The General Manager, Western Ports, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Chief Michael Ajayi has solicited the assistance of the leadership of the freight forwarding associations operating at the nation’s seaport in the planned enforcement of the minimum standard for all trucks doing business at all ports in the Western Zone of NPA.
Ajayi who made this known on Thursday when he led the management of the zone on a courtesy visit to the headquarters of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) said the visit became necessary to solicit the understanding of the leadership of the association who will in turn sensitize its members of the importance of the project which he said was intended to save the lives of the citizens plying the roads as well as protect the cargo of consignees.
He recalled the terrible accidents which had been recorded in the past leading to loss of lives of innocent road users as well as destruction of properties adding that the port as a prime major stakeholder in the industry could not stay aloof while the carnage continue with reckless abandon.
“Some of the accidents are due to the carelessness of drivers, bad roads and neglect of safety rules as well as lack of proper maintenance of trucks used for the conveyance of cargo. To stem this ugly trend as we traverse 2016, the Managing Director of NPA, Mallam Habib Abdullahi has given a marching order that we should take all steps to ensure an accident free 2016.
“In carrying out this directive, the management of Western Ports has come up with an action plan for the registration and certification of all trucks doing business in the ports. The registration exercise and road worthiness certification commenced effectively on 1st February, 2016. The exercise which is designed to be a continuous one is designed to achieve 4 main objectives”.
The Western Ports boss listed the objectives to include affording the NPA the opportunity of data collation for traffic/infrastructure planning purpose, facilitate identification of every truck through a data base to prevent sharp practices like theft and diversion cargo, serve as a security measure to prevent any threat or security breach to the port in compliance with the ISPS code and serve as a platform to ensure minimum standard for truck entering the port in compliance with international safety standards .
He further disclosed that the applicable annual administrative fee for truck registration is ten thousand naira (N10, 000. 00).
According to him,” Information concerning the registration number, ownership address and annual sticker number issued would be made available on NPA portal to advice terminal operators and clearing agents on the trucks that are cleared to access the ports.
“To this end, we employ your esteemed leadership to inform all your members not to patronize any truck without NPA sticker as such truck has not passed through our road worthiness certification test. In fact, with effect from 1st of March, 2016, all trucks without sticker will not be allowed into the ports”.
Responding, the founder of NAGAFF, Dr. Boniface Aniebonam praised the bold step taken by the General Manager Western Ports adding that as far as he could recall, Chief Ajayi was the first NPA official to have made such an official visit to the association’s headquarters even as he said that the visit would go a long way in fostering a more cordial relationship between the two bodies.
He advised the GM to extend the visit to other freight forwarding associations as well as to the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) as a way of getting result for most of the policies of the authority better appreciated as the associations have a way the make things easier for government agencies that seek to cooperate with them.
The NAGAFF founder advised the management of NPA to profile those doing business at the port in collaboration with the leadership of the various freight forwarding associations son as to check illegal entry to the ports adding that,” it is those who are criminally minded who gain access to the port at the detriment of the genuine operators”, a situation he said could be arrested with cooperation of the freight forwarding associations through their register of membership.
On a related development, the management of the Western Ports of NPA had earlier paid a similar visit to the Headquarters of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) where he also extended the Olive branch to the association on enforcement of the minimum standards for trucks operating at the nation’s seaport with the assurances of maximum cooperation from the leadership of ANLCA.
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