The Nation Newspaper

Tag: arbitrary charges

  • NPA to sanction shipping lines for arbitrary charges

    The management of Nigerian Ports Authority (‘NPA), has vowed to sanction CMA CGM and any other international shipping line that may introduce arbitrary charges at ports.

    Importers and officials of NPA  who spoke with The Nation yesterday, condemned the $400 congestion surcharge the CMA CGM international shipping line slammed on every container coming to the two ports of Lagos.

    In an email sent to importers and clearing agents at the weekend, the shipping company announced that effective October l5, 2OI8, cargoes from any part of the world on (EMA CGM ships will attract extra “USU 400 / EUR 850 per 20′ Dry and Reefer and USD 400 / EUR 350 per 40′ Dry and Reefer”.

    The shipping line based its action on what it called disruption of its activities based on congestion in the two Lagos ports.

    In the mail sighted by The Nation, the company explained that: “port congestion at Lagos ports, Nigeria, is currently increasing our operational costs and generating severe service disruption for several weeks.”

    The mail added that: “CMA CGM will therefore implement the following Emergency Congestion Surcharge on Lagos import cargo, effective October 15th, 2018 (B/ L date) for FMC trades

    The company also indicates that the surcharge is payable on categories of cargoes including dry and break bulk.

    But the Acting General-Manager Corporate and Strategic Communications of ‘NPA, Mr Isa Suwaid said the new charges cannot stand following the authority’s checks, which revealed that some of the shipping companies have failed to fully comply with the directive to acquire and operate holding bays as they have either failed to utilise their holding bays at all or do not have adequate capacity to handle the volume of containers that they deal with.

    The NPA noted that some of the companies had also been found to import a larger number of containers than empty containers exported thereby making the country a dumping ground for empties.

    “These conducts have contributed to the persistent congestion around the Lagos Port Complex and the Tin Can Island Port, spreading to other parts of the Lagos metropolis where truck drivers with no immediate business at the ports now park their trucks.

    “As from tomorrow (today), the authority will review the level of compliance to its directives and determine further actions in addition to this, the NPA will henceforth embark on a regular compliance check of the operations of holding bays by shipping companies and terminal operators and defaulters will be sanctioned.

    Importers and clearing agents have also called on ‘NPA and the Shippers Council to save them from the Shylock shipping companies operating at the nation’s seaports.

  • Parents protest ‘arbitrary charges’ at Unity School in Benin

    Parents have condemned a recent increase in charges at  the Federal Government Girls College (FGGC) in Benin, the Edo State capital.

    At an emergency meeting attended by over 100 parents, the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) condemned the increase.

    The parents urged the Ministry of Education to explain the alleged arbitrary charges and levies.

    They demanded an explanation for the new boarding fees of N15,000; N1,000 for utilities; and N1,000 for website/result.

    The parents queried the lack of a standard bookshop for parents to buy books, rather than the system where a list of books is not released to parents, who are made to pay for the books; overcrowded classrooms; and other services.

    A communiqué at the end of the meeting, reads: “If the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Ministry of Education has approved the 90 per cent increased in Boarding fees from N8,000 per term to 15,000 per term, where does the rest fees other fees to?

    “The parents resolved to inquire from the Federal Ministry of Education if they have taken over the salary payment of part-time teachers of FGGC Benin and if so, the next step to take to further the advancement of the students.

    The communiqué further states that some of the parents and guardian of these wards earned nothing more than 18,000.00 as their wages but are being made to pay sundry fees by the school authority.

    “Collection of class dues and hostel dues amounting to about two million naira (N2,000,000,00) cash on every term resumption which does not go into the school development projects but rather into private pockets”, it reads

    On the issue of salary of part-time Teachers, the parents further resolved to inquire from the Federal Ministry of Education if they have been taken over the salary payment of part-time teachers of FGGC Benin, so as to enable them know the next step to take to further the advancement of the students.

    “We the parents hereby use this medium to appeal to the federal government of Nigeria through the federal ministry of education to reverse the school fees of about N55,000 to the old fees of N14,000 as most of the parents are civil servants earning below N18,000. Some are widows/widowers and single parents who find it difficult to cope in the face of of the present economic realities”

  • Homeowners sue developer for N100m over arbitrary charges

    Homeowners in Pearl Garden Estate, at Sangotedo Village in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State have filed a N100 million class action suit against a property developer, Oyetubo Jokotade Estate Resource Limited, over alleged incessant harassment and imposition of arbitrary charges.

    The claimants in the suit included Messrs Francis Adesuyi, Felix Obiakor, Martin Ajayi-Obe and Peter Afenotan. They filed the N100 million suit on behalf of themselves and all interested homeowners within the Pearl Garden Estate.

    The claimants filed the suit before a Lagos State High Court sitting in Epe, headed by  Justice Abisoye Bashua.

