Shippers Demand Probe of Abandoned Calabar Port Dredging
The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) in Cross River State has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to probe the N20 billion contract awarded to Calabar Channel Management (CCM) for dredging Calabar Port by former President Goodluck Jonathan. The shippers lamented that the dredging contract has become a conduit pipe through which successive administrations in the country looted funds, adding that every 10 years, the contract is awarded, money paid while contractors disappear from site after collecting money. The President of Nigerian Shippers Association, Calabar branch, Mr. Mike Ogodo demanded that NPA should come out clear to assure the public that the 2014 dredging award was not a scam experienced in the past.
Nigeria Cocoa Shipment Resumes
Exporters have resumed loading of cocoa shipments in Nigeria's second-largest producing area, Cross Rivers state, after the state government suspended on Friday a levy on bean exports, a trade body said. Cocoa shipments from Cross Rivers, which produces annual volumes of around 60,000 tonnes in the world's fourth-biggest producer, had been halted for over a week as exporters protested the state's failure to adhere to a court ruling last week to repeal the tax. About 500 tonnes of cocoa due for export were stuck in warehouses while shipments were suspended. The Cross Rivers state government in 2011 introduced a levy on cocoa exporters who ship the beans through Nigerian seaports other than the state's Calabar port. Exporters went to court to stop the levy.
