Exporters in Nigeria have reported financial losses of more than $10 million during a five-day period as a result of difficulties caused by the integration of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Nigeria Export Proceeds (NXP) form into the Truck Transit Park (TTP) platform.
According to the Association of West African Exporters and Maritime Professionals (AWAEMAP), the export industry is facing significant operational difficulties as a result of this integration.
Key Issues Identified:
- Extended Turnaround Times: The exporting turnaround time has been greatly increased by the necessity that exporters get a Clean Certificate of Inspection (CCI) for all containers associated with an NXP prior to accessing export terminals. Government revenue and Nigerian exports’ competitiveness are both negatively impacted by this delay.
- Perishable Goods at Risk: Perishable agricultural products suffer from delays in reaching port terminals, which lowers their quality and costs exporters money.
- Missed Shipping Schedules: Since export containers must now be gated at terminals at least 48 hours before departure, the integration has resulted in a higher number of missed vessel departures at seaports. For exporters, this restriction has raised costs and interfered with logistics planning.
- Global Competitiveness Concerns: The loss of contracts due to these disruptions considerably damages Nigeria’s worldwide competitiveness and negatively impacts its Logistics Performance Index (LPI) rankings.
The Federal Government has been urged by AWAEMAP to resolve the issues raised by the NXP integration with the TTP portal.
The organisation contends that it is impractical and does not increase the value of exports or guarantee the repatriation of export revenues to require all containers associated with an NXP to get a CCI before they can enter export terminals.
