National Assembly Considers Special Courts To Auction Abandoned Port Containers

The National Assembly may soon amend the Nigerian Customs Act to make provision for the establishment of special courts to auction abandoned containers at the nation’s ports.

The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Customs and Excise, Leke Abejide, gave the hint on Tuesday during an engagement with stakeholders in the maritime sector.

The acting Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Mohammed Bello-Koko, told the panel that there were over 5,000 containers occupying spaces in all the nation’s ports.

Bello-Koko said, “There are over 5,000 overtime containers in Nigeria in all the terminals. Some of them are a year old at the ports because the NCS has not auctioned any cargo in recent time.

“They are occupying spaces that should have been used to accommodate new ones being imported into the country.”

Responding, the Deputy Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service, who is in charge of Tariff and Trade, Talhatu Isa, said the containers could actually be abandoned or being kept by the importers pending when they would raise enough money to pay for warehouse.

She said, “On the issue of containers littering the ports, we have to find out their status.

“We will have to know if they are overtime containers or they had been released but the owners are just keeping them because they don’t have money to pay for warehouses, so they are now keeping them at the ports for free storage.”

The Chairman of the committee explained that the Comptroller General of the NCS, Colonel Hameed Ali (retd), recently told him that the court process was delaying the auctioning of the abandoned containers.

Abejide said, “We will hold a meeting with the Customs CG and his top officials to see the possibility of amending the Customs Act for the establishment of special courts to sit on the issue of auctioning overtime containers at the ports”

Abejide also frowned at constant seizure of already cleared vehicles and demanded that Customs officers who authorise their release when the right duty was not paid, should henceforth be sanctioned.

He said, “The customs officers who release vehicles whose owners didn’t pay the correct duty must henceforth be sanctioned.

“An importer brings a vehicle through the ports and got it cleared without paying the appropriate duty. Why do you have to go after the owners without sanctioning the officers that released them?

“Such officers should henceforth be sanctioned.”

Isa, however, justified the stop and check being done by Customs officers on suspected vehicles on the roads.

She said, “On the Custom’s officers stopping imported cars on the road, there are situations where an importer or the broker decided to beg Customs officers to reduce the duty payable on a vehicle and the officer obliged.

“However, when another officer who decide to do the proper thing could suspect such vehicle and demand for the papers.

“If the appropriate duty had not been paid, they will ask the car owner to go and pay the correct duty.”