The Nation Newspaper

Tag: agents

  • Importers, agents lament

    Importers, agents lament

    Importers and clearing agents at the land borders have been urged to stop abusing the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) to boost revenue and facilitate trade at the borders.

    Speaking with The Nation at Seme border, Managing Director, World Cargo Investment, Mr Adesope Aderoju, said ETLS was put in place by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to facilitate the integration of trade and commerce among citizens of the member states.

    Aderoju said the scheme was set up to eliminate barriers and promote free trade in the sub-region.

    ETLS, he said, exempts goods manufactured in member states of ECOWAS to move freely, and without the payment of import/export duties, within the region.

    “The scheme, has been subjected to unbridled abuse, especially by some unscrupulous importers and Asian businessmen. These unscrupulous people bring in goods from China and other Asian countries, ship them into the sub-region and land such goods in ports of neighbouring countries, such as Benin Republic, Ivory Coast, Ghana and even lately Liberia. They subsequently change the labels on these goods and smuggle them through the land borders into the country.”

    A source said the implications of this act are grave. Apart from the loss of huge government revenue, goods that find their way into the market in this manner gain unfair competitive price advantage over locally made products.

     

    Apart from the abuse of the ETLS, which is mostly perpetrated through the land borders, many importers also flagrantly abuse the country’s import policy. They bring in different goods, including those that are banned by the government through the seaports.

     

  • ‘Social clubs agents of change’

    Social clubs have been described as agents of change in the society. They are not formed for dining and wining or to encourage any anti-social behaviour.

    These were the views of the chairman of Fibre Optics Concept and Baylag Communication, Aare Mojibayo Olagunju who has just been elected as the Governor-General of High Society Club of Nigeria.

    According to him, members of social clubs are men of integrity and credible characters who are in various professional, academic and business callings who use the opportunity of their clubs to meet and rub minds with others on socio-economic and political issues.

    On what his group stands for, he said High Society Club is a social group that performs charitable functions. “It is non-political and non-profit making. Members meet regularly to unwind and discuss important issues as they relate to individuals and the society,”he said. The club was founded in 1962 and its membership cuts across ethnic and religious frontiers. The headquarters is located in Somolu, Lagos.

    On his dream for the group, Olagunju said he would bring back the glory of good old days. Speaking further he said, “My major priority is to rehabilitate the physical structures and make them attractive and comfortable for prospective and existing members. My regime will also focus on membership drive, we want to bring back the glory of the club which made prominent musicians like the legendary Tunde Nightgale of blessed memory, King Sunny Ade and Chief Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi visited the place regularly. The club is for all Nigerians irrespective of religious leanings, it is open to academics, professionals and others, young or old who are in lawful business.

    He mentioned limited fund as a major challenge, saying members would be urged to pay up their dues to carry out structural rehabilitation. For instance, we need a standard room for indoor games and other recreational activities,the new chairman added.

    Olagunju appealed for support, saying members watchword should be cooperation, commitment and focus. He added: “We have to tap all available resources to keep our boat floating, steady and faster. All of is should be committed to revenue drive because we need fund for accelerated development”.

  • Royal Exchange to hire 2,000 agents

    Royal Exchange to hire 2,000 agents

    Royal Exchange Insurance Group is set to boost its operations with the services of 2,000 agents to sell its various products.

    Its Group Executive Director, Market and Sale, Auwalu Muktari, who made this known at its Meet the chief executive officers’ forum in Lagos, said the agents would be deployed to the firm’s outlets across the nation, adding that the company has developed a robust Information and Technology platform to support the agents.

    The firm’s Managing Director, Olutayo Borokini, said most of the products to be sold by the agents have been developed into scratch cards, adding that the firm hopes to sell all its products through scratch cards in small values which would be tailored towards specific needs.

    He said: “Those at the grassroots cannot be reached through the conventional brokers system. They are reached through agency networks which we are developing in- house. Also, we are deploying the use of information technology to achieve this.

    “We are putting some of these products on our website and sell them through the use of scratch cards through agents. The intension is that all our products will be sold through scratch cards in small values which would be tailored towards their specific needs.

