The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Barr. Hassan Belllo has said that inspite of the immense contribution of freight forwarding to the socio-economic development of Nigeria; the standards of practice for the profession had been poorly rated.
Bello who made this assertion at a one day training workshop for freight forwarders in Nigeria held at Apapa Lagos yesterday with the theme:” Filling the Professional gap in ICT driven freight forwarding Profession in Nigeria”, said that was because the profession had become an all comers affair which was inimical to smooth and efficient clearance of goods at Nigerian ports.
Represented by the Director, Shipping Services of the NSC, Mrs. Dabney ShalHomer, he disclosed that it was as a result of this development that the Council as part of its regulatory role in striving to bring about international best practices in freight forwarding profession in Nigeria packaged the retreat programmed aimed at exposing the Nigerian freight forwarders to standard practices, organization, cost and benchmarks of freight forwarding using the Vestracker experience.
He said,” The freight forwarding practitioners in Nigeria, like in other countries of the world are at the heart and centre of our international practice, working for importers, exporters and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that goods are securely freighted from origin, promptly cleared from the ports and safely delivered to the destination.
Inspite of the immense contribution of freight forwarding to the socio-economic development of Nigeria, the standards of practice has been poorly rated. This is because the profession became all comers affair which is inimical to smooth and efficient clearance of goods at Nigerian ports”.
He maintained that the freight forwarders must be well exposed to standards of practice in freight forwarding profession for them to operate effectively in the ports, thereby minimizing unethical practices and promoting efficient service delivery in Nigerian ports.
He therefore encouraged them to utilize the opportunity provided by that workshop to grasp as much information on the various aspects of freight forwarding practices slated for discussion at the venue adding that,” I have no doubt in my mind that this retreat would provide a unique forum for enlightenment and deep intellectual exchange that would add vital value to our nation’s freight forwarding profession”.
Speaking journalists on the sideline of the workshop, the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Vestracker AB (Sweden), Mr. Osam Kyemenu-Sarsah stated that the although company whose product is sold across multiple countries in West Africa, South Africa, in parts of Europe and America was in Nigeria to sell its product to Nigerian freight forwarders, having realized there was a huge gap in the use of technology by the Nigerian freight forwarders to leverage their businesses, felt there was the need to build capacity first, hence the reason for the workshop.
“So, we have through the Shippers’ Council decided to organize this event. We have organized one about two weeks ago for CAFFA and then we decided through the invitation of the Shippers’ Council to organize this for other freight forwarders who weren’t able to make it.
“Now, the goal of this company is to let the freight forwarders know that they need to move away from the statusquo, that they need to move away from the truncated processes, from manual processes that they currently apply and then employ the use of international processes through the use of products not just the Vestracker but through the use of software and being able to use software to communicate with their clients, to use software to store their important documents, use software to measure their productivity so that they will grow. But if the industry is not growing, it means that the freight forwarding is not growing in general across the sub region and countries like Ghana, countries like Nigeria will suffer in trade, will suffer in logistics.
“So, it is our roles as stakeholders in the industry not only to sell product but to offer free training workshop such as this to bring everybody up to speed and to get them to apply global best practices I their businesses”, he said.
On his part, the National President, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Prince Olayiwola Shittu observed that the freight forwarders had negotiated with Vestrackers to give them a Nigerian price that would make more people be on the platform than if it was unnecessarily expensive.
According to him,” We know that ICT is expensive but just like we have done, we have just negotiated that they should give us a Nigerian price that will enable more people be on the platform than if it is unnecessarily expensive and I think they are working on it.
“The Shippers’ Council has assured us that they were going to mediate over the issue of cost. We also know that for us to have internet is very expensive but on the long run, the advantage is more than we are paying for. So, we will continue to encourage our people to go for ICT.
The workshop was put together by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council in collaboration with Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) and Vestracker AB (Sweden).
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