The Sea Empowerment and Research Centre (SEREC) has urged the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to adopt a more balanced and solution-driven framework to its licensing fees for port operators to avoid crippling small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), inflating trading costs and undermining the country’s trade facilitation efforts.
The research body in its bulletin, signed by the Head of Research, Dr Eugene Nweke, said instead of implementing the proposed 2000 per cent increase in licensing fees, the service should adopt a tiered and balanced licensing system tied to competency, professional development, and risk management, with fees designed to remain inclusive and inflation-responsive.
The research body recommended different licensing structures with costs aligned to the nature of services rendered.
The group proposed that for general customs clearance under the standard license, the new fees should be between N50,000 and N100,000, while renewals should be between N20,000 and N50,000 every two years, and insurance bond fees of N500,000 to N1 million.
The research centre proposed that for advanced licenses, which are more complex clearance services such as those involving specialised commodities or high-value goods, the fees should be pegged between N100,000 and N200,000 for new licenses, with renewals set at N50,000 to N100,000, and bonds at N1 million to N2 million.
The group recommended that specialised licenses for agents handling hazardous materials or controlled goods, the fees should be projected between N150,000 to N300,000 for new licenses and N75,000 to N150,000 for renewals every two years, backed by insurance bonds of N1,500,000 to N3,000,00.
Other categories, such as brokerage, chandler’s, and bonded warehouse operators’ licenses, were similarly priced in proportion to service complexity and associated risk.
The centre recommended between N80,000 to N150,000 new licensing fee for agents providing customs brokerage services, including tariff classification and valuation, with N40,000 to N80,000 renewal fee every two years and insurance bonds of between N800,000 and N1.5 million.
For agents providing services related to ship chandlery, SEREC proposed a new Chandler’s licensing fee of N30,000 to N60,000, with a renewal fee of N15,000 to N30,000 every two years and insurance bonds of N300,000 to N600,000.
SEREC proposed N200,000 to N500,000 for new licensing for operators of bonded warehouses, with a renewal fee of N100,000 to N200,000 every two years and an insurance bond of between N2 million and N5 million.
The research body emphasised that the fee structure is designed to be balanced and take into account the needs of SMEs and is also intended to reflect the level of complexity and risk associated with each license category.
