The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) has appealed to all practitioners, stakeholders, port operators as well as port users to cooperate with it in addressing issues of cost and speed of clearance processes leading to low performance of the sector in Nigeria.
The Registrar of the Council, Barr. Samuel Nwakohu who made the appeal in a lecture entitled, “The Role of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) in Cargo Movement/Logistics”, delivered at the 2nd Annual Bonded Terminal/Logistics Conference held in Lagos by Richword Communications and Media Services recalled that the recent Logistics Performance Index (LPI) developed by the World Bank measured the efficiency of the international supply chains by providing feedback on logistics friendliness of a country.
Nwakohu who was represented by the Senior Training Officer of the Council, Mrs. Florence Egbuna pointed out that Nigeria was performing very low going by the index having ranked 110 out of the 166 countries on the ranking putting it behind other African countries like Kenya, Ghana among others.
He noted that the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) identified Nigeria as the most active West Africa country in trade adding that 76% of shipping activities undertaken in the whole of West Africa was done in Nigeria yet the country ranked low in quality of trade.
According to him, “Some of the identified causes of low performance include the cost and speed of clearance processes. On this note, the Council appealing to all practitioners, stakeholders, port operators and port users to cooperate with the Council in addressing these challenges. Participants in the Council’s range of programmes will raise skills and competencies and moreover empower the freight forwarders with the required capacity to fast track cargo movement.”
The Registrar observed that it was no longer news that President Muhammadu Buhari had recently endorsed the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement which he said focused on increasing intra-Africa trade saying “this is a wakeup call for all involved in freight forwarding activities to explore the new opportunities that come with AfCFTA bearing in mind that promotion of trade and economic activities can only be practical when there is provision of a conducive, friendly and compliant environment.”
He added that the Council was presently working with the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) to promote the use of Kaduna Inland Dry Port which according to him would reduce costs, congestion and accidents on the road network, create jobs and facilitate trade while assuring that with consistent and dedicated implementation of the Council’s mandate, the freight forwarding industry in Nigeria would be sanitized which would in turn impact positively on the nation’s economy.
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