    Joined  as second defendant is CMB Building Maintenance and Investment Company Limited, in charge of providing estate management services to the claimants.

    In the suit, the claimants are asking the court for a declaration that the incessant harassment, restriction of movement and the imposition of arbitrary charges on them by the defendants as illegal and unlawful.

    They also asked the court to declare that the refusal of the second defendant to allow them install borehole in their homes as illegal and unlawful.

    They had prayed the court for “an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, jointly and severally, their agent, privies and cronies from further demanding or collecting reticulation charges in the sum of N650,000 or any other sums from the claimants contrary to the express terms of the Deeds of Assignment and the Sale and Management Agreement.

    “A Mandatory Order directing the second respondent to refund to the claimants and other residents all monies collected forcefully as part or full payments of the unlawful imposition of the reticulation charges and the unilateral estate charges immediately to the respective claimants and other homeowners.”

    They also asked for an order restraining the defendants from further harassing them and also the sum of N100 million as general damages for the barricade, destruction of property and unlawful denial of the claimants access to the estate on March 13,2013.

    At the hearing last Thursday, counsel to the respondents, Mr R.A. Aladesanmi, said they had filed an application asking the court to stay proceedings on the suit, pending a referral from arbitration proceedings.

    Aladesanmi argued that all purchases of the land entered into an arbitration agreement contained in their individual sale and management agreement, adding that the appropriate place to resolve the dispute was arbitration.

    But counsel to the claimants, Mr Adeyinka Adeyemi, objected to the application, arguing that some of the parties in the suit did not sign the arbitration clause.

    Adeyemi argued that it was ironic that the same defendants asking for arbitration had filed notices of appeal at the Court of Appeal against a previous order of the court, which restrained them from restricting the claimants from the estate.

    Adeyemi further submitted that the said agreement was entered between some of the claimants and the first respondent, adding that the second defendant (BCM) was not a party to the agreement.

    “As at now, there is no appointed body to even conduct the arbitration. They have not taken any step to show that arbitration has commenced. The arbitration is inexistent so the court cannot stay proceedings.

    “The claimants in view of this submitted that  ”It will be gross injustice for the matter to be referred to arbitration that is non-existent and that which has not even commenced as papers are yet to be filed to that effect,”he said.

    After taking the submissions of the parties, Justice Bashua adjourned the matter till May 21, for ruling.

     

     

     

  • Shippers’ Council to stop arbitrary charges

    In spite of the legal tussle among the Nigeria Shippers’ Council (NSC), terminal operators and the shipping firms, the council is determined to stop arbitrary charges to make the ports attractive for business, The Nation has learnt.

    The NSC, sources said, is more determined to close the gaps created by the Federal Government during the concession of the sea- ports to private investors about nine years ago as the economic reguator of the ports.

    The council, it was learnt, has expressed its readiness to pursue the legal action to a logical conclusion  to improve the operational performance of the ports by regulating charges and making the ports more cost effective.

    After the final determination of the case in court, NSC, it was gathered, would ensure that arbitrary charges by shipping firms and terminal operators become a thing of the past in all the seaports.

    A senior official of the Federal Ministry of Transport, who craved anonymity, told this reporter at the weekend, that the management of the council and the officials of the ministry had embarked on the journey to achieve efficiency at the seaports.

    The era of imposing arbitrary charges that have often been described by importers, exporters and clearing agent as uncharitable, the source said, has gone.

    Shippers’Council, it was learnt, is going tough because during the concession, the agreement was that the terminal operators were not allowed to increase charges without observing due process. Part of the agreement, the source said, was to call a stakeholders’meeting at which such charges would be discussed and approved before implementation.

    The terminal operators and shipping companies, the official alleged, introduced new charges in the past without calling a meeting of stakeholders.

    “It was this that prompted the agitation for the appointment of a commercial regulator to oversee the activities of stakeholders, including providers and receivers of shipping services. The freight forwarders had on many occasions gone on strike to protest the action of the service providers in increasing charges and for other deplorable conditions in the system. They had argued that this was so because there was no regulator to check the activities of the terminal operators and shipping companies, most of whom are sister companies of the terminal operators. It was based on this problem that stakeholders applauded the Federal Government when it approved the Shippers’ Council as the Economic Regulator,” the official said.

    Since the appointment of Mr Hazzan Bello as the executive scribe of the council, it was learnt, the council has started regulating the activities of operators, importers, exporters and clearing agents.

    The NSC, it was gathered, has vowed to check excessive charges against importers to reduce prices of imported goods and make the ports competitive and attractive for business.

    Contacted, Bello expressed optimism that the council would deliver on its mandate.

    The council, Bello said, is determined to meet the expectations of Nigerians in terms of port operation, efficiency and port charges.