimately allow smugglers to fill the vacuum that will be left.


Smuggling is a big business. Yes it is because it is driven by policies that make it difficult for people to set up business, the ever higher taxes, particularly when taxes and prices in neighboring countries are much lower. Weak criminal penalties, poor border controls, low arrest rates and corruption are reasons smuggling thrives. It is important that governments harmonise the exiting tax regimes and embark on economic policies that do not create conditions for illicit trade to thrive.


A corollary of this is arbitrary concessions that have done damages to local manufacturing sector. Between 2003 and 2007 about $2.2 billion was lost as a result of arbitrary granting of concessions to certain individuals and companies. It is noteworthy that the concessions were used to import items which did not contribute to economic development. Sadly, most of the items imported through concessions and waivers contributed little or nothing to Nigeria economic development. In actual fact, it created a disincentive to local manufacturers and government was short changed in the whole deal.


While we agree that concerted effort is needed to address illicit trade, eliminating what give incentive to smugglers is a sure way to start with. Smuggling survives on negative incentives created by prohibitive tariffs and unfavorable business environment which kill industries. Efforts made by regulatory agencies will achieve little if the business climate still stifles genuine manufacturers.


Acting General Manager, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Mrs. Omowunmi Osibo, in her submission, noted that apart from undermining revenue accruable to the affected countries, and negatively affecting their economy and industrialization, smuggling dents the image of the country and is also capable of funding organized crime and terrorist organisations.


Using smuggling of counterfeit tobacco, for instance, Osibo observed:  ”when one compares the fact that even the tobacco that is produced by duly recognized bodies under current Good manufacturing practices coupled with current good laboratory practices in terms of pronouncing quality of such cigarettes still pose health hazard, the danger will be worse if duly recognized tobacco companies are off the scene as standard and more dangerous tobacco may increase in circulation again.”


“It was estimated that 80 per cent of tobacco sold in Nigeria prior to the establishment of the British American Tobacco Company in Nigeria in 2001 was illicit. This could have translated to loss or revenue to government as well as having circulation of such products outside the radar of regulatory authorities,” Osibo remarked.

Director General , Standards Organisation of Nigeria , Dr. John Akanya, in his presentation  tagged ‘Impact of Illicit Trade on the New Tobacco Standard,’ pointed out that counterfeit and pirated products are being produced and consumed in virtually all economies worldwide with Asia emerging as the single largest producing region.


In recent years, there has been an alarming broadening of the types of products being pirated from luxury items (such as expensive watches and designer clothing) to items which impact on personal health and safety, such as pharmaceutical products, food and drink, personal care items, toys, cigarettes, and automotive parts.

Illicit trade in these products undermines the revenue base of original producers. It also sows the seed for irrationality in trade policy by creating resentment on the part of domestic producers against imports, thus strengthening the lobby for protection.


A new dimension in illicit trade, he disclosed, has been the use of free trade zones as a platform for expanding counterfeiting and piracy operations. Passing merchandise through zones it is said provides opportunities for parties to manufacture and repackage counterfeit items and to “sanitize” shipping documents in ways that disguise their original point of manufacture.   

   

They also allow parties to essentially establish distribution centres for smuggle goods. In addition, the Internet is providing smugglers with a powerful new tool to sell their products, via auction sites, stand - alone e-commerce sites and e - mail solicitations.”


On the adverse effect of illicit trade, Akanya noted for instance, that activities of smugglers steal market share from legitimate businesses and undermine innovation, which is key to economic growth.


Continuing, the SON DG said that the economic gains that some consumers seek to experience by knowingly purchasing lower priced smuggled products when considered in a broader context, showed that many consumers do not actually experience such gains, as they are usually worse off in the long run.


“Governments are also directly affected as tax revenues from such trade are lost and huge costs are incurred in combating the practices by the relevant authorities,” Akanya said.


Giving an insight into the environmental implication, he noted “First, the growing volume of seized goods raises environmental issues since destruction of the goods can be a costly process that creates considerable waste. Secondly, substandard counterfeit products can have environmentally damaging consequences including pollution. A case in point is the chemical industry, which has many documented cases where the use of counterfeit fertilizers caused serious damage to the environment.”


The health of consumers, he further stated, is also at risk, noting that the industries where health and safety effects tend to occur include: automotive, electrical components, food and drink, chemicals, toiletry and household products, pharmaceuticals and tobacco products. It should be noted that while consumers who knowingly purchase such items have little recourse as warranties and money back guarantees are not generally offered for smuggled products, especially counterfeited ones.


The Nigerian Customers Service, PRO Mr.  Wale Adeniyi, who spoke on ‘Economic Gains of a Secure Border,’ has a massive land borders totaling 4,047 surrounded by Benin Republic, Cameroon, Chad, and Gulf of Guinea.  Out of this figure, the nation has only 67 approved border stations established for the purpose of conducting export and import items into the country.


Most of the borders, he said are very porous, and very difficult terrains make effective search challenging, stressing “ in US/ Mexico border , for instance, aircrafts patrol the border and report to law enforcement agents on the ground.”


