PALLETIZED CONTAINER: NAQS set to charge importers Ten thousand Naira .

The Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Services (NAQS) is set to slam between five to ten thousand naira on each palletised container coming into the country by the end of April this year.

The hint of the new fee was given to customs brokers recently. The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Vice President-elect, Dr. Kayode Farinto who gave the hint in a chat with nigeriamaritime 360.com, said that, the current charge on palletized containers coming into the country if allowed, would amount to about N5 billion annually. Farinto envisaged that, this would further increase the cost of clearing goods at the ports.

The Federal Ministry of Finance last year announced the take-off of palletization policy in Nigeria to enable Customs officers to carry out examination of containerized goods to avoid illicit importation of arms and ammunition into the country.

However, freight forwarders and their principal importers had said they would kick against the policy saying the country was not ripe enough for the policy. Arguing that, it would triple the cost of clearing cargo at the port and eventually lead to increase in the prices of goods in the market.

Farinto said, “When we were antagonizing the issue of palletization, people did not know why because we saw it coming.”

“Plant quarantine is now saying for every palletized container, we have a fee to pay and that we must have fumigation certificate and that is going to add to the cost of clearance and that will also cause confusion in the industry.”

“I want them to come out fully but I know in the next one week, they will come out but somebody told me that they are likely to slam between Five to Ten thousand per palletized container. As you know, it is only few items that do not come in containers.

“They would not see it as a loss in the industry but I see them indirectly generating revenue for the government and I see them making nothing less than N5 billion annually,” he concluded.