The Nation Newspaper

Tag: imported

  • ‘N116.3b palm oil imported in 2017’

    About 450,000 tonnes of palm oil, worth N116.3 billion were imported last year.

    Disturbed by this figure,  the Senate has urged the Federal Government to outrightly ban palm oil importation.

    The Upper Chamber’s decision followed a unanimous adoption of a motion titled: “Urgent Need to Halt the Importation of Palm Oil and its Allied Products to Protect Palm Oil Industry in Nigeria.’’

    The Senate, at its plenary, decried the importation of palm produce  and expressed concerns that palm kernel and allied palm products importation is a threat to government’s campaign for the diversification of the economy through increased agricultural production and exports.

    Nigeria was the world leading producer of palm oil at independence, but unfortunately, Indonesia and Malaysia have overtaken the country and it is now importing palm oil.

    The Senate argued that Malaysia, which is widely believed to have collected its first seedlings from Nigeria some decades ago, now exports palm oil products to Nigeria. They urged the government to reverse the trend through investments in the local palm industry and to protect local producers from unnecessary imports.

    Acknowledging that Nigeria is endowed with land and manpower to boost palm oil production, the Senate said focus should be directed at returning to pre-independence status in palm oil production.

    “We have no business importing palm kernel or any oil palm product from any country. At independence, agriculture was the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy. More than 70 per cent of the population was engaged in agriculture.

    “Apart from various food crops produced in the country, Nigeria was a major producer of palm oil/kernel, cocoa, groundnut and rubber.

    “But following the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantity in the 70s, agriculture was neglected,” the Senate regretted.

    Senator Theodore Orji  said there was need to establish a special fund to encourage local production of palm oil in the country.

    He expressed concern that many palm oil production plants in the country were moribund.

    According to him, palm oil used to be a major income earner for the country, but unfortunately many palm trees are dead.

  • MAN decries high duties on imported finished products

    MAN decries high duties on imported finished products

    •Osinbajo inaugurates $15m firm 

    The Manufacturers of Nigeria (MAN) has decried the high duty rates on imported finished products.

    The association added that it is capable of discouraging indigenous investors from investing in the country.

    MAN President Dr Frank Jacobs, who spoke in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital on the sideline of the commissioning of Syringes and Needles Complex, put culmuinative duties on imported finished products to the country at 30 per cent.

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo commissioned the $15 million syringe and needle production plant owned by HMA Medical Limited.

    The company has an annual installed capacity of 200 million syringes and 350 needles.

    Dr Jacobs added that in some countries, duties on imported finished products are just five percent.

    “This does not encourage indigenous investors; I urge government to reduce the rates. A reduction in import duty rates will encourage more people to delve into manufacturing thus creating more jobs.

    “The environment should be more welcoming and conducive for many other investors to venture into syringes and needles.

    “Highly patriotic people venture into manufactured in Nigeria. It takes large heartedness and risk taking to vent into manufacturing in Nigeria,” he said.

    He hailed Federal Government’s ease of doing business policy, adding that there has been a remarkable changes.

    Prof Osinbajo said the Federal Government would continue to create an enabling environment for indigenous industries and manufactures to thrive and creates jobs even as he commended the floating of the plant.

    The company chair, Ayodele Shittu said the company intends to expand the plant production capacity from the current 200 syringes and 350 per annum to 500 and 700 million respectively in the next three years.

    He said: “We are also expanding into construction of a state of the art intravenous infusion plant ,which we project to commission in the next 24 months .HMA Medical Limited will  at the end of this expansion provide more than 1000 jobs to our teeming youths,’’ he said

    Shittu said the finished products from the plant would also be exported to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)  and African Union (AU) countries, which he said would save and earn Nigeria scarce forex.

  • Manufacturers disagree with LCCI over imported vehicles’ prices

    Manufacturers disagree with LCCI over imported vehicles’ prices

    The Nigerian Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) also known as automotive policy) has been described as the best thing to happen to the vehicle manufacturing sector since the early auto assembly plants were set up decades ago.

    Nigerian Automotive Manufacturers Association (NAMA) said this while reacting to the claim by Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Director General Mr. Muda Yusuf, that the increase in prices of imported vehicles should be blamed on the auto policy.

    A statement by NAMA Executive Director Remi Olaofe, explained that NAIDP was introduced to reawaken the moribund assembly plants that were once operating at high capacity.

