Former National President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Eugene Nweke has called for increased budgetary allocation to the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) and the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) for optimal performance.
Nweke who made the call recently at a forum in Lagos argued that increased budgetary allocation to NSC would propel the agency to extend its promotional policy of infrastructural/ facilities development objectives beyond the Truck Transit Parks (TTP) and the Inland Dry Ports (IDP) drive across the regions to promoting Industrial Clusters ( with a free trade zone status ) near the border crossing areas so as to boost the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) capacity buildings and competitiveness.
He further contended that NRC should go beyond rail gauge and routes enhancement and development programs to integrating and establishing freight stations along the corridor.
“These will not only add impetus to the transport sectors and the national economy, it will as well give local/indigenous practitioners the needed edge to actively participate in the AfCFTA.
“May, I also appreciate the fact, that, the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) is now awakening to the reality of its obligations, going the extra mile to do the needful. In South Africa, it is the port authority that took the responsibility of widening the port access road and integrating the dedicated trucks access road therein.
“The lingered Apapa gridlock occasioned by dilapidated port access road and poor traffic management is purely a case of administrative lapses and misdirection. In all, the sector looks promising in the second level developmental goals”, he said.
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