ANLCA rejects Shippers’ Council’s N30,000 online registration fee, laments regulatory duplication

The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has opposed the N30,000 online registration fee imposed on its members by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC).

Recall that the NSC recently launched an online portal for the registration of all regulated port service providers and users of port services including clearing agents.

According to the Shippers’ Council, the registration aims to establish and maintain a database of genuine service providers, shippers and other stakeholders operating in the Nigerian port system.

The NSC’s registration system assigns operators to different categories, with varying registration fees depending on the category.

National President of ANLCA, Emenike Nwokeoji who expressed the association’s grievance at its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Lagos on Friday, criticized the multiplicity of regulatory agencies seeking to generate revenue.

He said ANLCA members are already subject to licensing and regulation by other government agencies, such as the Nigeria Customs Service questioning the need for additional registration with the NSC.

He said, “Shippers Council listed us, freight forwarders and licensed customs agents among those they are going to regulate and we are going to pay some money. We are yet to contact them to know how many agencies of government are regulating us.

“Nigeria Customs licenses us and they are under Ministry of Finance. Shippers council is under Marine and Blue Economy ministry. We don’t even know which ministry to report to.

“Our members operating at the airport are under aviation so it is really difficult to know who really wants to regulate us. If you really want to regulate us without attaching a fee to it , no problem but all is just multiplication of revenue and earnings for these agencies.”

Nwokeoji suggested that existing data held by other agencies such as customs, terminal operators and shipping companies, could be utilized by the NSC to populate its database, thereby eliminating the need for a separate registration process and associated fees.

“Our data as clearing agents is every where. It is with Customs, shipping companies and terminal operators. Why can’t they just press a button and pick it from wherever than everybody asking us to come just to write down our names and ask us to pay any amount they come up with. We are to pay N30,000 per annum and they say this amount can be adjusted at any time without notice. But we say no that.”