Nigerian importers have reportedly incurred demurrage and storage charges worth over 20 billion naira (US$47.4 million) due to the suspension of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) from duty collection at the seaports.
Acting President of the Association of Nigerian Licenced Customs Agents (ANLCA), Kayode Farinto said that GTBank was suspended from the Customs platform over poor remittances of Customs duties to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
ANLCA members are therefore threatening to shutdown the corporate head office of the bank over the inability of importers to clear cargoes out of the port.
But GTBank has denied any wrongdoing on their part. Spokesperson of the Bank, Oyinade Adegite, explained to the clearing agents that there were “technical issues” that are currently being resolved.
“I am aware that we had technical issues but it is not the impression that we were told to stop. I know we are trying to sort out one or two things in that aspect. We just have some technical issues that had nothing to do with the agreement. It is just with the platform,” she had said.
