What does the Law say?
Human activity is usually governed by one or more sets of law. the supply chain is subject to a lot of laws from different fields as the activities here cover a lot of discipline.
Clearing your cargo from the Nigerian ports involve traversing a legal minefield where ignorance of the law is no excuse as they say. It does get very costly when one is very unaware of the implications.
Luckily, the set of laws governing the Nigerian ports is available for all to see online. The Nigerian Ports Authority Decree of 1999 is available among other laws from http://www.nigeria-law.org.
There are several law enforcement bodies represented at the Nigerian ports and this is part of the reasons why customs clearance takes a lot of time. These enforcement agencies are not all available to examine the goods at the same time and it takes one who is knowledgeable about the procedures to get things done in good time.
Some of the enforcement agencies are:
- NCS – The Nigerian Customs Service
- NPA – The Nigerian Ports Authority
- NDLEA – The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency
- FEPA - The Federal Environmental Protection Agency
- NMA - National Maritime Authority
- JOMALIC – Joint Maritime Labour Industrial Council
- NAFDAC – The Nigeria Authority for Food and Drug Administration and Control
- NSC - Nigerian Shippers Council
- NPF – The Nigeria Police Force
- SON – Standards Organisation of Nigeria
- SSS – State Security Service
- DMI – Directorate of Military Intelligence
- Nigerian Navy
Please note that as at the time of this writing, NMA and JOMALIC have been merged to form a new organisation called NAMASA – National Maritime Administration and Safety Agency.
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