‘We Are Paying SON For Doing Nothing’ - Lagos Shippers

The Shippers’ Association of Lagos State (SALS) has described as ‘unfortunate’ the call by the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) that the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) should return to the port.

The President of the Association, Jonathan Nicol , while reacting to NAGAFF position on the matter, declared that shippers are paying money to the SON for performing no role even when they are no longer in the port.

It would be recalled, that, SON was ejected from the port by the federal government in 2014 following calls by stakeholders that the numerous agencies in the port impeded easy clearance of cargoes.

NAGAFF had said that the importation of substandard goods into the country necessitated its decision to appeal to the federal government to return the agency to the port to curtail the influx.

Nicol added that he was pained more by the fact that, the associations supposed to protect the shippers are the ones calling for the return of SON to the ports.

He said,” Whether they come into the ports or not, we are still paying them for doing nothing. The Conformity Certificate is supposed to be used for export, so, you cannot give standard to ISO standards.

Nicol added that the SON should not be allowed to return to the ports as according to him, the Nigeria Customs Service was well equipped to handle the functions of SON