Author: Saint Augustine

The Managing Director of Oceanblocks Limited, Mr. Oluwole Awonuga has called on the federal government to reverse itself on the port economic regulator status it conferred on the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) on the ground that the NSC was not better positioned to act in that status. Awonuga who made observation in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos however posited that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) who is considered the landlord as well as the owner of the nation’s seaports was more qualified to be conferred the port economic regulator than the NSC. According to him,” NPA as far…

The leader of Boko Haram sect, Abubakar Shekau, has released a new video disputing the military’s claim that he was killed or wounded by Nigerian soldiers. The 39-minute video posted on YouTube showed Shekau, flanked by two gun-wielding Boko Haram members, speaking on the group’s activities. In the video, Shekau spoke extensively in Arabic and also in Hausa, Kanuri, and English. In August, the Islamic State, which Shekau had initially pledged allegiance to, announced it had removed him as leader and appointed Abu Musab al-Barnawi as his replacement; a move Shekau rejected. Al-Barnawi is the son of the late Boko…

The Honourable Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi has charged members of the Governing Board of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to enthrone accountability and formulate broad policies aimed at achieving the set objectives of the agency. The Minister said this while inaugurating the 11 member Board at the Conference Room of the Federal Ministry of Transportation in Abuja. According to him, “your responsibilities as Governing Board members include setting operational, administrative policies in accordance with government policies and directives aimed at assisting the agency achieve its mandate”. Amaechi emphasised the need for members of…

Engr. Bede Obayi is the Director, Inspectorate and Compliance of the Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON). In this interview with our correspondent, he denies the alleged return to the ports by SON against the Federal Government’s directive in 2011, the newly launched Standard Operating Procedures by the Federal Government, interception of already released consignment on the highways by enforcement unit of SON among others. Excerpt; Some stakeholders have raised alarm alleging that your organization has returned to the port against the directive of the Federal Government. Tell me; is SON back to the seaports? Thank you very much. First, SON…

Contrary to the reports making the round that it has defied the federal government’s directive that it should be operating from outside the ports and be invited by the customs only when there is the need; the Standards Organization of Nigeria has come out to say that it has returned to the nation’s seaports. The Director, Inspectorate and Compliance Directorate, SON, Engr. Bede Obayi who made the denial in an interview with Primetime Reporters in Lagos recalled that the federal government in 2011 directed some of its agencies SON inclusive to be operating from outside the ports and to be…

The fact that the management of the AP Moller Terminal (APMT) Apapa secretly acquired the Lillypond Container Depot at Ijora with the intent of converting it to empty container depot may have been the reason why efforts to get the place and running even with the re-designation of the depot recently may have failed to yield fruit. This is so as investigations by Primetime Reporters revealed that months after the depot was carved out from the Apapa port and re-designed Tincan 2, containers as well as business activities are yet to take off at the depot, a situation that has…

The National Association of Government Approved freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has expressed its regrets at the inability of the Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi to resolve the crisis rocking the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) and get it up and running almost one year after his appointment. The Deputy National President, Headquarters NAGAFF, Chief Increase Uche who made this known in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos stated that they had hoped that the CRFFN would back to business as soon as Amaechi settled down in office but regretted that that had…

The Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has called on the Federal Government to take far reaching decisions that would ensure that Nigeria’s economy recovers fast from the current economic recession that is biting hard on its citizenry. The National Publicity Secretary of ANLCA, Dr. Kayode Farinto who made this call in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos Wednesday said this government could do by reversing the levy on rice as well as reviewing the auto policy which he said had scare aware importers from the nation’s seaports. Farinto called for the abrogation of the protectionist policies that…

The Chairman, National Association of Government Approved freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Lillypond chapter, Rev. Emmanuel Agubanze has said that resuscitation of business activities at the Lillypond Container Depot would not be made possible only by agents using the depot as the port of final discharge as claimed in some quarters. Agubanze who stated this in a chat with newsmen in Lagos said that the terminal operator of the depot should consider giving incentives to the importers and their agents as a way of attracting business to the depot adding that it is only when this is done that agents as well…

The National Director, Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Nigeria, Mr. Paul Ndibe has described the National Transport Commission as the answer to various transportation challenges facing Nigeria as a country. Ndibe who disclosed this in an interview with Primetime Reporters in Lagos posited that if the National Transport Commission bill pending before the National Assembly is passed, it would necessarily provide for the sub sects in the transportation sector of the economy. He maintained that because the bill was yet to be passed as it was still being worked upon at the National Assembly, one might not be…