The Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON) has petitioned the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, over what it described as a crippling and persistent system downtime at First Bank of Nigeria that has paralyzed duty payments and inflicted massive financial losses on the trading community since September 1, 2025.
In a letter signed by its National President, Otunba Frank Ogunojemite, and addressed to the Finance Minister, APFFLON accused First Bank of failing in its critical responsibility as a designated Customs duty collection bank, leaving freight forwarders stranded and importers plagued by losses amounting to billions of naira in demurrage and storage charges.
According to APFFLON, the bank’s payment platform has been inaccessible for days, forcing cargoes to pile up at ports, disrupting supply chains, and frustrating efforts to clear shipments on time.
The group lamented that despite repeated complaints lodged at both branch and regional levels, First Bank has neither issued an official statement nor provided any contingency plan to cushion the effects of the downtime.
“This unfortunate situation has crippled port operations, delayed cargo clearance processes, and led to cascading financial losses running into billions of naira in demurrage and storage charges. The continued silence and inaction in the face of this nationwide failure of service is deeply concerning and unacceptable.”
APFFLON urged the Minister to launch an immediate inquiry into the root cause of the prolonged service collapse, compel the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to hold duty collection banks accountable for service reliability, and engage the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on alternative payment channels or temporary waivers for affected importers.
The association further demanded that First Bank be held financially liable for the damages incurred, warning that the situation undermines the Federal Government’s ease of doing business agenda while inflicting avoidable pain on already struggling Nigerian businesses.
“This is a systemic failure that has crippled our industry and cannot be overlooked,” Ogunojemite declared, stressing APFFLON’s readiness to continue supporting government trade facilitation efforts but insisting that accountability must be enforcedthenewsdiet
