… Challenges practitioners to embrace technology
… Wants CRFFN strengthened to issue operating license to freight forwarders
Apparently mired by the recent threats by freight forwarders to withdraw their services from the ports following unprofessional conducts of the shipping lines operating in the country, the immediate past Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Barr. Hassan Bello has advised the freight forwarders to desist from any action that would push them to withdraw their services from the ports with the intent to close down the seaports in Nigeria no matter the provocation.
Bello who gave the advice while speaking as a guest speaker at the maiden graduation ceremony for over 400 freight forwarders in an event organized by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) at the University of Lagos at the weekend argued that it was not the job of freight forwarders to close down the ports adding that their job was to negotiate internationally about trade, terms and tariffs.
He insisted that the Federal Ministry of Transportation had given a lot of attention practice of freight forwarding knowing its importance to the Nigeria economy saying “we should not also forget the role of the various professional organizations that made up this practice.”
His words, “But for today, I think we are welcoming you to this profession where you will go and clean up the profession, bring a level of professionalism. Don’t talk about closing the ports because freight forwarders don’t ever close the ports. You should be wearing dark suits, blue ties, white shirts and negotiate internationally about trade, terms and tariffs. That is the role of a freight forwarder and not going to the port to look for expected time of arrival of ships.
“I am sure this is a marching order, this is an extremely significant point today and I am so proud of CRFFN, I am so proud of the graduating students, I am proud of all those who supported this very important profession.”
While urging them to embrace technology so that no freight forwarder was to be seen in the port in the next one year, he maintained that the nation’s ports must be contactless and paperless noting that “we have to conduct our businesses in the comfort of our offices so that we can embrace technology.”
He continued, “It is an era of trade facilitation and there are various modes of trade facilitation and in every one of them, the freight forwarder is central to the success. If we are to get our infrastructure right, I am talking about the physical infrastructure, look at the condition of our port today. It is a very sad thing for us to have a port that operate only 12 hours per day when our ports are supposed to operate 24 hours each day, every time. But our ports are diurnal, that means it’s a day port, it doesn’t happen in most places. We close at 5 (pm) and then we come back the following day and that’s why we have congestions.
“If we have embraced technology, we wouldn’t be having the so-called Apapa gridlock which I think many people are beginning to realize is a man-made phenomenon. It is the role of freight forwarders to make sure that technology is brought to bear on providing solutions to movement of cargo and we have started today. So, the slate of freight forwarding, the slate of conversant, tedious, rebellious clearing processes in our port has got to stop today. You are the agents to ensure that our ports have become that.
“It is training and nothing else, we have to simplify and standardize our clearance procedures. Why would you have to go to the port and look for expected delivery time of a ship when you could do that at the comfort of your office? Why would you have to go even for the bill of lading or to look at payment or receipts or make multiple receipts when you can do it in a single platform? So, we are saying, freight forwarders are central to digitalization of our ports, simplification of our processes and procedures and it is very important that this is emphasized.
“I am sure and I am happy that this is being done so that we will have ample opportunity to embark on the issue of trade facilitation and international trade. We cannot trade amongst ourselves despite our population. The same problem India faced because of huge population, it thought that the economy could be satisfied inside with the internal market that it has but everybody is embracing technology now, everybody is seeing the benefit of international trade and international trade will strengthen our economy, international trade will bring employment to our people, it will increase our GDP and it will earn us foreign exchange.
“All these things that we are craving for, you can find solution in a means of diversification of our source of revenue and also to stop leakages in revenue for our government. It is very important, therefore, that the government itself pays particular attention to international trade and I am happy, congratulations must go to the National Assembly for passing the CRFFN Act as far back as 2007 but what is missing is the role of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council in this and history cannot be re-written. It is important you realize that the CRFFN Act is the coming together of the freight forwarders created by themselves because nobody can reform the profession of freight forwarding but the freight forwarders themselves. But then, you had support and idea thrown by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, we will never forget that.
“In any case, I have told Sam that the collection of payments should not be levied on the cargo. You can go and collect everything you want but don’t levy it on cargo so that we will not increase the cost of doing business in Nigeria. There are processes and procedures; we have platforms like the Port Community System which I want to be embraced. I know that the Nigerian Ports Authority is working with the IMO to bring out a platform for exchange of documents, simplification of documents so that we reduce the number of documents. Nigeria is heavy on documentations compared to none and that is responsible.”
While stating that the Nigeria Customs Service was also very important in this journey, Bello added that customs had modernized but they had to include other stakeholders contending that “you cannot but modernize yourself without modernizing others or giving opportunities for others to modernize.”
Speaking on the need for a few changes in the CRFFN establishment Act, he said, “I would want to see CRFFN strengthened so that it grants license exclusively to freight forwarders. The idea of customs licensing is local and that is why we say sometimes that licensed customs agents are local, that is they are ports operated while the freight forwarding practice is the bigger picture where we could have non-vessel operating common carrier or non-vessel owning common carrier whereby we have freight forwarders operating ships, we have freight forwarders operating large warehouses, they are responsible for trucking and so on and so forth.
“We want freight forwarding practice to take its strategic place in the economic mould we should all be proud of in Nigeria and this is the time.”
Photo: Barr. Hassan Bello, former Executive Secretary/CEO, Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC).
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