    This, he said, is to encourage major vehicle importers to attract their (foreign) Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to produce same in Nigeria.

    Olaofe argued that a simple market survey would confirm that as a direct consequence of the NAIDP, the prices of locally assembled vehicles are far lower than claimed by the LCCI DG.

    He said: “We were taken aback that a macro issue of the magnitude of prices of imported vehicles could be so narrowed to a single parameter like the National Auto Policy by a respected LCCI.

    “In coming up with the National Auto Policy, a number of issues were put into consideration with the pivot being to redirect the Nigerian economy from an over import dependent economy to a producing economy.

    “One of the greatest challenges facing the Nigerian economy has always been narrowed down to its overdependence on foreign goods with the attendant pressure on its foreign reserve and the exchange rate”.

    Olaofe said the initiatives are backed with incentives and disincentives to the local assemblers and Importers, respectively, which can come in form of variation of duties, tax holidays, and access to funds at cheaper interest rates, in favour of the former.

    Such incentives, he said, are not new, citing precedent with the textiles, furniture and food, sub-sectors, among many others, where policy makers went to the extent of placing some items of import on the “Not-Valid-for Foreign-Exchange-List”, in order to protect the local manufacturers.

  • Farmers decry imported maize glut

    Farmers decry imported maize glut

    Farmers  have urged the government to come up with  a mechanism for monitoring maize imports to avoid a glut.

    In an interview, the Lagos Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Otunba Femi Oke, warned that millers and cartels were likely to take advantage of the import window, which has resulted in a drop in local maize prices.

    According to him, unchecked maize import remains a threat to local production. As much as the government wants to support producers by making available the grain, it is important to protect local farmers, he added.

    His worry is that the glut in the market may continue, which will result in millers and poultry producers buying the grain at a throw-away price to the detriment of local maize farmers.

    The imported one will create problems for maize producers, many of whom have high stocks, he said. Oke added that farmers would incur huge losses with the continued importation of cheap maize.

    According to him, if the Federal Government does not act fast, the   maize  market will be lost to importers, whose activities may affect local producers, jobs and the economy.

    He was optimistic that the cost of local maize would fall, if the governments offered incentives to farmers to augment their production costs.

    Some stakeholders agreed with Oke, saying the price of imported maize was lower because the government of the importing countries provided support to their farmers.

    But poultry farmers have blamed farmers for the scarcity of maize in the market.

    The Group Head, Policy and Strategy, Amo Farm Sieberer Hatchery Limited, Mr. Toromade Francis, said local farmers didn’t have the desire to produce more as there was no market for their produce.

    He said this had pushed poultry farmers to import grains, such as soya beans and maize for feed production.

    “Since 2011, the least we have imported (maize) is 200,000 metric tonnes. Even this year, about 300,000MT was projected for importation because of the gap between demand and local production.”

    He noted that imported grains were cheaper at N104,000 per tonne than the local grains which went for N130,000 per tonne, because of the yield.

    “The yield per hectare in Nigeria is about three or four tonnes while the imported ones yield up to 10 tonnes per hectare. In addition to this, cost of funds is low outside Nigeria,” he said.

    The General Manager, Operations, Amo Farms, Mr. Emmanuel Olorun-toba, decried maize and soya beans export to other countries after every harvest season, amid increased demand and high prices of grains .

    At a briefing on the NatnuPreneur Broiler Out-grower scheme in Lagos, Oloruntoba said: “We are in a situation where we don’t have enough maize and yet during the harvest season, maize is exported.

    “I remember vividly last harvest season, an average of 500,000 tonnes of maize left Nigeria to neighbouring countries while we barely had enough to take care of our needs.”

    Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) Chairman Dr. Ayoola Oduntan said the scarcity of grains in the local market, has escalated the price of feed. Feed constitutes over 70 per cent of operations’ cost.

    He said the high cost contributed to the high prices of eggs and chicken in the local market.

    He said the cost of feed increased by over 100 per cent from about N60,000 per tonne to about N130,000 between 2014 and 2017, resulting in increase in the price of eggs from N20 to N50 and chicken from N450 per kilogramme to about N1, 200 per kg.

  • Ambode: 500,000 e-waste bins, compactors imported

    Ambode: 500,000 e-waste bins, compactors imported

    Lagos State Governor Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode has lauded the contributions of Visionscape Sanitations Solution Limited to the current efforts of his administration to evolve international best practices in the management of the environment, under the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) scheme.

