CBN, Shippers Council to introduce new disbursement account for agencies
Stakeholders lament $4bn annual revenue loss
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) are currently collaborating to compel shipping agencies to open disbursement accounts (DAs), from where they will carry out operational costs for their multinational principals overseas. The apex bank and the ports economic regulator said this was in line with Article 4 of the UNCTAD minimum standards for shipping agents all over the world.
An e-mail from the NSC said Executive Secretary Mr. Hassan Bello explained during a meeting between the CBN representative and shipping industry stakeholders in Lagos that maintenance of DAs stops the agent from going to the local market to source foreign exchange to settle charges incurred by the vessel locally.
Bello, represented by the Director, Legal Services of the NSC, Mr Samuel Vongtao, identified such charges to be covered by the DAs as those collected by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Safety and Administration Agency (NIMASA), ship-chandelling costs, and other local shipping costs.
Bello said such charges were usually in foreign exchange since “it is assumed that the principal must have wired the funds to the disbursement of account of the agent in foreign exchange.” He said that it was wrong that in Nigeria, the practice was completely different, adding that “shipping agents apply to transfer all incomes to their principal while at the same time applying to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for Forex at interbank market to service local costs”.
Bello expressed happiness that the CBN, whose attention has been drawn to the vacuum by the NSC, had responded by setting up investigative teams, which positively ascertained that there was not a single type of such account being operated by any shipping agency in the country.
CBN Deputy Director, Foreign Exchange Management, Trade & Exchange Department, Mr. A.S. Jibrin said the idea of the meeting with the stakeholders was to ensure that the DA enjoys the support of those in the shipping industry. He explained that what the CBN set out to do was to listen to the stakeholders, adding that the apex bank is interested on policies that will grow the shipping industry and the national economy.
A former Director, Shipping Services of NSC, Mrs Dabney Shall-Holma said the DAs, when introduced, will go a long way in improving the contributions of the shipping sector to the country’s GDP.
During the meeting, stakeholders and participants urged the CBN and the NSC to move as fast as possible to ensure that the policy takes effect in Nigeria.