Strike day 3: Lagos port operations still grounded

Port operations remain grounded for the second day as the strike embarked upon by the clearing agents, truckers and other critical stakeholders continue.

Bad portion of the Tin-can Island port access road

A visit both Apapa and Tin-can Island ports yesterday, showed that most roads were free of the usual traffic caused by the presence of truckers while clearing agents could be seen sitting in clusters discussing the effect of the strike action.

Contrary to earlier believe that the strike was called by the clearing agents and truckers, it was disclosed yesterday that other stakeholders including Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Frozen Goods and Commodities Transporters Association and many others were part of the action that has completely grounded port operations for the second day running.

All the bodies involved in the action have resolved to form a Central Working Committee, CWC, which in a press statement made available to Harboursandport yesterday insisted that the action would continue.

The statement signed on behalf of the CWC, Kayode Farinto, gave a list of their demands as follows:

*The withdrawal of service will continue until “there is visible evidence to show that government has provided palliatives to the fix the bad roads, by mobilizing equipment to site which will ameliorate the sufferings of every stakeholder.

*That the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, must come and address the various issues militating against cargo clearance including multiplicity of Customs formations, like the Comptroller General of Customs, CGC, compliance team, Federal Operations Unit, FOU etc.

*That the Director General of the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, SON, must also address the stakeholders on the various challenges faced in the course of clearing regulated items from our ports.

MD of NPA, Bala Usman

Similarly, Public Relations Officer of Tin-can Island Customs Command, Uche Ejieseme, said that the strike is taking its toll on the revenue collection function of the Command and expressed the hope that the issue involved would be quickly resolved.

According to him, “it is our wish that the strike doesn’t continue because it is obvious that if it continues, we continue to lose revenue and don’t forget that part of statutory function is to collect revenue, to generate revenue and also account for same and don’t forget that Tin-can Island port is just like other port.

“We are very keen on the revenue generation drive of this administration. So we wouldn’t wish that anything would be an impediment to this statutory function because we have a responsibility to do this and that is why we are being paid.

“As you can see, there is a kind of low volume of people coming inside the Customs Processing Centre, CPC, to transact business and like I said earlier, it is not for Customs to decide whether the strike will continue or not it is just for them to decide if the reason for the embarking of this industrial strike is genuine or not.”