Stakeholders in the nation’s maritime industry recently gathered at the International Maritime Press Centre/MARAN Secretariat in a talk-shop to discuss the place of logistics services in the Nigeria’s maritime sector.
Put together by the Maritime Reporters’ Association of Nigeria (MARAN) with the theme,” The Prospects and Challenges of Logistics Services as the Life-Wire of Nigeria’s Maritime Sector”, the event provided the participants drawn from the government agencies, terminal operators, logistics providers, the freight forwarders and the rest the opportunity to review the logistics sector in Nigeria as it affects the industry.
Speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Barr. Hassan Bello stated that logistics is the efficient movement of goods and services, effective utilization of so many factors adding that Nigeria needed to get her logistics right otherwise transportation which is supposed to be the mover of the economy will suffer.
Bello pointed out that was highly disappointing for Nigerians to have the situation they were having at the ports today occasioned by the gridlock simply because they relied on only one mode of transportation or linkage to the port while the port was supposed to be accessed by many modes of transportation.
He added that if there were pipelines, there wouldn’t be any need for tank farms and many tankers that were lining up on the road wouldn’t be there.
According to him, “If we have inland waterways, I understand a barge can take the loads of 20 or more trailers; we could use that also to access the ports. It is equally important because if we had connected Tincan with the rail and Apapa is connected, we have then effective road system, then we wouldn’t be having the problems we are having now.
“So, the presentation is not on roads and let me just use the opportunity to say that the federal government as we know is coming up with a revolutionary rail system, connecting all the ports with rail including the seaports, the inland ports and the other facilities. I think if we have rail, the advantage is that we could move goods at a cheaper rate; we are talking about door to door delivery of cargo.
“So, shipping is not restricted to the customs places in Nigeria but shipping is taking the product from everywhere to all the warehouses, that is door to door delivery of cargo. So, the rail is important and I think we have to come and support the federal government on its rail connectivity”.
On his part, the former Director-General of Nigerian Maritime Authority (NMA), Mr. Patrick Egesi described logistics services as the very heart and soul of the country saying that Nigerians approach logistics problem the way they do because they had not taken the country as one.
He pointed out that Apapa port was a mess because it was not planned faulting the movement of heavy duty vehicles like the trucks on roads which they ordinarily could not have been found as those roads do not have the capacity to carry them.
“The problem is the country, you have to plan a road, the Shippers’ Council had a dream, they talked about inland port but where is the road that leads to the inland ports? By the time you are clearing a good at Kano, it should be cleared at the same time at the port. The goods would have been arranged, those going to inland port are there moving there but where the road?
“The rulers of this nation overtime toyed with our unity. What made somebody united is the connection of the people, how you move and connect with your neighbours. It is so unconnected and so unplanned, how can you cover. When I first came on holidays in the 70s, I touch down in Lagos and I jumped on the train straight to Jos to go and see my people, can I do that today?
“We have to think systematically, you design the nation. In designing the nation, there should be one spirit, the spirit of a nation because once you create a road, when you are talking of logistics, you are talking of roads, you are talking of the riverine areas. And until we realize what we are toying with, not coming here to speak grammar, people should sit down and ask themselves, what is likely to come from this. You must plan, if you don’t plan well, you lose”, he said.
Also speaking, the former President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Eugene Nweke observed that as a freight forwarder, his duty as far as logistics is concerned was to understand the topography of where he was working as well as his ability to understand the usage of time since he was to deliver on time, in the right place, in the right condition and in the most economic cost.
He added,” I must consider speed, then the most convenient mode of transportation to make sure that I don’t get the right good to the wrong place. I must ensure also that whatever I do is in sync with requirements of my profession because I am rendering what is called added services to cargo”.
He however regretted that freight forwarders were not well informed even as he pointed out that some of the aspects that the freight forwarders actually needed to kick start the life wire of the maritime sector were abandoned because “today, we have high import regime as opposed to export regime.
“With high import regime, what we do here as freight forwarders is just to complement what other freight forwarders have started at port of origin. But if it is the other way round, you find out that government will not just wake up one day and say they are pushing policy on palletization to serve as a security measure. It is wrong.
“I want to say to us that the Nigerian Logistics sector as far as the freight forwarder is concerned, we are a people shortchanged of our professional abilities, we are denied, we are not attaining our maximum, our optimal”.
A maritime Lawyer, Barr. Osuala Emmanuel Nwagbara on his part believed that shipping services not targeted at the people will mean nothing pointing out that the Nigerian Shippers’ Council recently embarked on creating the inland dry ports because it wanted the shipping services to be closed to the people.
In his words,” Shipping services not targeted at the people will mean nothing. It is because lives must be bettered whether in the cities or whether in the villages or in the hamlets, that is why the idea of coming up with the inland container depots came up so that these services can go to the people.
“The problem that we have is that most of the policy makers in Nigeria do not think about the people and whenever we talk about the people, these big men who make policies see themselves as different from the people. So, we have to keep talking about it, people say, why do we always gather here to talk about these same issues. We have to keep talking about it to compel policy change”.
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