    According to him, under the scheme, over 500, 000 new e-waste bins and compactors have been brought in by Visionscape, which is yet to be paid any money by the government. The company is also transforming the transfer loading stations at Simpson, Oshodi and Agege.

    He further revealed that a modern engineered sanitary landfill was being constructed in Epe by Visionscape, while an exercise tagged “Operation Deep Clean,” a stop gap for the full take off of the CLI, is simultaneously going on across the state to evacuate waste and ensure every part of the state is clean.

    Justifying the rationale behind the new waste management initiative, the  Governor said: “In the last two years, we have found out that Lagos generates one of the highest volumes of waste in the world. At the last count, documented waste in Lagos was estimated at 13,000 tonnes per day. Considering undocumented statistics, we can add an additional 4,000 tonnes per day to that figure.”

    He explained that for the government to be revolutionary in her approach to achieving a clean environment, and to be globally competitive, there is the need to accomplish a clean, safe, and prosperous Lagos, which the old environmental template cannot guarantee.

    “Cleaning Lagos and keeping the environment clean has nothing to do with environmental sanitation and putting your economic productivity at a standstill for three hours every month. That will not clean Lagos. Cleaning Lagos means we should give Lagosians scientifically treated land fill sites, transfer loading stations, functional dyno-bins, functional compactors, brand new materials and also be able to employ more people,” the governor explained.

    This thinking, Ambode further said, made his administration to embrace the private sector for a partnership that will lead to the introduction of 500 brand new compactors, employ more than 27,000 street sweepers across the various wards in Lagos and create 200,000 indirect jobs.

    The Governor stressed that he was not oblivious of the concerns of the people who have been cleaning Lagos in the past years, and that the new policy was not intended to send them out of jobs, rather it would help scale up their businesses.

    He said the new model is a win-win for all stakeholders in the waste management sector, adding that his administration has offered the private sector participants (PSP) operators a 100 per cent income from the commercial enterprise of the waste management initiative, as this will ensure that the PSPs can gain capacity and also get more capital to do more work. The governor noted that there are over 5,000 companies in Lagos, which he said are enough to go around all the PSP operators, with a minimum of 15 companies to each PSP, said the government can support them to make their contract with those companies bankable.

  • ‘Ban on imported sugar stays’

    The ban on imported packaged sugar into the country by the Federal Government has not been lifted, the Executive Secretary/CEO, National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Latif Busari  has said.

    Busari advised importers of sugar to either produce in Nigeria or move their products elsewhere, saying this position is in line with Section 9.3.1 (1V) of the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan as approved.

    “We have nothing against any particular brand of packaged sugar; what we are saying is that importers of sugar in retail packs should invest in local packaging facilities within and bring their equipment to Nigeria to produce under the plan,” he said.

    Busari told reporters during a press briefing on the ban on imported packaged sugar in Abuja, that those who engage in illegal importation of this banned product are daily inflicting damage no local producers in the country.

    He said, “Government cannot afford to look the other way while economic saboteurs who come under the guise of business men continue to frustrate genuine efforts geared towards building the economy, even though the policy is being defeated by the continued influx of imported packaged sugar, particularly St. Louis brand into Nigeria.

  • ‘Over 50% of imported goods is counterfeit’

    Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) Director-General, Mr. Osita Aboloma has lamented the large presence of fake, counterfeit and sub-standard goods in the country. He put the figure at about 50 per cent.

    He said his agency is equipped more than ever to fight the menace especially with the implementation of SON ACT 14, 2015, which empowers the agency to prosecute any offender.

    Aboloma, who spoke to The Nation in his office in Lagos, said the agency is in the 36 States of the Federation including Abuja.

    He said they have over 41 life threatening items that are in the prohibition list with the mandate to seize them where ever they are found within 24 hours.

    While condemning the unscrupulous business men who import counterfeit goods, he explained that SON only destroys those goods as a last result when they cannot be corrected.

    Abaloma explained that if the contravention has to do with only packaging or minor correction they assist the importer or manufacturer to make the necessary adjustment.

    He said SON is determined to encourage the growth of Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and National Association of Small Scale Industries (NASSI) especially those who are not in the Mandatory Assessment Programme (MANCAP) yet to bring their product up to the Nigeria Industrial Standard (NIS).

    According to him, a programme tailored towards their size of business is in place where they are given reasonable rates to enable them go through the process of standardization of their products while they are also granted waivers in vehicle importation to mechanise their production processes.

