Pinnacle Time News

Management of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Apapa Area Command today accused operator of the APM Terminals of joining undesirable elements and economic sabotuers to pilfer stuffs from the port and undermining efforts by the Federal Government to stem the tide of harmful and dangerous drugs that has been classified as abused pharmaceutcals. This is coming on the heels of an alleged stealing of some quantities of Tramadol from an undeclared container said to be in the custody of APM Terminal by its staff members, two of who have so far allegedly been caught. The suspects were said to have broken the seal of the said container and removed cartons of Tramadol which they attempted to take outside the port in the company’s official ambulance with registration number LND605XW, before they were caught at the exit point. But APMT has denied complicity in the matter, expressing disappointment with the management of the command for pandering to political ochestration. A source close to t...

Following last week’s stakeholders’ commitment to contribute to the nation’s seafarers’ capacity building and also raise the level of women participation in shipping and core industry operations, the leadership of the Ship Owners Association of Nigeria, SOAN, has paid a working visit to the Maritime Academy of Nigeria on a facility tour, following which a memorandum of understanding, MoU, was signed for the engagement of cadets of the Academy for their mandatory sea time training, onboard SOAN ships.   This development is coming on the heels of very sincere and robust engagements by the leadership of MAN and SOAN, and signposts the first ever major partnership deal to resolve the issues of knotty sea time training, which with a huge backlog of stranded cadets and national embarrassment the situation has exposed Nigeria. On ground to sign and seal the deal last Friday at the Academy, was the President of SOAN, Dr. McGeorge Onyung and Rector of MAN, Commodore Duja Effedua....

Sequel to the call off of a 3-days warning strike by the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, the group is set to commence dialogue over disagreement and nonpayment of dockworkers wages and salary through stevedoring contractors with the aim of forestalling further interruptions of ports and upstream operations, the union has disclosed. In a statement signed by the Union President General and Secretary General, Comrades Adewale Adeyanju and Felix Akingboye, respectively, and made available to our reporter, the leaders noted that they have taken into cognizance concerns by industry stakeholders over the negative impact of the strike action on their business activities, and have resolved to engage with the critical stakeholders to resolving the issues. The statement noted that apart from the oil and gas sector players, the leadership of Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, and Nigerian Shipper’s Council, NSC, will participate in...

Few days ago, the management of the Nigeria Customs Service under the watch of Col. Hameed Ali (retired) increased the service’s marine commands to four, up from the existing two, being the Western and Eastern Marine Commands, respectively. According to the service’s internal memo, the action was part of the latest reorganization reached at the 50th Regular Meeting of the Nigeria Customs Service Board held on Tuesday 21st May, 2019. For a long time already, due to the collapse of the customs marine operational fleet and the federal executive council (FEC) inexplicable lack of interest to investigate and reposition the unit, the task of keeping the beat going has fallen on the Nigerian Navy. The NCS is not only revenue generating in nature, but indeed is an integral part of the national security architecture, active in both economic and social security, as well indeed in trans border security, including other sensitive responsibilities in the diplomatic and continental regional b...