How government agencies frustrate food export at nation’s airports
Murtala Muhammed International Airport
NCAA defends presence of multiple officials
Despite the Federal Government’s campaign for economic diversification and export promotion, there is growing exporters’ apathy due, among others, to logistic difficulties at exit points.
While the availability of supply is not in doubt, the bureaucratic bottlenecks at the airports and alleged extortions by a legion of government officials have more or less made the export corridors almost a no-go area for local exporters.
In the alternative, The Guardian’s investigation reveals, farmers have taken to smuggling to neighbouring countries, including Benin Republic, Togo, Cameroun and Ghana, where freighting is cheaper and unhindered by officials.
But the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), that is responsible for coordinating affairs at the airports justified the heavy presence of government agencies at the exit points, describing it as “statutory.”
At the cargo terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, for instance, there are representatives of almost all the security agencies in the country, who supervise the import and export of commodities. Among them are the Department of Quarantine Services, the Nigerian Immigration Services, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Customs, Police, Department of State Services (SSS), Anti-Bomb squad, Air Force, Skyways Aviation Handling Company (SAHCOL)/National Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) and Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
A yam farmer in Nasarrawa State, who identified himself as Abdullahi Sanni, said the “road blocks” at the airport and attendant extortions by some officials had over the years remained the bane of the country’s export drive.
Abdullahi said: “Go and find out. A Nigerian yam that manages to get to Canada or United States, because they love our yam so much, ends up being between 60c and $1 more expensive than others coming from places like Ghana. And more often, they turn out to be the same type of yam but in different labels.”
An exporter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Guardian that all the officials must be “settled from table to table” before the produce can be loaded onto an aircraft.
According to him, “We usually start with the Quarantine. They will insist on fumigation and you must pay about N12,000 per pellet. Besides, you still have to bribe and continue bribing from one table to another You must bribe your way through all the agencies if you don’t want to miss your flight.”
President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Segun Musa confirmed the allegation, adding that “under the right procedure, those agencies are not supposed to be there at all, and we have been crying for ages, but government would not listen.”
Besides logistics, there is also the problem of certification of Nigerian farmers to make their produce acceptable overseas.
A U.S.-based Nigerian export promoter, Patricia Obichukwu, noted that Nigeria has over 15,000 registered yam farmers, but none is internationally certified because of non-adherence to the rigid process required by the international market.
Aside from the dearth of infrastructure, there is also the issue of five per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on freight cost. This is an additional barrier which makes the export of Nigeria’s farm produce more expensive than Ghana’s, or Cameroun’s.
For instance, the Kotoka International Airport, Accra, Ghana is now a logistic hub in the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) because of its ease of export processing. It hosts only one government agency at the export shed to check the export of unauthorised goods out of Ghana, but there are absolutely no duties on authorised goods.
The Accra airport alone exports an average of 25,000 MT yearly, which include 95 per cent of fruits and vegetables, and five per cent for general cargo and mining extract. In contrast, the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos, being the busiest in Nigeria, is doing 16,000 MT yearly, Kano 1,000 MT, Port Harcourt 900 MT, and Abuja 400 MT.
Air France KLM Cargo Country Manager Nigeria, Gabriel Lalande, reported that yams exported from Ghana, actually originated from Nigeria, due to the cumbersome export process and high duty cost.
In defence of the multiple agencies, the NCAA explained that for every aerodrome, there are agencies that are required.
The spokesman for the authority, Sam Adurogboye, said that for an international airport, “it is a must to have those multiple agencies because of cargo, personal, drugs, security issues among others that are involved.”
According to him, what is usually done is to hold airport security meeting and the Joint Intelligence Board (JIB), led by the NCAA to address concerns as they are raised.
Get the latest news delivered straight to your inbox every day of the week. Stay informed with the Guardian’s leading coverage of Nigerian and world news, business, technology and sports.
