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The National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), has petitioned President Bola Tinubu to direct the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to grant loans from the maritime fund to revive the rickety barges and trucks used by transporters and licensed agents for the carriage of goods from the nation’s ports.
National President of NCMDLCA, Lucky Eyis Amiwero who stated this in a petition letter to Tinubu and other government agencies, said that since the establishment of NIMASA for the past 20 years, the objective to grow the indigenous operation has not been realised as the maritime and shipping infrastructure, which is under light funding for indigenous operators is not encouraged by the Agency or implemented, such as bounded warehouse, trucks and badges for transportation of goods in and out of the ports.
‘The contribution as contained in Section 15-(a) of (NIMASA) which is the 3 percent of freight earning on all international inbound and out bound cargo from ship or shipping companies operation in Nigeria is made by licensed customs agent/importers by freight payment of goods shipped in and out of Nigeria, such payment are included in the freight paid by importers/licensed customs agents on freighted cargos in and out of Nigeria,” he said. He said that this contribution feeds directly into the Maritime Fund established under the NIMASA Act, a fund he contends was designed, as it has been used elsewhere in the world, to build capacity for indigenous shipping expansion, and infrastructure such as bonded warehouses, trucks and barges for port cargo evacuation. According to him, the NIMASA Act obligates the agency to promote indigenous ownership of ships and shipping infrastructure and to develop local capacity in vessel ownership, manning, and construction, adding that these objectives remain the agency’s core mandate under the law and have largely gone unmet since NIMASA’s establishment.
However, he said that the funding source for the 3 per cent benchmark contribution deducted from freight earnings on all international inbound and outbound cargo, which he said is ultimately borne by importers and licensed customs agents through freight payments.
Citing the Act’s provisions on fund utilisation, Amiwero said monies in the fund may only be applied to further NIMASA’s objectives, including promoting the development of indigenous shipping and shipping infrastructure, with Nigerian citizens and companies as the designated beneficiaries.
“Despite this clear legislative intent, close to 20 years have passed without the fund being channelled into the kind of capacity-building it was created for, leaving transporters and agents to operate ageing, failing equipment that he said now endangers lives and property along Nigeria’s highways and coastlines,” he added.
The petition also referenced a long paper trail predating the current appeal, including a 2025 exchange between NIMASA and the Federal Ministry of Justice, and older unanswered correspondence with the Presidency dating back to 2009 and 2011, in which Amiwero said the Presidency had itself directed that NIMASA report on its efforts at local manpower development in the maritime sector using the maritime fund.
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He said that no such utilisation has materialised in the years since.
Drawing a comparison with the United States, he pointed to American maritime policy instruments that predated Nigeria’s own Cabotage framework, including operating and construction differential subsidies, a capital construction fund and a vessel operating revolving fund, all administered through the U.S. Maritime Administration to support fleet expansion and shipping infrastructure, saying that the NIMASA Act had drawn on similar principles but had failed to operationalise them in practice.
The NCMDLCA’s central request to the President is for the establishment of a revolving loan facility, drawn from the maritime fund, to enable indigenous transporters and licensed customs agents to procure new trucks and barges and retire the aged fleet currently in use for port cargo haulage.
He described this as urgent given what he called Nigeria’s expanded coastline and the need for an efficient multi-modal transport system spanning road, rail and coastal routes for the safe conveyance of goods from the ports.
He said that there is an urgent need to replace the rickety badges and trucks with the nation’s expanded coastline, to save the port industry from the constant breakdown of trucks and badges by granting a revolving loan facility that will be used to replace the rickety badges and trucks, which endanger life and property along the highways and coastlines.
He added that the port needs an efficient multi-modal transport means and infrastructure for proper conveyance of goods on the road, rail and coastline to a safe destination.