    “The way the scratch card works is that if a young man has just bought a car, and wants to insure it, he would be approached by an agent who would educate him on the need for insurance. If the car owner agrees to insure the car, he would be given a scratch card. With the card, once he pays a certain amount of money, he would be able to access our web site, fill the proposal form on-line, and he would then get a cover automatically. The process can be done with all smart phones and gadgets. “

    He explained that an individual can still insure the content of his/her house through the cards, adding that certain products have been classified for certain prices. He said an individual can get a householder policy for one million value.

    “At the rate of one per cent, which would cost N10,000, an individual can get a cover which can be done through the scratch card by just buying a card for N10,000, key the pin on it on our customised website, and fill the proposal form and get the cover automatically, after due confirmation. The process assists the insured in the claims collection and ensures that delays are eliminated,” Borokini said.

     

     

     

  • Should customs or agents handle destination inspection?

    The Nigeria Customs Service was preparing to take over destination inspection (DI) at the ports, airports and border ports from destination inspection agents (DIAS), following the expiration of their contracts on December 31, last year, when the government renewed the pact on January 1. The extension of the contracts has generated a controversy over who should handle such a sensitive assignment, OLUWAKEMI DAUDA writes.

     

    Seven years ago, the Federal Government awarded the contract for the re- introduction of Destination Inspection (DI).

    Three companies, SGS, Global Scan Systems Limited and Cotecna Destination Inspection Limited were named as service providers.

    They were contracted to inspect imports to determine the duty payable and to prevent the entry of unwholesome and prohibited goods.

    The contract was in three parts- Capacity for Customs, Risk Management System and Scanning, operations. The service providers functions were divided into three: port/point of arrival and entry into Nigeria. SGS zone covers the Port Harcourt main port and airport, Onne Port, Idiroko border post, and the Ilorin International Airport.

    Global Scan covers Calabar Port, Warri, Lagos Airport, and Service Border Area; Cotecna covers the Apapa Port, Tincan Island Port, Abuja Airport, Kano Airport, and the Jibiya and Banki border posts.

     

    Terms of engagement

    The service providers were contracted to plug revenue leakages and ensure trade facilitation.

    They were also expected to build, equip, train and transfer the technology and expertise to the Customs.

    The aim of the policy was primarily to strengthen the capacity of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) by replacing pre-shipment inspection (PSI) in exporting countries with inspection on arrival in Nigeria using the latest technology tools.

    This objective was envisioned to take care of irregularities in the maritime business.

    Other reasons for the destination inspection include the facilitation of trade through risk management and the use of non-intrusive inspection (x-ray scanning) of selected imports prior to Customs clearances thereby minimising the need for physical examination and enhance regulatory compliance and collection of import duties/taxes.

    Based on the terms of agreement, the service providers are expected to design, implement, operate and maintain a computerised Risk Management System.

    The scanning service entails the provision, installation, management and maintenance of advanced scanning technology. Also the contract stipulates that the service providers should install mobile and fixed scanners at designated seaports, airports and border posts.

    On December 31, last year, the contracts expired but it was renewed by the government on January 1.

    The six months’ extension generated a controversy which is yet to die down.

    The question stakeholders are asking is why the government extended the contract.

     

    Reasons for contract

    extension

    Sources at the Ministry of Finance told The Nation that the government extended the contract to avoid congestion at the ports.

    The source also traced the extension to the lack of preparedness by the customs for the job, adding that the government was not initially against the customs plan to take over from the service providers on December 31, last year, but that there was a change of position, when it realised that the Customs management was planning to start total physical examination of goods at the ports.

    He said the customs plan is against the electronic examination being done by the service providers using scanners, which he said,would have led to a delay in goods delivery at the ports.

    The source alleged that it would have led to more corruption at the ports as some Customs officials would have been left with the responsibility of value determination as against the current system where the service providers determine the value of the goods being declared by the importers.

    The source said the Ministry of Finance, had on realising the danger of physical examination, drew the attention of the Presidency, which approved the extension of the service providers’ contracts.

    The President of the National Council of Managing Directors of Customs Agents (NCMDCA), Mr Lucky Amiwero, told The Nation that the country must learn from Ghana’s experience as far as DI is concerned. He said the issue of scanning equipment and training should be addressed first, followed by a transition period during which the Customs can take over.

    Some importers said physical examination was an avenue through which Customs rip off importers, by jacking up duties on some items and compelling them to offer settlement if they hope to get lower debit notes (DNs) on such goods.