    Abaloma said: “SON market surveillance covers the 36 states of the federation; the idea is to grow market confidence on imported and locally manufactured goods by making them go either through the SON Mandatory Assessment Programme (SONCAP) for imported products and MANCAP for locally manufactured products.

    “We want economic development and growth through adherence to standardization because standardization means order besides production cost savings”.

  • 102,099 cartons of imported poultry seized in 7 months

    102,099 cartons of imported poultry seized in 7 months

    ‘The tonnes of frozen poultry products intercepted during the time under review showed that the cabal behind this illicit trade has remained adamant despite the renewed onslaught by Customs’

    In about seven months no fewer than 102,099 cartons of frozen poultry products have been impounded from smugglers by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in the Southsouth and Southeast.

    Smugglers in the regions have had a bad run, losing over N1billion of their illegal imports.

    The seized consignments are destroyed as soon as they are grabbed. But have the smugglers been deterred by this huge loss occasioned by the clampdown on smuggling activities in the zones, recently reinvigorated by the Customs Area Controller in charge of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone ‘C’ Owerri, Comptroller Mohammed Uba, who took office last October.

    The tonnes of frozen poultry products intercepted during the time under review showed that the cabal behind this illicit trade has remained adamant despite the renewed onslaught by Customs.

    On the other hand, the Comptroller Mohammed has vowed to fight smuggling and illegal importation to a standstill, especially in the zone, describing the activities of smugglers as sabotage to the economy.

    The huge number of seizure of poultry products recorded since he took over control in the zone, showed that Customs boss is making good his threat.

    Within the short period, 102,099 cartons of illegally imported frozen poultry products with Duty Paid Value of N1, 275,712, 500 were impounded, aside from other contraband also seized.

    Speaking recently, during the public destruction of some of the seized poultry products, Mohammed, the impounded goods were destroyed in accordance with government policy.

    He asserted that poultry is still under import prohibition and any of such found will be seized and destroyed in compliance with the relevant laws and government policies.

    Given a graphic detail of how one of the seizures was made, the Controller, revealed that “operatives of the FOU Zone ‘C’ Owerri on 19 intercepted 24,032 cartons of imported frozen poultry products with Duty Paid Value of N259, 545,600, conveyed in a Mack Truck with registration number AJL 861 XA along Benin Ekiadolor axis by Lagos Expressway, Edo State. The poultry items include turkey parts, chicken parts, poultry gizzard amongst others”.

    He noted that the seizures were achieved through the diligence of his officers and men, who he said have recently been encouraged to put in their best with the recent promotion of Officers and men of the Service by the Comptroller General of Customs, Col Hameed Ali (Rtd).

    He reiterated the commitment of his officers to ensure that smuggling is brought to a minimal level.

    He said, “As trained officers, in the course of our duty, when we intercept any suspected goods and confirm it to be brought in contrary to the laws it will be seized and disposed of. We will continue to make sure that the public is adequately informed so that importation will be done in conformity with the laws and we will stem the menace of smuggling”.

    He further advised Nigerians against the importation of frozen poultry products, stressing that, “It adversely affects the nation’s poultry industry and have been adjudged by health authorities to be injurious to health. We have to encourage farmers and those in the agriculture sector to be productive, self-reliant, provide employment and boost the economy instead of sending out our foreign exchange and encouraging capital flight”.

    He said three suspects were arrested in connection with the recent seizures made in Benin, adding that they will soon be charged to court, while enjoining smugglers to shun the illicit business and engage in legitimate trade to boost the nation’s economy.

    On hand to witness the destruction of the poultry products were representatives of other security agencies including the Nigerian Police Force, Department of State Security (DSS), National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). Also recently, consignments of medicaments including the banned tramadol with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N178, 209,310 and other unregistered drugs were intercepted in the zone, as well as foreign rice, used shoes, machine spare parts with a DPV of N112, 617,700.

    Mohammed, who paraded the consignments before journalists, also disclosed that the Unit recovered the sum of N48, 742,845 in underpayments within the time under review.

    He said that the Nigeria Customs Service has remained unflinching in its mission to protect the wellbeing of citizens of Nigeria through the performance of her statutory duties.

