Not less than $1.9 billion worth of cargo for exports have been facilitated by the Lilypond Export Command, Apapa, Lagos between July and December 2024, the Customs Area Controller (CAC), Comptroller Ajibola Odusanya has said.
Odusanya who disclosed this yesterday at a roundtable organized by the umbrella body of journalists covering the maritime sector of the economy, the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN) at its International Press Centre, Apapa, Lagos also revealed that the processing time of exports at the command has improved significantly.
Though he was not specific on the exact time it takes to process exports at the command, he averred that “it is just few hours”.
He told journalists who converged on MARAN secretariat for the roundtable that the time used in processing cargo for exports would have been further reduced but the traffic gridlock that hinder port users from accessing the Export Processing Terminal (EPT) especially the ones situated in Apapa Port.
Odusanya also revealed that transferring export containers to Apapa Port has become a challenge recently due to the fact that priority is placed on exiting import containers out of the port.
In order to address the challenges, he assured that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and APM Terminals have joined forces to improve on the port internal traffic.
His words: “The NPA has contributed significantly to export facilitation by creating the Electronic Call-up System (ETO) and EPTs at the ports. However, the internal port access roads would need more attention for seamless movement of export containers into the ports for outward shipping.
“In 2022, the Nigeria Customs Service and NPA reached an agreement to make the Lilypond Port an export processing port as parts of Nigeria’s deliberate plans to improve exportation of non-oil products and since then, things have improved tremendously”.
The Lilypond Port Export Command CAC explained that due to the presence of all the relevant agencies in the export port, processing of export goods have become very fast and seamless.
According to him, since after the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Customs and NPA was signed to streamline export to Lilypond Command in July 2024 and the command became the only command processing sea bound export, we processed about $2 billion between July and December, 2024.
Continuing, he said: “In February 2025, we processed $225 million. This achievement is made possible by collaboration with other government agencies and port stakeholders. We now have the DSS, NDLEA, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the Quarantine Service dedicated to export at Lilypond Port. With synergy with these sister agencies, export goods treated at Lilypond port are not stopped by any other agency on its way to Apapa or Tin Can Island Port. Such export will only be checked by Customs officers at Lilypond Export Command at the port gate and not necessarily to open the container, except there is a security alert”
He stated that the NPA and the terminal operators would not allow the ugly port access road situation in Apapa in the past to return.
“If you go to Lilypond now you will see many containers there but the problem is not with processing of exports in Lilypond but the logistics aspect of moving the containers to the ports. Sometimes, even when you have obtained your ETO, you will not be able to access the port. You will see the trucks lined up on the road with export containers on them. We have to work on this so that we do not return to what it was before. We have to keep working hard to maintain the sanity on the port access roads”, he said.
