Story by Dili Utomi.
The intricacies and the tasking business environment are bringing out the best in people these days as the effects of the twin acts of the removal of subsidy from petroleum products and the floating of the Nigerian currency, the naira bite harder. More people are seeking ways to cut costs in order to improve the bottom line and so have discovered that cost cutting may not be a mono-dimensional or mono-directional endeavour, but one that also do of necessity require more collaborative efforts.
Having these in mind, the chapter executive members of the Tin Can Island Command and the Apapa Command of the Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON) mapped out a series of visits to some of the government agencies under their chapters. Their first port of call, Wednesday was the Apapa Area office of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) where they met with Muhammad Sani, National Coordinator of Ports and Borders.
The delegation was led by the Tin Can Island Command chapter chairman Abdulhakeem Ayobiojo; his vice Jubril Usman; treasurer Peter Mbamaonyeukwu; public relations officer Clinton Okoro and Suliat Adewale. The entourage from the Apapa Command chapter included chairman Ibrahim Hassan and public relations officer Peter Arinze.
Mr. Ayobiojo made his opening speech and said that “APFFLON is an agglomeration of professional freight forwarders and a collaboration of logistics providers that was established six years ago as an advocate of ease of doing business in the maritime and aviation sectors. It might interest you to know that APFFLON has chapters in all the seaports, land borders and airports in Nigeria including Abuja. We also have international corporate offices in China, UAE, UK, Canada, USA, South Africa and Rwanda. A visit to APFFLON’ website, www.apfflon.org will give you more insight about the association”.
He added “It is also through our advocacies with the media in both electronics and print that APFFLON has gained great reputation and recognition within the governmental agencies, a laudable feat that has made the present Comptroller General of Customs, Mr. Wale Adeniyi (MFR) to have given APFFLON an award with a letter of recognition which makes the Association to be a force to be reckoned with in the industry”.
“As we commence on the issues of the day, let me also express APFFLON’s appreciation of the good works and services of your organisation in combatting the influx of sub-standard goods and materials into Nigeria, since the inception of your organisation”.
The chairman concluded with “APFFLON is indeed proud of your organisation and this is one of the reasons we want to use this visitation and interaction to strengthen APFFLON’s relationship with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria in other to join forces with you to combat the importation of subatandard goods and materials”.
In his response, the SON National Coordinator, Ports and Borders, Muhammad Sani said that “SON has been the first advocate of the government’s ‘ease of doing business’ mantra”. He quipped that “we are all aware of the impact of substandard products”. He informed everyone that the Organisation’s advice has always been “if you see something, say something”.
The Coordinator enthused that APFFLON’s visit is a good development as it encourages the Organisation to do more, he added that SON is always ready to work with anyone who wants to fight the scourge of substandard products in order to protect the people of Nigeria.
Mr. Sani gave a brief description of his experience last December when he and three other Nigerians went to the United States of America on the invitation of the Department of Homeland Security for a training programme. He said that his first impression was the level of synergy among the various agencies of government at the Port that they were taken to witness their operations.
Mr. Sani noted that though the unfortunate thing about what he witnessed there was that the ship that took some cargoes to that US Port left from Nigeria and had goods that had wrong declarations, but that the various agencies there worked like a single unit with different functions as one passed the cargoes rather seamlessly to the other after performing their functions. He noted that “SON is only a mere regulator that needs the cooperation of all Nigerians for a better country”.
The entourage afterwards threw questions at the Coordinator firstly about their extent of external collaboration, Mr. Sani answered that of course that there are bilateral agreements between his agency and others outside the country, but that importers always find a way of beating the system to bring in substandard goods into the country. He noted that “truth is the same everywhere” and that we should endeavour to embrace it always as he advices that “all agencies and interest groups need proper synergy for effective operation”.
Mr. Sani also fielded questions on the recently launched Time Release Study (TRS) and said that “everything is acheivable when we really cooperate”. On the perennially occuring question of SON’s requested presence within the Ports, the Coordinator answered that “the director general of SON is liaising with the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments to meet with the vice president who is the chairman of the ease of doing business and that the deliberation on the matter is ongoing.
He was also asked about the issue of lack of proper manpower at SON, the Coordinator answered that most agencies in Nigeria are short staffed, but that SON will keep talking to the government about staffing matters. He was also asked about the little matter of sensitisation and the issuance of SONCAP. Mr. Sani answered that they are always ready to inform and educate stakeholders about what they need to do to avoid falling into the trap of the breach of the extant laws and that as for the matter of SONCAP, SONCAP by default is a grave offence as SON cannot issue the SONCAP without knowing the products and their quality as SONCAP is a factor required for the clearing of goods at the Ports.
Finally, the Coordinator also answered the question of the single window system and noted that “the SON is always ready to work with the Nigeria Customs Service on any platform no matter which one they are migrating to” as they are agencies of government required to acheive a set of goals and objectives.
The APFFLON members left the office of the Coordinator with the fulfillment that it was a rewarding visit that will engender closer ties between them and the government agency as they look forward to a more collaborative period of business relationship.
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