A dispute over how shipping manifests are being handled at Nigerian ports has escalated into a threatened protest, with licensed customs agents accusing two major shipping lines of a practice they say is quietly fueling corruption in the cargo clearance system.
The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents says the trouble centers on how the Mediterranean Shipping Company and Hapag-Lloyd file their electronic manifests. According to former ANLCA Vice President Kayode Farinto, the companies routinely declare that all containers aboard a given vessel will be discharged in Nigeria, when in reality only part of the cargo actually comes off the ship. The rest, he alleges, gets left behind at transshipment hubs in places like Cotonou or Côte d’Ivoire, to be forwarded on a separate vessel later.
That gap between what’s declared and what’s delivered, Farinto explained, is where the real trouble begins. Because the original manifest has already been processed by the time the remaining containers finally arrive in Nigeria without any corresponding update, the Nigeria Customs Service ends up treating that cargo as overdue or abandoned. “The bills of lading become blocked, making it impossible for importers or their agents to process declarations electronically. At that point, physical intervention becomes necessary, and that is where corruption begins to thrive,” he said, describing a system where a paperwork discrepancy effectively forces importers into manual processes vulnerable to exploitation.
Farinto is now pressing the Nigeria Customs Service to open a formal investigation into vessels operated by both companies, arguing that the Nigeria Customs Service Act of 2023 already gives the agency clear authority to sanction shipping firms that file inaccurate or misleading manifests. He framed the request with urgency, warning that ANLCA members have grown weary of the extortion complaints tied to the practice and setting a two-week deadline before the association goes public with further details. “If this issue is not addressed within two weeks, Nigerians will begin to see the other side of the story,” he said.
The shipping companies, for their part, have offered little in the way of an immediate response. MSC official Dimeji Gbadebo told Vanguard he had not previously heard the allegations and asked for further details, saying the company would respond formally once it had reviewed the matter. Hapag-Lloyd proved harder to reach altogether, with a company representative declining to comment and redirecting inquiries to the firm’s Managing Director, leaving the allegations unanswered for now as the two-week clock Farinto set continues to run.
