Several tonnes of export cargoes are currently trapped at the various seaports over the inability of exporters to obtain the newly introduced Nigerian Export Proceeds (NXP) number.
It was recently introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to eliminate bottlenecks created by agencies facilitating the export.
All exporters are to fill documents through authorised dealer banks and it will be validated by the banks, inspection agencies, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the CBN.
However, the Secretary-General of the National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN), Sotonye Anga, said it now takes about 30 days to process this document.
“The policy is not in the best interest of exporters and the diversification of the nation’s economy. If not reversed, it would lead to a sharp drop in the export of agricultural commodities.
“Because of the long queues of containers, we face the risk of theft, people can break into the containers and steal your goods, we also face the problem of deterioration because the products are already loaded in the container and we have expected that in 40 days they should arrive destination but it is going to spend one month at the port because of these issues.”
Sotonye also listed the perennial gridlock in Apapa and poor support infrastructure as some of the challenges facing exporters.
