The former Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, NSC, Barr. Hassan Bello has said that the deployment of the International Cargo Tracking Note, ICTN is imperative as it will further add to the efforts on improving port efficiency.
Bello was of the view that the shipping industry stakeholders should extend a hand of fellowship to the NSC management in the efforts to introduce the ICTN in the ports.
Speaking to newsmen, Bello explained that the relevance of the ICTN in achieving efficiency, particularly transparency cannot be overemphasized.
According to him, ICTN will also be a regulatory tool for the NSC since for every cargo coming into the country, the Bill of Lading must contain the ICTN number.
He also added that it will boost revenue because of its transparent nature.
“Nobody can under-declare cargo or conceal anything with the deployment of ICTN.
“ICTN will reveal the nature of the cargo, it will reveal the quality of the cargo. This is information you need to pass to SON, NDLEA”, he said.
He further pointed out that with ICTN in place, some agencies do not need to maintain physical presence at the ports, as NSC will share all this information to them.
He described ICTN as very significant because of its invaluable data generation nature.
Besides, Bello said, ICTN will ease congestion, “because you will know the type of cargo coming in, one or two months in advance. This will make NPA and others ready for the cargo. It is not when the ship is at anchorage we will start asking when the cargo is coming.
“With ICTN, you have data for planning. If we have it in export, that will regularize things and make export easier.”
He called on the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy to restate trade facilitation with ICTN.
“That is one thing the blue economy will need immediately”, he said.
Bello further called on the Ministry to sanitise everything and make every process technology driven.
This was when he observed that some freight forwarders go from one bank to another using tellers to make payments.
He explained that the National Single Window will address this issue since “it is a one-stop shop where transactions are done and you don’t need to go to the port.”
He also opined that the Ministry must ensure that the nation’s ports work 24 hours, adding that the Ministry can collaborate with the Customs to achieve this.
It would be recalled that the NSC Executive Secretary, Barr. Pius Akutah, had said that the agency had unveiled plans to kick off the implementation of the ICTN.
Akutah had described ICTN as an automated scheme, “which can determine the type and volume of cargo that are imported into the country through seaports within a specific period.
“The CTN will also boost Nigeria’s security and enhance the Federal Government’s revenue from the seaports.
“The commencement of the International Cargo Tracking Note is in line with President Tinubu’s administration of renewed Hope Agenda, which seeks to diversify the revenue base of Nigeria’s economy”, he said.
Photo: Barr. Hassan Bello, former Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers’ Council.
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