    They claimed that it did not matter that such items had been correctly valued at the country of export, adding that on arrival in Nigeria, some Customs men will look for ways of extorting the importers through frivolous DNs.

     

    Introduction of PAAR against RAR by Customs

    Sources accused Customs of hurriedly sending a backdated letter to stakeholders, informing them of the new scheme to be known as Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR), about 10 days to the expiration of the service providers contracts.

    The introduction of PAAR by Customs, the sources said, was seen by the Presidency as compounding the problem at the ports. Customs, the sources said, should have waited after it took over before introducing PAAR.

    The letter sent by Customs to stakeholders on the new scheme reads: “The PAAR application system is a dynamic , real time and consistent Risk Management platform utilised by NCS and partner regulatory agencies, including Commercial Banks for classification, Valuation, Price Verification and added value services in a modernised Risk Management environment.”

    Sources said the government doubted the success of the PAAR scheme as it seems to have been done in a hurry.

    President Jonathan, the source said, extended the contracts to avert the looming crisis at the ports.

    But the President, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANCLA), Prince Olayiwola Shittu, said the DIs have failed to ensure that the right machines are provided for scanning cargoes, such that actual contents/images are generated without recourse to physical examination.

    This, he said, has always led to physical examination of about 75 per cent of the cargoes thereby resulting in delays.

    He said the Customs had since found that RAR was not sacrosanct and proposed to replace it with Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR).

     

    Problems of RAR

    Shittu said ANCLA supported PAAR because RAR is a mere importer’s document “to inform the Customs that this is the minimum amount you can pay.”

    He said although Customs has no right to reduce the duty payable under RAR, it has the right to review it upward and that has been giving us problem because there is evidence to show that importers have outsmarted them, by influencing RAR. A lot of RARs end up with additional debit note being issued on them.

    “So, if the RAR is just advisory, and Customs will still perform their function, why should we still continue issuing the RAR and, at the same time, paying the service providers one per cent fee for service that is not relevant again? That is our grouse,” he said.

    “It would be of interest to Customs licensed agents that they have RAR in another form because what we are talking about is risk management system, but this time, the document would be issued by Customs under the proposed PAAR and that would save us a lot of troubles.

    “What customs is doing under RAR is check and balance. Even when the cargo is released, you see officers from the Customs Intelligent Unit (CIU), the valuation and examination units, coming forward to say the amount you paid was not correct. But with the introduction of PAAR, they are trying to turn it to a one-stop-shop where PAAR will be the final documentation of assessment of your cargo by Customs to pay your duty. This is in line with the single window and one-stop-shop, which the Minister of Transport had worked on.

    “ This is to allow importers to pay shipping companies and terminal operators once and carry their cargoes. PAAR will save us a lot of problems and it will enable us to achieve the 48-hour cargo clearance policy,” he added.

    He said PAAR would use pre-classification and prevaluation mechanisms to facilitate the importation of goods and enhance Customs efficiency.

     

    Contract sum

    The amount involved in the contract is one of the major issues why all eyes are set on the job of the service providers. For instance, the House of Representatives directed its Committee on Customs and Excise to probe the extension of the N275billion contracts. Under the deal, the DIs, House sources said, would get N21 billion, irrespective of the quality of work done.

    Sources said the House of Reps was not happy that the country’s revenue potential is not being realised because the DIs are not paying the correct taxes. Over $1 billion was alleged to have been lost. The probe, source said, was initiated by the House to prevent the continued loss of revenue.

     

    House Committee’s report

    The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Customs and Excise, Sabo Nakudu, said in another six months, officers of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) should be able to take over the job of the service providers.

    He made the statement during an oversight function visit to the two service providers.

    He said Cotecna and Global Scansystems have done well in training Customs officers to take over the Destination Inspection Scheme..

    Some of their recommendations include: “That the NCS should ensure that its officers trained by the various service providers are attached to the service providers in the interim to acquire more knowledge and not post them out to areas irrelevant to the training already received.”

    The report also recommended that the service providers Webb Fontaine, COTECNA, SGS and Global Scan, should take steps to harmonise their different risk assesment platforms into a single window for the use of the NCS.

