Pinnacle Time News

Operators silent on NPA query Service providers, regulators mull defective demurrage waiver order BY EGUONO ODJEGBA It is not the best of times for the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, and its Nigerian Shippers’ Council, NSC, counterpart, having come under serious pressure from port service providers following alleged refusal by terminal operators to waive demurrages on cargo for the period of the lockdown, as directed by both state agencies. More worrisome is the failure of the terminal operators to respond to the query issued them last Friday by the authority, demanding to know why the terminal operators disregarded government directive, and or counter port users complaints that demurrages of cargo are still been collected, despite communication to terminal operators to grant waiver for the period of the emergency, and revert to government for compensation. The latest query is coming on the heels of complaints by port users, importers, manufacturers and freight forwarders...

New Forex Rate Port players says policy ill time, inhuman Appeals to Buhari for immediate reversal By Eguono Odjegba Stakeholders in the ports and import value chain have reacted with disappointment to the upwards adjustment in the foreign exchange rate, saying it is ill time, inhuman, calculated to further hurt the national economy and escalate the sufferings of the ordinary masses. They accused President Muhammadu Buhari of pursuing a sadist and inglorious agenda that appears to take delight in the sufferings of Nigerian masses, while also accusing him of tribal bias in the management of the nation’s scarce resources. This is even as the stakeholders blasted the leadership of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, for poor planning that will throw up an avoidable inflation, business shut down and unemployment.   Various businesses in the port community lamented that the policy will lead to rise in cost of clearing cargo and also nega...