<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Notwithstanding\nthe revenue increase the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, said it has achieved\nwith the on-going partial border closure, exporters are counting their losses\nas countries within the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS,\nsub-region have started rejecting Nigerian cargoes, apparently, as a form of\nretaliation against the land border closure.
\n
\nThis\nlatest development, according to the exporters, is gradually crippling their businesses.
\n
\nIn a chat\nwith Vanguard Maritime Report, Chief Executive Officer, Multi-mix Academy, an\nexport oriented institution, Dr. Obiora Madu, disclosed that Nigerian exports\nwithin the ECOWAS region is decreasing due to the border closure, but he failed\nto give figures.
\n
\nHe stated:\n\u201cIt is definitely impacting negatively on the economy as the exports done\nwithin the ECOWAS region and our neighboring countries are now in decrease.\nThese countries that benefit from the open border, since we have closed it,\neven though we used to export to them before, you don\u2019t expect to get the level\nof cooperation that we are getting before because they are hit hard by these\nclosed borders\u201d.
\n
\nHe further\nadmitted that exporting generally is becoming difficult as cargoes are now\nundergoing careful examinations before leaving the shores of the country. This,\nhe said, has also impacted negatively on the volume and speed of export.
\n
\n\u201cThe fact\nis that it definitely has impact on volume, it will also impact on speed and it\nwill not be as swift as it used to be because of scrutiny\u201d.
\n
\nIn the\nsame vein, Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Institute of Export Operations and\nManagement, IEOM, Ofon Udofia, who spoke with Vanguard Maritime Report,\nrevealed that the country is losing a lot of money as most of the country\u2019s\nproducts have these West African nations as export destinations.
\n
\nHe stated:\n\u201cIt is a big problem. We are losing money because when we talk about exporting\ngoods, we are not only talking about exporting it to countries in Asia, Europe\nor America. We are also talking about exports taking place within the West\nAfrican sub-region.
\n
\n\u201cWe in the\nprivate sector, are victims of this border closure. Take a look at companies\nlike Unilever, they supply goods to other African countries through Nigeria and\nfor many years, they make use of the land borders.
\n
\n\u201cWe have\nlost a lot of money because of this. Even Dangote who exports cement to Benin\nRepublic has lost a lot\u201d.
\n
\nOn making\nuse of the waterways to transport these cargoes, Udofia argued that it is not\nyet feasible as Nigeria doesn\u2019t have any national vessels that ply the Western\nCoast.
\n
\nHe added\nthat the cost of shipping these goods will increase as the International\nshipping lines will be triggered to charge extra cost for shipments.
\n
\n\u201cEven when\nthey say we can make use of the sea, do we have vessels? We don\u2019t have vessels\nplying the West Coast or even a vessel that can carry the volume of what we are\nexporting.
\n
\n\u201cEven\nMaersk line Shipping Company, MSC, or any other international shipping line\nthat will pick products from Nigeria and take it to these West African\ncountries must charge extra fees.
\n
\n\u201cThis is\nbecause we don\u2019t have any shipping line. Which flag are we flying, we are just\ndeceiving ourselves. When they said that we should use inland waterways for\nexport, we are still negotiating on how we can partner with shipping lines and\nthe ship is already in Nigerian waters, but we have to pay five percent duty of\nthe cost of that vessel before it comes\u201d.
\n
\nUdofia\nalso blamed government for not planning ahead of time before taking drastic\ndecisions on such sensitive economic policy.
\n
\n\u201cThis is\nnot what you do over night because we are unprepared. Shipping is not like\ngoing to a market to buy a trailer, it goes beyond that. We are talking about\nshipping line that will be going across West and Central Africa which we don\u2019t\nhave, and it\u2019s possibility is still in question\u201d, he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Notwithstanding the revenue increase the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, said it has achieved with the on-going partial border closure, exporters are counting their losses as countries within the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, sub-region have started rejecting Nigerian cargoes, apparently, as a form of retaliation against the land border closure. This latest development, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[4,14,10],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n