THE Central Bank of Nigeria has threatened to sanction shipping companies that violate the Federal Government’s directive on exports procedures.
It said that any shipping company that disobeyed the directive of the Federal Government that all export goods leaving the country should carry the Nigerian Export Proceeds numbers would be penalised.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said these during a meeting with shipping companies.
He said, “We are going to set up an auto system, where if someone wants to send cargo, copies of the NXP form will be sent directly to you. So that if you don’t have it online on your system that the NXP has been registered, you turn back that cargo.
“You cannot accept any number and use it as a basis for shipping. We are not going to allow that. That is not acceptable. If you don’t see NXP Forms, that cargo should be turned back.”
Also speaking on the issue, the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Hassan Bello, said that the Council, in partnership with the apex bank, had carried out three sensitisation meetings in Lagos and Port Harcourt to educate shipping companies and exporters on the need to implement the directive on the NXP.
He added that the NSC would work with other agencies of government to ensure full compliance, so that export without the NXP is discontinued.
The Managing Director, MSC Nigeria Limited, Andrew Lynch, noted that his company received NXP forms on all major agro commodities like cashew, cocoa and sesame, but not for commodities like charcoal and timber.
According to him, the company discovered that these items do not have NXP forms after they have already arrived at the port.
He argued that as soon as a cargo arrived the port and had been cleared by the Nigeria Customs Services, there would be pressure, due to space constraints at the port, to ship immediately.
He added that one of their challenges also was their inability to verify the authenticity of an NXP form.