    The committee recommended: “A central data management system that will aid in harmonisation and integration of all data from relevant agencies for effective monitoring should be immediately established, and that pending the complete takeover of destination inspection services by the Nigeria Customs Service, an implementable transition timetable should be put in place to ensure orderly transition to the Nigeria Customs Service,” warning that “this transition should not extend beyond the end of 2013.”

    The report added: “The service providers should ensure that there is no skills gap in the Nigeria Custom Service within the transition period.”

     

    World Bank team meets

    stakeholders

    During a closed door meeting between the World Bank team led by Mr Ramesh Silver and leaders of freight forwarding associations, there were serious issues raised by the two groups.

    Sources at the meeting said while some members of the World Bank team expressed doubt over the capacity of the Customs to take over from the DIAs in June, the leader of the agents said that the Customs can do so.

    At the end of the meeting Silver said: “So far, it looks as if they (Customs) are well-prepared, but we still have to have some more detailed discussion, to understand how ready they are.

     

    ANLCA’s threat

    Sources said last week that ANLCA has started mobilising its members against the extension of the service providers’ contracts, adding that the association’s leadership has directed its members at the seaports and borders to withdraw their services, if the Federal Government extends the firms’ contracts beyond June.

     

    Sabotage

    The Secretary-General of NAGAFF, Mr Increase Uche, said there is no question that the Customs is ready to take-over the DI job.

    “There is no doubt that there are clear signs of element of sabotage in the whole essence of transfer to the Customs. Customs is prepared to take the responsibility and they have the support of the critical stakeholders to do so,” he said.

    But some of the service providers, who spoke with The Nation under the condition of anonymity, denied the sabotage allegation.

    They claimed that if they are saboteurs, they would not have sent officers and men of Customs Service on training locally and abroad in areas of analysis, scanner operations and maintenance, risk profiling.

    “We have always said we are ready for collaboration with the Federal Government and the Customs to ensure that the laudable project of Destination Inspection is executed and handed over to the Customs when the government desires.

    “Most of the Customs officers trained by us have won the Comptroller-General’s award as the Best Scanning Officers. Who is then alleging that we are sabotaging the efforts of Customs to take over?” the officer asked.

    To prove that Customs to do the job, he said the service providers have to deployed 22 mobile and fixed scanning equipment, trained 6,788 customs officers, and provided an ICT network backbone to enable customs to deliver e-customs services to the public.

    He said following these, Customs to take-over effectively had engaged experts on ICT technology to develop an indigenous PAAR with capability to over-come the inefficiencies of the previous destination inspection system.

     

    How prepared is Customs

    Following the extension of the contract, Comptroller-General of Customs,Alhaji Dikko Abudullahi, said a new crop of Customs officers are being trained to take over DI scheme in June.

    Dikko spoke when the World Bank officials visited the customs headquarters to ascertain its level of preparedness to take over the destination inspection from service providers.

    He said most of the newly recruited staff had been trained in various areas of specialisation to ensure effective management of the service.

  • Group blames industry woes on fake agents

    The Association of Registered Insurance Agents of Nigeria (ARIAN) has ascribed the continual downfall and low level of insurance culture in Nigeria to the presence of unregistered agents employed by insurance companies.

    The Group’s National President, Kingsley Obuvie, during a media chat in Lagos, said insurance operators are yet to see how agency can help the industry develop and grow to the level of international standards.

    He stated that though there are about 34,000 insurance agents in the country, only about 5,000 are licensed. He explained: “The enormous problem facing insurance in Nigeria is mainly because of the unregistered agents in the market. We have many agents who are not trained, but operating in the market selling insurance. If the public can ask for a broker’s licence before any deal is struck, then the public should always ask for an agent’s licence before they do any business with them.

    “We have approached National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) on this and it will be in the best interest of the industry if NAICOM can include it in the rule that before any individual or company deal with any person, not minding which company is involved, he or she should ask for the agent’s licence before any transaction.The truth of the matter is that the challenges we are having in the industry today is because of these unregistered agents,” he said.

    The ARIAN chief mentioned that insurance outfits in Nigeria are doing well but they lack manpower, adding that the industry itself has realised that agency is needed to help boost insurance success.

    He further said Nigerians are yet to see agency as a career business and a lot of people don’t want to come into it because it is strictly on commission basis. “Agents are only living on commission earned from the field and some of the products available are not customer friendly.

