MARITIME POLICE : Freight Forwarders Petition IGP Over  Cargoes Detention   At Lagos Seàports

Freight forwarders operating in the maritime industry have petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun over alleged arrest and detention of containers in and around the Lagos Seàports by operatives from the Maritime Police Command.

According to a statement made available to newsmen in Lagos on Tuesday, by Ibrahim Tanko, National Coordinator, 100% Compliance team of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders  (NAGAFF), expressed worries over the maritime Police activities even as he stated that operatives of the police force are creating bottlenecks for smooth clearance of cargoes.

Tanko said “These activities caused undue delays, demurrages, double payment to the shipping companies and terminal operators thereby occasioning heavy financial burden and extreme hardship to our teeming members.

Tanko who is an elected member of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria(CRFFN), recalled that during the regime of the immediate past Inspector General of Police, the Maritime Police inhibit the fast clearance of containers by sending letters (alerts) to shipping companies and terminals allegedly asking them not to release containers that usually have undergone the statutory processes by the Nigerian Customs services and other government approved agencies in the ports.

According to him, these activities caused undue delays, demurrages, double payment to the shipping companies and terminal operators thereby occasioning heavy financial burden and extreme hardship to our teeming members.

He disclosed that the maritime police usually demands documents that have nothing whatsoever to do with their mandate; such documents as the bill of lading, form M, original customs license, Original certificate of incorporation, Pre arrival assessment report (PAAR), etc as if they are checking vehicle particulars.

The freight agent pointed out that  most astonishing is the fact that all these documents are in the customs system, noting that they do these activities in connivance with shipping companies obtaining shipping manifests with which they carry out the complained blockages.

“We are sadly impelled to petition your good office regarding the activities of  your officers and men operating in and around the Lagos ports under the Maritime Police.

“Consequently, these activities of the Maritime Police caused a lot of challenges, undue delay, and often hindered trade facilitation and revenue drive of the federal government. These made us to then engage the shipping and terminal operators, threatened industrial action.

“They were then prevailed upon not to accept letters from maritime police blocking containers. We then, all agreed that they should report their observationsif any, to the Nigerian Shippers Council, the body saddled with the responsibility of regulating the activities of shipping companies in Nigeria.

He affirmed :”This was what stopped the harassment, incessant arrest and huge financial burden on our members. The tension then died down. However, since the advent of the new administration, the officers and men of the Maritime Police have not only resumed these activities but also even more daring. They do not only block the release of containers from shipping companies, they also arrest and detain containers on the roads, and even allegedly go into fisticuffs with the officers of the Federal operations Unit of the Nigerian Customs service.

Tanko further queried If to know if the maritime police is a revenue generating agency of the government, even as he assumed there are alleged infractions on the side of freight agents thus, the most appropriate thing to do is for the attention of the designated port police to be drawn, or other government agencies.

“If we may recall sir, the customs have often than not arrested number of containers from different ports laden with guns and ammunition.

” They have also arrested containers fraught with hard drugs in joint operations with the NDLEA; these are seen by all in the media and seldom seizures are made. This shows that the Nigerian Customs and other government approved agencies are working in harmony. But we have not heard or witnessed any of the above mentioned arrests made by the maritime Police.

“We have the Nigerian police in the port headed by a commissioner of Police, yet the Maritime Police go about frustrating the ease of doing business in the ports by arresting containers belonging to our members on the roads, directing them to their offices where allegedly huge sums of money are extorted from them.

The National Coordinator100% Compliance Team of NAGAFF , stated that training and sensitizing of members have been ongoing  for the last three years, adding that “To do the right thing, making sure they comply with extant laws, admonishing them to eschew sharp practices.

“We are taken aback that our members who endeavor to do the right things are being punished with unnecessary interference, intimidation and needless arrest and detention.

“We wish to know if with the state of the nation occasioned by the economic downturn, the removal of fuel subsidy, the triple increase of customs duties, and the frustration of the shipping companies and terminal operators vide outrageous demurrage charges, the Maritime Police still goes about compounding the numerous challenges we encounter in the ports.

“Most freight forwarders have been taken out of business while some others have died in health related challenges as a result of these excruciating and asphyxiating activities of the maritime police. Not even the new administrations motto of RENEWED HOPE makes any impression on officers and men of the maritime police .

“We therefore, respectfully urge you sir, to call the Maritime Police to order and save the ports from an imminent restiveness that may paralyze business activities and further cause economic loss to government revenue. We may have no option than to go on protest which may result in a possible shutdown of the seaports,”Tanko further queried.