    According to him, the hard work and efforts of the Unit has paid off with 17 seizures of various contraband items with duty paid value of N112, 617,700 in the month of March. The Unit during its anti-smuggling operations in March also intercepted and detained a huge consignment of medicaments worth N178, 209,310 in duty paid value. This brings the sum of duty paid value for seizures and goods in detention made in March to N250, 951,010″.

    Giving further breakdown of the seizures, the Comptroller revealed that a total of 2455 bags of rice with DPV of N77, 558,800,  1266 foot wears with DPV of N6,076,800, 307 used tyres with DPV of N3,789,600, 100 bags of used shoes with DPV of N8,100,000 and 40 bales of used clothing with DPV of N5,280,000 and three vehicles with DPV of N4,050,000.

    Also speaking on the medicaments that officers of the Unit intercepted in the Agbor axis of the Zone, the Comptroller gave the details as 268 cartons of Tramadol, 202 cartons of Pullegra, 36 cartons of Reall Octra, 928 packets of Tramadol”.

    He said a sample of the various medicaments has been sent to the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for tests and verification while the consignment is being detained for further investigations.

    Mohammed noted that “the nefarious activities of smugglers endanger the health and safety of Nigerian citizens, affects the economy, and even pose a threat to national security”.

    He reiterated the unflinching resolve of the Zone under his watch to make the Zone uncomfortable for smugglers to operate, urging Nigerians to “be patriotic and report any smuggling activities in their areas to the service, assuring that any valuable information forwarded to the Unit will be treated in confidence.

    The Comptroller commended the untiring efforts of the officers and men of the Unit who he noted have continually seen to revenue generation amounting to millions of naira.

    He noted that the continuous support of the Comptroller General of Customs, Hameed Ali (and the Service Management team in the areas of staff training and provision of working tools has further strengthened anti-smuggling operations in the Zone.

    Mohammed therefore advised smugglers as well as fraudulent importers “to channel their resources towards legitimate trade and economic ventures and desist from engaging in smuggling activities, warning that the NCS will not renege on its statutory functions of suppression of smuggling.

     

  • Curbing the menace of imported fake products

    Curbing the menace of imported fake products

    Unwholesome food and products get into the country with ease, provoking the question: what are agencies at the ports doing? It is believed that if the agencies are up and doing, such items would not pass through. Assistant Editor Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie writes.

    Fake and substandard products keep streaming into the country despite the army of agencies at the ports. Such products include plastic rice from China, Indian gari, jollof rice, varieties of Nigerian local soups and substandard tyres from China. The substandard tyres estimated at over N5billion were found in a warehouse in Lagos. They have since been seized by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).

    These confiscated products are life- threatening. Observers are calling for the return of critical agencies hitherto removed from the ports in the heat of port reforms to go back to their duty posts to protect the lives of the citizenry.

    Following the outrage in the case of the Indian gari, the National Agency for Food Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC) raided the shop located on Cameron Road, Ikoyi, Lagos. The public wondered how it was allowed to enter the country. But NAFDAC came out strongly, stating that the product does not have their number.

    “The product has no NAFDAC number. It is said to come from Ghana but packaged in the United Kingdom. The management of the supermarket has been invited for further discussion in our Lagos office and investigation continues,” NAFDAC Acting Director-General, Mrs. Yetunde Oni, said in a message.

    Other agencies, such as the SON, have been calling on the government to allow them return to the ports, arguing that it is in the interest of the nation for them to return. They argued that as a result of their critical functions in preventing life-threatening imports, it might not be in the best interest of the nation to be asked to leave the ports with other not so critical agencies.

    In the height of Port Reforms of the previous administration, the government banned over 28 agencies, leaving only six to man the ports and ease the port clearance process. Affected in the shake-up, were SON, Directorate of Naval Intelligence, Nigerian Plant Quarantine Services, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency.

    In an interview with The Nation, SON Director of Monitoring & Compliance, Mr. Bede Obayi, an engineer, said they have a mandate to ensure that whatever is imported complies with the nation’s standards requirements, stressing that it will be a mistake if their services are dispensed with in the name of port reforms.

    He said: “We look out for accountability and also ensure that we stop false declaration by importers. We are asking for placement of priority in government policies that will ensure that quality and standards take their pride of place. Our mandate is not to ascertain if an importer has paid duties on his imports but to ensure that what he has imported does not impair the lives of the citizenry.”