    “Looking at the economy, an average Nigerian does not see insurance as a priority, if not that motor insurance is made compulsory, there wouldn’t have been anyone buying insurance in the country,” he stated.

    “Though some companies have actually seen agency as a way to grow their business, they have embraced it and given it some level of support. But insurance companies in the country are yet to see the core value of licensed insurance agents,” the ARIAN he said.

    Obuvie lamented that the industry itself has not given agency the recognition it deserves, yet “brokers are everywhere because the industry has really given them the support which makes it easier for them to gain more ground,” he said.

    He, therefore, called on the industry to embrace the agency and give it necessary support to reach out to every Nigerian.

     

     

  • Over 13,000 agents not registered, says NAICOM

    About 70 per cent of insurance companies do not register their agents with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), The Nation has learnt.

    Investigation revealed that out of about 15,000 agents working for insurance firms, only 1,900 are registered. It was learnt that the agents were not registered because the insurance companies want to avert expenses charged by NAICOM on agents.

    A consultant with the National Insurance Commission, Yemi Soladoye, said only 30 per cent of insurance companies have registered their sales agents. He noted that the operators do so because they want their agents to perform before they can start paying huge fees on them. He urged insurers and brokers to train agents to deepen insurance penetration.

    He said: “The fact is that even the brokers need agents. I have been to a country where a broker has 3,000 agents. In Kenya, there is a bankassuarnce agreement between two brokers and two banks. What the brokers did was to appoint agents that sell insurance to customers of the bank. Agents can only sell a particular product of a particular underwriter, but a broker sells products of all underwriters.”

    Observers said agents are crucial link between the public and the insurer. Therefore, if they are well- trained, they could effectively play the role of an efficient intermediary between the insurer and insured in insurance transactions.

    He said unlike the insurance broker who is the agent of the insured, the insurance agent is the agent of the insurer who appoints him.

  • Obi sacks revenue agents

    •Orders students to present tax slip of parents 

    Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, has sacked revenue agents and contractors in all the markets in the 177 communities of the state.

    He also ordered the arrest of anybody seen collecting revenue from any market in the state for onward prosecution.

    Obi accused the agents of being fraudulent, claiming they have deprived the government billions every year. The Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mr. Robert Okonkwo, who announced the sack, said the move was to eliminate the activities of revenue agents who collected much money but declared little or nothing to government.

    Okonkwo said “There is no reason to engage revenue agents or contractors any longer, they short changed government and diverted much money”.

    The state also ordered pupils and students to present the tax slip of their parents or guardians or risk missing this terms examination in December.

    Okonkwo said market executives will now be used to collect tolls from traders, who are to pay an annual fee of N6, 000.

     

     

     

     

  • Agents bicker over commissions, fees

    Agents bicker over commissions, fees

    A CRISIS is brewing between underwriters and insurance intermediaries over commissions and fees.

    The Nation gathered that they are quarelling over what should be their ‘’appropriate” commissions and fees.

    Investigation revealed that the intermediaries – brokers, loss adjusters, agents and risk surveyors – are not happy with their remuneration. It was also gathered that most of the intermediaries’ entitlements are not paid by underwriters.

    It was learnt that the brokers early this year took their complaints on group life commissions to the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), demanding an increase.

    NAICOM asked them to agree on a fixed rate and get back to it.

    The Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) and Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) were mandated to use a single letter-head to inform NAICOM on the agreed rate.

    It was learnt that the parties’ efforts were unproductive as NIA shunned the meetings. The development compelled NAICOM to peg the commission at eight per cent and mandated the operators to comply.But this is not go down well with brokers.

    President, Risk Surveyors Association of Nigeria (RISAN), Jacob Adeosun, called for a resolution, adding that the inappropriate remuneration of surveyors would lead to exit of experienced practitioners from the industry.

    He noted that survey fees are not paid promptly by underwriters, stressing that the arrears of unpaid fees was capable of affecting the efficiency of surveyors’ service delivery.

    Chairman,Technical Committee of the NCRIB on Market Development and Restructuring Initiatives (MDRI), Siyan Oyebadejo, said poor remuneration of agents by underwriters is threatening the MDRI, a project which is meant to drive insurance penetration.

    He noted that unless something drastic was done, the initiative would fail to meet the industry’s expectations, adding that the committee had recommended to NAICOM, the need to increase the remuneration paid to agents who are the drivers of the initiative.