At the end of the one day forum, stakeholders concluded that smuggling thrives because of high import duties and protective concession granted to some industrialists by government, ban and high cost of doing business.  The gainers are the smugglers who evaded duties and thereby fleecing government of revenue that runs into billions of Naira.

Here  is what I was trying to say. Nigerians do not like the exclusivity given to Dangote

@Poster,

Good info.

Its not looking good in November going by this report

http://odili.net/news/source/2008/nov/9/306.html

23 ships with 11,774 containers waiting to discharge at ports
Written by IFENYINWA OBI
Sunday, November 9, 2008

OVER 23 ships carrying 11,774 full containerloads of goods have been waiting at Lagos ports in the last two weeks to discharge their consignments.

Consequently, the number of ships waiting to berth has been on the increase in the recent times as a result of congestion at the ports. Although some of the terminal operators have blamed it on the long public holidays observed in the country in September and October, the situation is traceable to increasing number of cargoes since the beginning of the year.


Apart from the 23 ships waiting to discharge their containers, another13 ships carrying bulk cement, bagged rice, bulk wheat, general cargo, fish and vehicles are also waiting. According to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) shipping position, 66 ships are being expected into the country in the next three weeks, which analyst said had reduced due to the number of vessels waiting to discharge.

Out of the 66 ships, nine is laden with vehicles, 15 with petrol, diesel, kerosene, base oil, bitumen and low pour fuel oil, alongside five vessels carrying general cargoes.


Already, 26 vessels with bulk cement, bulk wheat, rice, fish, steel products, bulk sugar, general cargo, containers, petrol and low pour fuel oil, are at APM Terminals, Apapa Bulk Terminal, Greenview Development Nigeria, Josepdam, ENL Consortium, among others, doing business.


Market watchers who spoke with Sunday Vanguard said the congestion may have negative effect on the country, as shipping lines may be forced to re-introduce another surcharge as was the practice before the ports were concessioned.

   


And I guess they'll need 7000 extra employee to clear ~12000 containers. Here is where multiplicity of agencies, focus on 100% inspection(Nigerians can't trust Nigerians) and obsolete equipments despite numerous contracts.When shipping companies start having surcharges for cargoes going to Nigeria, Nigerians are paying for the failure of Nigerian government to fix problems Republic of Benin and Ghana don't have.


http://odili.net/news/source/2008/nov/10/305.html

Staff shortage hits NPA
Written by Victor Ahiuma-Young
Monday, November 10, 2008
THERE are strong indications that the massive retrenchment of workers as part of the ports reform programme of  the immediate past government of President Olusegun Obasanjo was not necessary after all as the management of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), has acknowledged shortage of staff to man some critical operations in the ports, especially security.


No fewer than 10,000 workers including security personnel  were sacked from NPA as part of the reforms, while similar number of dockworkers were affected with 7,000 in the shipping division.

Vanguard's investigation revealed that the NPA’s management has already sought approval to fill the vacuum created by the retrenched staff.

Attempt by the management to bring in private security operatives to fill the vacuum was aborted by the workers.

According to investigation, the management has already engaged the services of three security outfits to provide 103 security guards for the four major ports across the country.   

The security firms are Eagle Watch Security Limited for Rivers and Onne Ports in Port Harcourt; Boyson Nigeria Limited for Calabar Ports and Jonkay Security Services Limited for Delta Ports, Warri.

According to Vanguard's  findings, the management of NPA through the office of the Executive Director, Marine & Operations, have directed the management of Rivers Ports, Onne Ports, Calabar Ports and Delta Ports, to accept the security guards from the three security firms. 

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the leaders of organised labour and workers in the sector, on Monday foiled attempt by the private security guards to resume work and they were said to have been chased out of the ports formations.

ikeyman00:

nope none just interested in what is goin on as in future i might goin into sellin cars to nigeria

and i live n uk so emm ,

i think custom fee are the biggest rip-off tariff in nigerian history! the world most rip-off

yara-act now

Go to India, they charge double the value of the car for imports.
You know why? they are trying to stimulate their domestic car manufacturing sector.

Charging high import fees means that Indians have to purchase Tata and others.
When will Nigeria manufacture their own vehicles , that is the real question

josboy

i think now we are talkin

but that doesnt change the fact that car tariff is the world most rip off is nigeria

We will have a made in Nigerian car only when the government itself starts giving support to Nigerian entrepreneurs. I don't know if any of you read the story of a man who built a car from the ground up, including the engine. The man didn't get government support in Nigeria. Eventually, South African government decided to fund his project. That was when some people decided that he was a threat and stole all his designs and molds.

The government did nothing to assist the man who have made such a great leap. Instead, our own Nigerians criticized his efforts saying what he created was not standard enough to compete. The Indians that we talk about invest greatly in their human resources. I can tell you that we Nigerians are the most blessed and brilliant minds. There's saying that I love. It says "A mind is a terrible thing to waste". Unfortunately, we are wasting our brilliant minds. Our government relies on natural resources to fund its excesses instead of using the natural resources to develop the human resources. Nigeria has neglected its human resources and will suffer for it very soon, when demand for oil drops as a result of alternative energy sources.