PSTT To Engage LASG On Digitalisation Of Wharf Landing Fees Collection

Apparently determined to free the corridors linking the seaports, the Port Standing Task Team (PSTT) on Friday , indicated interest to engage the Lagos State Honourable Commissioner of Finance,  on the best way out of Wharf Landing Fees collection.

The PSTT reaffirmed commitment towards ensuring smooth flow of cargoes along  the ports corridor and the eradicatiin of any form of barrier militating against free movement of consignments.

Coordinator General PSTT, Mr. Moses Fadipe in an exclusive chat with DAILY FOCUS NIGERIA , maintained that the team had numerous occasions arrested officials from the Wharf Landing Fees Authority who are bent on collecting the levies along the road.

Fadipe said PSTT is not opposed to the levy collection but noted that digitalisation of the levy would serve better purposes which in turn will be apt for the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) as stipulated by the federal government through the office of the Vice President.

He lamented that the modus operandi to the levy collection by officials of the Wharf Landing Fees Authority along the corridor was appalling,  hence the need to engage the state government through the office of the Commissioner of Finance.

“We are going to meet with the Commissioner of Finance in Lagos State on this matter in the next few weeks, we are already engaging them, but we are going tmeet with them formally on this issue of Wharf Landing Fees collection.

“And in that meeting a lot of suggestions will come out on the best way towards collecting the fees because this is an era of digitalisation and I know that when it come to revenue collection in Nigeria, Lagos State was the first state that stated revenue collection digitally in Nigeria. So of they can succeed in that area then collection of Wharf Landing Fees won’t be an issue for them”.

“And that is why we want to meet with them in a week or two from now to see how we can harmonise things .”

Fadipe who also doubles as a deputy director, Nigerian Shippers’Council disclosed further that plans are also afoot to clear shanties and checkpoints where levies and tolls are collected along Tin Can Island Port corridor noting that the PSTT will continue to carry out its mandates in the second phase of “Operation Free The Port Corridor”.

Recounting his experience with the operatives of the  Wharf Landing Fees Authority, were arrested along the Apapa Port corridor over alleged impediment to traffic, he said  some state and non state actors were also cleared out of the corridor and after the arrest, they were handed over to operatives of Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC)

Fadipe disclosed that operatives of the ICPC in collaboration with Depahave clampdown on the Wharf Landing Fees Authority officials for

He further suggested that the Authority to emulate the way blue chips companies collect revenue and how best to engage freight forwarding and trucker associations .

Chairman, Wharf Landing Fees Authority, Mr. Gboyega Salvador Adebayo recently, frowned at the PSTT harassment on officials of the Authority , noting that the task team was frustrating revenue collection of the government.

Adebayo lamented that officials of the Authority are duly engaged by the government adding that the establishment of Wharf Landing Fees was duly establishment by federal and state laws.

He reiterated that efforts are ongoing to harmonise the fee collection digitally ,  pointing out that the state government was working round the clock to perfect the digitalisation process in collaboration with the Nigerian Ports Authority.