    Obayi called for efficiency at the ports by canvassing for a window for all regulators at the ports. According to him, the greatest challenge for SON is that of contending with fake bill of lading from importers on daily basis. He recalled how a businessman imported substandard cables which can ignite fire at homes and offices and wrongly labelled them as agriculture equipment. He said it was only when they did a scientific test that they discovered how dangerous the products were.

    Few weeks ago, SON also intercepted 60 containers of fake tryes worth N5 billion imported by two Chinese nationals and their collaborators after they had passed the checks at the port. This grave lapse, observers said, was a consequence of not having the right agencies at the point of entry.

    During a tour led by the SON’s Director-General, Osita Aboloma, to Alakija, about two million imported tyres were seen in a warehouse beside the popular Navy Town in the area.

    According to Aboloma, the Chinese importers, who gave their names as Tanlong Shen and Xu Jing Yao, were bust through inter-agency collaboration and intelligence received from “well-meaning Nigerians” after they had been cleared from the port.

    “We acted on the intelligence we received from well-meaning Nigerians. This was achieved as a result of inter-agency collaboration.You can see volume of tyres brought in and you can imagine the implication for our society if these tyres are let into the market,” he said.

    The SON chief said the sub-standard tyres which were shipped  from China, were post-dated to make them appear road-worthy. He criticised the way the tyres were packaged, noting that it is only SON that knows the implication of the worthiness of the tyres and should have been at the point of entry to disallow it from entering the country in the first place.

    “The fact that up to five of them were being tucked into one, with operators using rods to separate them from one another when they reached Nigeria, the tyres will naturally become substandard. This is because in the course of separating them from the squeeze, the wires and geometrics of the tyres will be affected,” he said.

    He wielded the big stick, assuring though that they might not be at the ports. The arrested persons would be prosecuted under the new SON Act,” he added.

    At a seminar on Port Reforms organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI), former NBA president, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, and discussants criticised the large number of regulatory agencies at the ports, corruption, poor infrastructure and the government’s indecision on implementing robust policies that will drive the sector.

    He called for the harmonisation of all regulatory bodies at the ports, stressing the need for one window to remove bottlenecks in ports operations.

    LCCI Director of Research and Advocacy, Dr. Vincent Nwani, in his paper titled: “Nigeria: Reforming the maritime sector,” said estimates from the Chamber’s research show that trillions of Naira in revenue is lost yearly within the port and business community as a result of inefficiencies and inherent shortcomings of the nation’s maritime ports.

    According to him, unfriendly business environment, such as the situation we have in the ports, continue to undermine the capacity of investors to maximise abundant trade and democratic opportunities in Nigeria.

    He noted that 48-hour target set by the government is still far from being achieved.

    He said: “Speedy processing of import and export documents by relevant agencies are important elements of trade facilitation process. It is also a major variable in the 2016 World Bank ease of Doing Business ranking in which Nigeria ranked very low at 169 out of 185 countries profiled. This has made it very difficult to achieve any of the port reform objectives set by the past political administration.”

    He called for technology and innovative solutions, the establishments of national trade data centre, implementation of a single window platform including the passage of the pending bills at the National Assembly to stimulate the maritime sector.

  • Imported 10kg gas cylinders harmful, says SON

    Imported 10kg gas cylinders harmful, says SON

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has described as dangerous the imported 10 kilogrammes (kg) gas cylinders. It said the cylinders were carrying values meant for 3kg and 6kg cylinders.

    The agency made this known during the inspection of two 40-foot container loads of substandard gas cylinders worth about N50 million.

    SON Director-General, Osita Aboloma, who was represented by the Director of Compliance, Mr. Bede Obayi, said using a 6kg approval to bring in 10kg cylinders  subverted the regulatory standards and constituted economic sabotage.

    “The importer got approval to bring in 6kg, but went and imported 10kg camping gas, a different size, which is not in line with the standard. It is a typical negligence of the laws of the land,” Aboloma said.

    He urged the public not to patronise the 10kg cylinders because they are dangerous. SON, he said, has alerted its state offices to rid the market of the consignment.

    Aboloma said the only the 3kg and 6kg cylinders were approved for importation as camping gas, explaining that some unscrupulous importers were hiding under that to bring in 10 kg cylinders as camping gas.

    “The importation of 10kg cylinders as camping  gas is automatically out of the specification” Aboloma said.

    SON, he said, would prosecute importers of  the substandard gas cylinders and associated products.

    Importers would be made to follow regulatory guidelines as a way to avert danger, he said.