Author: Saint Augustine

The Managing Director, Cowry Asset Management Limited, Mr. Johnson Chukwu has faulted calls in some quarters for the Federal Government to increase taxes payable in the country as a way of funding the 2016 budget proposal. Chukwu who was not particularly happy with the call from the National Assembly for all international calls to be taxed as a way of financing the budget said this difficult situation the Nigerian economy had found itself did not call for imposition of more taxes rather government should do more to encourage consumption among the citizens, that way the economy would rebound. He said,”…

The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has given an indication of its preparedness to launch Standard Operating Procedure for all service providers including government agencies operating at the Nigerian ports soon. The Assistant Director Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement, Chief Cajethan Agu who disclosed this while fielding questions from stakeholders at a one day sensitization seminar organized by the NSC in Lagos for freight forwarders with the theme,”Industry Best practices and Ethical Standard Requirements in the Freight Forwarding Profession”, said the move was to improved standard of doing business predictability at the port. Agu however informed that the move was a joint…

The last may not have been heard of the appointment of a former governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as the national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), as some senators from the South-east and South-south have threatened to dump the party. Nigerian Tribune reported that, at least 20 senators have indicated they would leave the PDP if Sheriff continues in office. It was also gathered that over 50 members of the House of Representatives, who are opposed to the development, are already in talks about their next line of action. The potential defectors may pitch their…

The Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, Maritime Agencies’ Chief Executives and seasoned industry stakeholders are expected to be in attendance at a two-day conference organised by Maritime Correspondents Organisation of Nigeria (MARCON), a body of experienced maritime journalists. The event tagged ”Improved Ports Efficiency in Nigeria: Catalyst for Economic Growth” comes up on Thursday 25th and Friday 26th 2016 at Rockview Hotel Apapa , Lagos State South West Nigeria. The Minister, who is the Special Guest of Honour is expected to lead other top shots in the transport sector through sessions that will engender an awakening on ports sensitivity…

The Managing Director, Cowry Asset Management Limited, Mr. Johnson Chukwu has given reasons why the 2016 budget proposal of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will be difficult to implement. Chukwu was speaking in an interview with Primetime Reporters in his office in Lagos recently said that a budget predicated on $38 per barrel when the oil price was between $28 and $30 per barrel would be difficult to implement. He contended that this was so because if government was unable to achieve its price target which was very unlikely as it stood presently, then the revenue projection of about $820…

Mr. Hassan Bello is the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC). In this interview with our correspondent in Lagos on Tuesday, he bares his mind on consolidation of freight forwarding comp-anies and practitioners, the National Single Window among other salient issues plaguing the maritime industry. Excerpt; There has been this feud between the amongst the freight forwarding associations especially on which association is more beneficial to the government and which is superior to the other, a development which has elicited concerns from major stakeholders in the industry. What is the Council doing as the…

The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mallam Habib Abdullahi has said the organisation will welcome the infusion of Japanese advanced technology in critical areas of infrastructural development in form of Public Private Partnership. Speaking yesterday at the NPA headquarters, the representative of the Managing Director and the General Manager Capital Projects, Engr. Rufai Mohammed assured the visiting Japanese delegation that the Management of NPA would expeditiously list out technical and infrastructural needs of the organisation, since the Japanese government through the visitor had promised to help. Engr. Mohammed added that NPA was currently involved in massive infrastructural…

The Principal Partner, Akabogu and Associates, Mr. Emeka Akabogu has called for a compulsory enforcement of standards of practice for freight forwarders operating in the Nigerian ports. Akabogu who made this call while presenting a paper titled,” Industry Best Practices and Ethical Standard Requirements in Freight Forwarding in Nigeria”, at a one day sensitization seminar for freight forwarders organized by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council in Lagos on Thursday further advocated that no customs broker should be allowed to practice without meeting the licensing requirements under all extant laws including the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) and the Council for…

A financial expert, Mr. Johnson Chukwu has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to institutionalize and codify new laws that would create room for an enduring and sustainable anti-corruption war in the country. Speaking in an interview with Primetime Reporters in Lagos, Chukwu stated that there was nothing wrong with the current fight against corruption in Nigeria by Muhammadu Buhari’s administration as that was the premise upon which Nigerians elected him as their President. He disclosed that beyond the physical implementation of the war against corruption, there were visible policy changes as the President had forwarded two bills to the National…

The 2016 edition of the Oil Trading and Logistics (OTL) Africa Downstream week has been scheduled to hold from the 23rd to 26th October, 2016 in Lagos. Announcing the dates in a statement released at the International Petroleum Week in London on Thursday, Chairman of OTL Downstream Development in Africa Ltd./Gte., Mr. Emeka Akabogu stated that this year’s edition is the 10th edition thus a milestone for the entire OTL Africa Downstream team. The statement quoted Akabogu as saying that the event had global interest in this year’s edition because Africa Market fundamentals remained strong when compared with other global…