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By Brown Chimezie
Chairman Wine and Beverages Importers Association of Nigeria [WBIAN] Chief Jude Okonkwo has urged the Nigeria Customs Service [NCS] to reduce the cost of clearing container at the port. He made this call in an interview with the media in Lagos recently.
Okonkwo said the current amount been paid for clearing container is on the high side. “You have to pay 9 million for a container which hitherto was not up to that amount. It’s not good for business and affecting our finances. We are appealing to them to have a rethink. If it’s like 3million its okay based on the current reality on the ground.”
In the same vein, he affirm that the current process where importers must pay in dollars whenever they want to access their containers should be reviewed so that they can pay in naira which is the official currency for transaction in Nigeria just as they should also cut down the cost of demurrage which is one of the challenges we face at the port presently. According to him ‘You have to pay in dollars if you want to access your container, even at that, you can not access dollar at the bank, you have to go to the black market. We are appealing to them to let us pay in naira, How can our business thrive in this kind of environment. To be candid, nobody wants to lose in business, and of course, I will sell according to what I buy, and after all expenses, it is the consumer that will pay for it’ he noted
Okonkwo also uses the forum to commend President Bola Tinubu for de – listing 43 items, which are prior to now ban, that those items can now be imported. ‘It’s a welcome development,’ he alluded.
