AT SHIPPERS’ COUNCIL MEETING; Where Fee Hikes, Police Intervention, And A Fight For Fair Trade Takes Centre Stage
By Roland Ekama
In the sweltering heart of Apapa, where towering cranes pierce the Lagos skyline and the air hums with the rumble of trucks, a powder keg exploded last Friday.
Stakeholders from across Nigeria’s beleaguered maritime industry packed the Nigerian Shippers Council headquarters for a showdown that laid bare a perfect storm: skyrocketing fees, shadowy police intercepts, and a shadowy web of extortion threatening importers, exporters, and everyday traders.
Picture this; Dr. Pius Akutah, the Council’s steely Executive Secretary/CEO, didn’t mince words—through his stand-in, Regulatory Services Director Mrs. Margaret Ogbonna, saying “They’ve been begging for this tariff review since January 2025,” she declared, her voice cutting through the tension like a container ship’s horn.
Inflation had ravaged the economy, foreign exchange rates swung wildly, and shipping firms were drowning in costs. The regulator gave the green light: charges are rising, but not without a customer wake-up call—sensitization first, sticker shock second.
Yet the real fireworks came over the ETO electronic call-up system, a digital lifeline run by Truck Transit Park Limited and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). Plans to hike those fees too? Whispers rippled through the room, fueling fears of a cascading crisis for truckers and traders already squeezed dry.
The Shadow of the Blockade Then came the human toll. Mrs. Ogbonna turned her fire on a scourge haunting the ports: police swoops on “cleared” containers. Importers and freight forwarders vented fury over random blocks, alleged bribes, and extortion rackets.
“Petition us and the police—with evidence!” she urged. “Resist any fee without a receipt. Don’t pay a kobo!”But here’s the gut punch: even the Council admits it can’t rein in the cops. “We can’t decree no intercepts on cleared cargo,” Ogbonna confessed. In a nation gripped by insecurity, drugs and arms keep surfacing in supposedly vetted shipments. “Importers, officers—everyone’s culpable,” she said starkly.
National security trumps trade speed, every time.Enter ASP Adebayo Rasheed, Public Relations Officer for the Maritime Police Command at Kam Salem House, Obalende.
His revelation chilled the room: intel-led raids had just uncovered a container brimming with arms and another stuffed with tramadol—both waved through by port agencies. “We won’t trade lives for facilitation,” Rasheed thundered.
ASP Adebayo Rasheed roared at the meeting: “We act on ironclad intel—no trade facilitation will sacrifice national security!
Blocking containers? It’s non-stop.” He owned up to footing demurrage bills during probes.
“Blocking? It’s our duty, non-negotiable.” He pledged to cover demurrage costs during probes, a rare olive branch amid the outrage.Voices from the Front lines Abayomi Duyile, Chairman of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA ) at PTML Chapter , didn’t hold back. “Shipping companies are feeding manifests to the police—pure illegality, against every global standard!” he charged, his words a rallying cry for agents feeling betrayed.
Truck owners echoed the pain. Chief Remi Ogungbemi, President of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), and his General Secretary Sanni Bala Mohammed respectively railed against holding bay nightmares and vanishing container deposits.
Dominic Chukwuemeka, Secretary of the Joint Association of Freight Forwarders, joined the chorus, demanding accountability.A Glimmer of Reform?Amid the chaos, hope flickered.
The Council dangled a transformative Act to purge sector sins: shipping firms liable for deposit dodges and refusal games, forcing compliance. Importers and exporters, take note—a massive stakeholders’ summit looms to decode the upheaval.As the sun dipped over Apapa’s frenetic ports, one truth hung heavy: in Nigeria’s trade lifeline, survival demands vigilance. Will fee hikes stabilize the storm, or ignite a bigger blaze? The anchors are weighing—traders, hold fast.