14 Comments
2348145036311.BREAKING NEWS!! CLEAN VEHICLEs F0R SALE
AT AFF0RDABLE PRICES AND IN A G00D W0RKING,
RECRUITMENT FORM IS OUT FOR SALES C0NDITI0N,WE SELL
ALL KIND 0F T0KUNB0 AND BRAND NEW VEHICLES, E.G
T0y0ta matrix= 45O,OOO T0y0ta sienna=6OO,OOO T0y0ta
camry= 25O,OOO, T0y0ta corolla= 4OO,OOO, T0y0ta Avenis=
55O,OOO. T0y0ta highlander=7OO,OOO, T0y0ta
tacoma=85O,OOO, T0y0ta hilux=75O,OOO, T0y0ta
rav4=75O,OOO Prado=9OO,OOO. Venza= 75O,OOO, G0lf4=
30O,OOO T0y0ta Aval0n= 45O,OOO, Lexus350 65O,OOO
Lexus RX330=65O,OOO, T0y0ta Hiace bus=7OO,OOO, H0nda
accord=45O,OOO, INFINITI FX35=95O,OOO, H0nda evil
spirit=6OO,OOO H0ndaCRV= 85O,OOO, H0nda baby
boy=5OO,OOO COaster bus 1.MILL0N, Range
Rover=95O,OOO. Nissan pathfinder=9OO, OOO, Nissan
altima=95OO,OOO Mercedes Benz=5OO,OOO Hummer
Bus=8OO,OOO, AND MANY M0RE, NOTE(All VEHICLES
ENGINES ARE IN G00D C0NDITI0N, AND WE MAKE DELIVERY
AS WELL)F0r m0re inf0rmati0n please call CUSTOM 0n:+2348145036311 IBRAHIM BELLO..
I am interested but put the year of the car so as to make a selection
don’t be a sucker, though they are born every minute…scam alert…..
We have as many ur model starting from 2001 to 2013
BUYCEMENT
DIRECT FROM THE FACTORY FOR 1000NAIRA PER BAG AND 300NAIRA PER BAG,INDIVIDUAL CAN ORDER A MINIMUM OF 100BAG,A TRAILER LOAD OF 600BAG,TRAILER LOAD OF 900BAGS AND ABOVE,CÒNTACT THE SÁLES MÁNAGER MR OARE OJEIKERE ON 070-65-38-35-08 OR AŚSISTANT SÀLES MANÀGER MRS MARY ON 081-32-06-62-17 FOR BOOKING https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/db84bebcfe5ce3361a9905ee06059fb91d46d54bce4526d099e75ae4d06fc0b3.jpg
Are you looking to build a unique and high quality GATE (industrial or residential) with automation, bugalry proofs, car ports, steel tanks, traffic barriers, steel and aluminium railings and steps, ware house, Palisade Fence, Petrol station Canopies, Steel and aluminum garage doors(roll up or sectional. With automation) water stanchion towers etc. We are your one stop center, We promise 100% quality and project satisfaction with professionalism. We pride ourselves in our finishing.
IF YOU CAN DREAM IT WE WILL BUILD IT
Contact us on 08039619808.
gwmlogistic@gmail.com
When all the Government Agencies are represented at the Airport, what else do you expect? You expect their common Host, the back bone of Zoo Country in character and Principle the organizing Agency and the Host is “CORRUPTION” Hence Bribing your way from Table-to-Table is what makes it Fantastically a Leading Figure in Zoo !!! One of them once collected my Winter Jacket for a bribe to let me go my own personal food items.
…….heavy presence is statutory but their actions totally unpatriotic…
This is a very serious matter. Mr President please send the DSS there. Nigeria is losing so much foreign exchange.
Rather than carry out major reforms in major sectors, the man is busy chasing his political enemies under the guise of fighting corruption.
Until the touts who parade themselves most times as airport officials are eroded form our airports, the shenanigan will continue. This isn’t a problem of farming anymore but a problem of exporting what one has suffered to plant and harvest. These are the sectors that should be paid more attention rather than the chasing of shadows…
Intriguing and perhaps interesting but that is hardly news to the official attitude of Nigerian bureaucrats. A check back with the then Leventis’s attempt to grow and export pineapples from Nigeria makes an illuminating reading. The Company did all the paperwork right, got permission to plant the pineapples, grew it to maturity only to be completely frustrated by officialdom. Apparently the Company refused to play ball and that was how Nigeria lost a good chance to have her produce available to the global market. That trend seems not have changed for anything better going by the ‘yam story’ from Nassarawa is anything to go by. The claims to statutoy compliance is just a euse to extrtion by the officials concerned afterall Ghana is making thouands if not millions by this obtructionist policy.
My wife is currently at the airport now (MMIA) to send some items to me. After she had paid the necessary fee with NAHCO, they are requesting for additional N15,000 for the Nigerian Police, Immigration and all the departments before my items will be shipped. I plead with the Nigeria Government to urgently look into this international disgrace and corruption act.
What about the extortion? This is very disgraceful. If you are travelling out of Nigeria with a cup of gari you must pay a bribe to one or two people before you can be allowed to board your plane. Our Airports corruption stinks to high heavens!!!!
We will review and take appropriate action.