The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has been accused of illegally  manning cargo scanners and collecting 7 naira per kilo on cargo since it is not an agency empowered to take part in cargo processing.

The accusation was made against the Authority by the Murtala Muhammed Airport Chapter of Nigerian Association of Freight Forwarders and Consolidators(NAFFAC).

Its chairman, Lam Abdul Abu made this known in his presentation at Quarterly Business Breakfast Meeting organized by Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative(ASRTI) in Lagos.

He said that beyond this,the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) should also interrogate the collection of charges of carrier based on cargo weights as per cargo manifest a document that FAAN has no power to demand for.

Abdul Abu informed the gathering that it is generally known that FAAN collects handling and parking fees based on the landing weight of the aircrafts which includes cargo these charges are ultimately passed to freight forwarders who then pass them on to the owners of the goods.

“ Ladies and gentle men there is a clear issue of illegal collections and double taxation by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria.”

He asked” what are ministry of agriculture (quarantine) and ministry of trade (produce) doing in the shed and creating overlapping functions that ultimately creates increase in cost of cargo processing.?”

“We shall not be doing justice to our presentation if we fail to mention the arbitrary and unofficial tariff placed on cargo by personnel of the federal

government agencies posted to the sheds”, he added.

“In this regard we look forward to the personnel of the federal government agencies posted to the shed to interrogate themselves whether this collections engender ease of doing business, public good, morality and integrity knowing fully well that every unnecessary naira and kobo added to the cost of cargo delivery has a ripple effect from high towers ground zero, from the richest city dwellers to the poorest rural dwellers of the country.”

The chairman explained that his Association is interested in the progressive operating environment that enhances the delivery of cargo (import/exports), such that international trade of Nigeria will be supported by charges and tariff which are issued by carriers, handling rates issued by handling agents, namely NAHCO and SAHCOL, statutory rates issued by Federal Government Agencies.