Importers run away from Nigerian ports as official customs exchange rate is now N1,515.092 per dollar

Many Nigerian importers are fleeing Nigerian seaports as distortions in the clearing process, occasioned by daily upward review of Customs exchange rate by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has reached unbearable levels.

Their decision follows Thursdays tariff hike from N1,481.482/$1 to N1,515.092/1$, swelling it to the highest level ever. The review represents a N33.61 (2.2 per cent).

According to them, neighboring ports of Lome, Cotonou and Ghana are highly business friendly with reasonable tariffs.

“I’m out of Nigeria. Let me go elsewhere before port clearance charges totally ruin my business”, Akpan James, an importers stated.

A clearing agent, Sopuruchi Anagor, while lamenting the horror accompanying the frequent tarif hike said: “It’s better to relocate to Cotonou. There is no business here”.

The upward readjustment came less than 24 hours after it moved from N1,444.56/$1 to N1,481.482/$1. Also, Customs exchange rate for the first time is higher than the official exchange rate.

According to the data obtained from the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the domestic currency closed at N1,503/$1 on Wednesday, February 14, 2024.

Also, the adjustment will be the 6th in 13 days and 10th since the beginning of the administration of President Bola Tinubu in May 2023.

Maritime stakeholders lamented that with the upward review, Nigerians will pay more to clear their goods at the port because import duties are benchmarked against the dollar.

In June 24, 2023, the CBN adjusted the exchange rate from N422.30/1$ to N589/1$, and on July 6, 2023, it was adjusted to N770.88/$, on November 14, 2023, it was adjusted to N783.174/1$, in December it was adjusted to N951.941/1$.

Also, on February 2, it was moved to N1, 356.883/$ and on February 3, it was raised to N1, 413.62/$, on Saturday, February 10, it was changed to N1,417.635/$, on Monday February 11, it was to N1,444.56/$1, Wednesday, February 14, was readjusted to N1481.482/$1 and on Thursday, February 15, the CBN adjusted the exchange rate to N1515.092/$.

However, Customs brokers and other port users have threatened to paralyse all Port economy activities over the frequent upward adjustment of the exchange rate for cargo clearance.

Meanwhile, the National President of Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON), Frank Ogunojemite, advised freight forwarder to join forces with the Civil Society groups, the Nigeria Labour Congress and trade unions and redeem the masses from the excruciating economic situation, which is clearly as a result of sheer incompetence on the side of the current managers of the economy.

He berated the Ministry of Finance and the CBN for losing control of the Naira which has warranted its free fall. He regretted the level of hardship being experienced by Nigerians, saying that the continued upward revision of Customs duty exchange rate would continue to hit harder on the masses who are the end users .

“Customs has no hand in the continued increase in tariff, it should be blamed on the CBN under the watch of Mr. Olayemi Cardozo and his counterparts at the Federal Ministry of Finance.

“What we are witnessing today is as a result of sheer incompetence on the side of those managing our economy. Businesses are dying, manufacturers are shutting down. The ports are almost deserted because freight forwarders have no jobs anymore,” he said.

A frontline clearing agent, Olubayo Akinlosotu, said CBN under Cardoso is running Nigerian economy like Banana Republic, saying the ungodly hike in import duty for clearance of cargo is killing import business.

“You know I told you last week that our importers are now leaving our ports. Why did they have to leave if they have good exchange rate to do business here? The implication is that we will lose so many jobs as clearing agents and the economy will also lose while the neigbouring economy will be booming. The jobs and the money that suppose to come to us will go to them and that is the truth.

“Go to Tin Can and PTML, you will that there are less activities. Many of us are just sitting idle and sleeping in our various offices because there is no job to do. It is high time we embarked on peaceful protests. We are not living in Banana Republic and our peaceful protests will paralyse economy activities across all the ports in the country, if the government fails to do something. We cannot continue like this. Things are hard for everybody,” he lamented.

Conversely, President of the National Council of Managing Director of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), Lucky Amiwero, said a lot of people have been ravage into poverty, some of them cannot eat and they have gone down below lower level.

“You don’t have a floating exchange rate in a country that is fragile, there must be stability so that people can be consistently predict their importation and have a transparent view about what is coming.

“Many people are abandoning their thing at the port because when you trigger it immediately you have just little to bring in cargo and when you look at the exchange rate, it moves from 1.2 to 2.5, where do you get the extra? The government should look at it, the predictability in the transaction is very important,” he explained.