For decades, Nigeria’s seaports have been plagued by a stubborn malaise: overtime cargoes. Containers abandoned far beyond their statutory timelines have not only clogged valuable terminal space but also fuelled a culture of corruption, back-door deals and inefficiency that has crippled maritime trade. Now, the Comptroller General of Customs Adewale Adeniyi is moving to dismantle that entrenched system with the launch of a new automated clearance regime.
The Customs boss, speaking at a sensitisation programme at the Apapa Area Command, described overtime cargoes as the single biggest complaint reaching his desk, accounting for more than half the correspondence in his office.
He admitted the problem has become a major drag on port operations, with some containers languishing at the docks for over seven years. In many cases, importers deliberately abandon their shipments, knowing they can later reclaim them through opaque allocations as “overtime” cargoes — thereby dodging import duties and short-changing both the government and private terminal operators.
Under the new automated system, cargoes left uncleared will no longer linger in limbo. Instead, they will be escalated through a clearly defined chain of approval, and once 120 days have elapsed, they will enter a transparent disposal process in which depreciation and the condition of goods are factored into valuation.
CGC Adeniyi argued that automation will eliminate the discretion and human interference that has allowed shady deals to flourish, while ensuring compliance, accountability and integrity across all ports.
Overtime cargoes are hardly a new headache. Successive administrations have promised to clear backlogs, from special auctions under the Obasanjo government to emergency directives during the Jonathan and Buhari eras. Each attempt has been dogged by controversy, with allegations that powerful syndicates within and outside the port system benefitted from the chaos. Cargoes were routinely “allocated” to connected individuals at knock-down values, further incentivising importers to abandon containers in the hope of exploiting the loophole.
The consequences have been severe. Port terminals are perpetually clogged. Businesses complain of exorbitant delays, while the economy bleeds from revenue leakages and lost investor confidence. Industry experts estimate that the overtime cargo quagmire has cost Nigeria billions of naira annually in both direct revenue losses and the hidden tax of inefficiency.
Adeniyi insists that this reform marks a break from the past. “We are not interested in managing cargoes as overtime. We want them to exit our ports swiftly,” he said, stressing that the goal is not simply to raise revenue but to facilitate trade, cut costs, and restore confidence in Nigeria’s maritime sector.
To that end, he has established dedicated desks at Customs headquarters in Abuja to handle both imports and exports, while assuring stakeholders that unauthorised disposal of goods will no longer be possible under the new system.
If implemented with rigour, the automation of overtime cargo clearance could mark a turning point in a saga that has undermined Nigeria’s ports for a generation. It would not only unclog terminals and speed up trade but also strike at the shadowy networks that have profited from systemic decay.