    He said it was worrisome that graduates engaged as agents were paid pittance, an amount, which could not move them around the market and win businesses, noting that the initiative would only succeed if the agents were well motivated.

  • Ezekwesili, Omeri: youths must be change agents

    Ezekwesili, Omeri: youths must be change agents

    •NOA inaugurates campaign at UNICAL

    The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has inaugurated its “Do the Right Thing: Campus Focus” initiative at the University of Calabar (UNICAL).

    Speakers at the event included former World Bank Vice-President Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili; the Managing Director of The Guardian, Mr. Emeka Eluem-Izeze; NOA Director-General Mike Omeri; Minister of Culture and Tourism Edem Duke and a Professor of Political Strategy, Femi Odekunle.

    Others are Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba; a Professor of Law at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Abubakar Ladan; Senior Special Assistant to the President on Students’ Matters Jude Imagwe and rights activist Ene Ede.

    Omeri regretted that wrong values have been entrenched in tertiary institutions.

    He said the “Do the Right Thing” campaign in campuses was conceived to facilitate a return the core values of the nation.

    Omeri said the campaign would be championed by UNICAL’s Department of Theatre and Media Studies.

    Duke called for a revival of societal values. He described students as the building blocks of the nation’s future, who cannot afford to fail in the responsibility of championing national transformation.

    Duke said: “You must commit yourselves to the values that every great nation holds dear, so that effortlessly, this nation will transform to the nation of our dreams.”

    UNICAL Vice-Chancellor Prof. James Epoke urged students to be good examples and campaign against dishonesty, violence and laziness among youths.

    Dr. Ezekwesili urged students to tailor their skills and educational attainments towards national transformation, rather than job acquisition.

    She described corruption as the bane of national transformation in most countries.

    Mrs. Ezekwesili said it is a symptom of poor governance, which reduces the capacity of a people to attain their full potentials.

    She urged youths to fight the malaise and reposition the nation’s future. Mrs. Ezekwesili encouraged youths to take up the challenge of refocusing the economy from being crude oil-based to human capital-based to save the economy from collapse.

  • Court orders agent’s property sold

    Justice Peter Obiora of an Onitsha High Court in Anambra State has ordered the sale of the propetry of a clearing agent, Paschal Nwabufo.

    This followed a Supreme Court judgment, which awarded N26.7million to an Onitsha importer, Gabriel Nwolisah, after Nwabufo failed to clear his goods at the Port Harcourt Wharf between 1984 and 1986.

    An Onitsha Deputy Sheriff has fixed November 7 for the sale by public auction of the landed property belonging to Nwabufo. The proceeds would be used to settle the debt he owed Nwolisah.

    Granting a motion to that effect, after hearing from Nwolisah’s counsel Obi Ulasi (SAN), Justice Peter Obiora ordered that Nwabufo’s property at No. 114 Cameroon Road, Aba, Abia State and his family house and land at Amezi village, Awkuzu in Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State be sold and the proceeds be used to pay the judgment sum.

    The Supreme Court had, on June 24, last year, set aside some parts of the judgments of both an Onitsha High Court and the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu, which refused to grant the prayers of Nwolisah to compel Nwabufo to pay him the money owed him, including $172,200, which he spent on 20-feet container bearing 730 cartons of Neoprene Glue Mastic 66 in August 1983.

    Nwolisah, trading under the name of G. B. VITTALIS CO. (NIG.), said as soon as the imported goods arrived Port Harcourt Wharf in July 1984, he engaged the services of Nwabufo, a clearing agent, operating under the name of Paskodi Maritime Agencies, to procure import licence, clear the goods and deliver it to him, but Nwabufo could not do so.

    In 1986, the Nigeria Ports Authority allegedly sold the goods as overtime cargo.

    He, therefore, demanded from Nwabufo, N57,000 as special damages being money he paid to Nwabufo for the clearing contract which failed, $172,200 as the cost of the imported goods and a 25 per cent interest from April 1986 till the judgment date.

    Justice O. O. Adekeye of the Supreme Court further held that Nwolisah’s prayers were in order and therefore ordered that Nwabufo should refund him all the above mentioned funds.

    In addition, the Supreme Court also ordered Nwabufo to pay Nwolisah extra N50,000 as interest from 1986 till the date of the judgment.