Clearing agents operating at the country’s major seaports have raised urgent alarms over soaring demurrage fees triggered by an unexpected outage in a key bank’s server, which has severely hampered port activities. This technical glitch has obstructed crucial payment processes required for cargo clearance, resulting in extended container dwell times and escalating costs for both importers and exporters.
According to industry sources, the bank’s server malfunction began early last week and remains unresolved. This disruption has delayed the settlement of customs duties, port tariffs, and related charges, causing containers to remain stranded at the ports beyond their scheduled release times. Consequently, demurrage fees have surged, further inflating logistics expenses.
Representatives from the Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON) have formally appealed to the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, highlighting the ongoing system failure. Since September 1, 2025, this outage has paralyzed duty payments and inflicted significant financial strain on the trading sector.
In a letter endorsed by APFFLON’s national president, Otunba Frank Ogunojemite, the association emphasized that freight forwarders are left in limbo while importers face mounting losses due to accumulating demurrage and storage charges.
APFFLON explained that the bank’s payment gateway has been inaccessible for several days, causing cargo backlogs at ports, disrupting supply chains, and impeding timely shipment clearances.
The group expressed frustration that despite numerous complaints lodged at various branch and regional offices, the bank has neither released an official explanation nor proposed any contingency measures to mitigate the impact of the outage.
“This unfortunate breakdown has brought port operations to a standstill, delayed cargo processing, and resulted in cascading financial losses amounting to billions of naira in demurrage and storage fees. The ongoing silence and lack of remedial action amid this nationwide service failure is both alarming and unacceptable,” the statement read.
APFFLON has called on the minister to initiate an immediate investigation into the root causes of the prolonged service disruption, urge the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to enforce accountability among duty collection banks, and collaborate with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to explore alternative payment solutions or temporary relief measures for affected importers.
Furthermore, the association demanded that the bank be held financially responsible for the losses incurred, warning that this crisis undermines the federal government’s efforts to improve the ease of doing business and inflicts unnecessary hardship on Nigerian enterprises already facing economic challenges.
“This systemic failure has crippled our sector and cannot be ignored,” Ogunojemite asserted, reaffirming APFFLON’s commitment to supporting government initiatives aimed at trade facilitation while insisting on strict accountability.
