Mr. Olorunfunmi Quadri, APFFLON MMA chapter chairman.
Story by Dili Utomi.
The Murtala Mohammed Airport Command of the Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics Of Nigeria (APFFLON) on Tuesday put together a sensitisation programme that brought all the government agencies and stakeholders together.
The event held at the hall of the Pilgrims and Cargo terminal with a lot of the agencies sending representatives to the event. Salma Lawan represented NAHCO the ground handlers, Assistant Commander of Narcotics, Tijjani Ringim represented the NDLEA, Ben Johnson of the DSS, Sunday Stephen of the EOD, Aderonke Apim of SON, ACP Ibrahim Yusuf representing the Commissioner of Police and DC Ngozika Anozie who represented the CAC of the Murtala Mohammed Airport Command were all in attendance.
The chairman of the MMA chapter of APFFLON, Mr. Olorunfunmi Quadri in his opening speech said “To further enhance our export drive, we must prioritise ease of cargo clearance vis a viz ease of doing business as agenda of FGN, as well as optimising the development of our export infrastructure, include our port and logistics systems. This will In turn ensure that our export process are attractive, efficient, reliable and competitive in line with global practice”.
“As we journey together, I urge you all to share your insights, expertise, and experience. Let us work together to identify the challenges militating against our cargo clearance and export drive, in order to come up with reliable solutions to address them now”.
It was a period of quick lecture for all the agencies present and the representative of the NDLEA, Mr. Ringim in his presentation stated that the agencies exists to protect Nigerians from the potential harmful effects of illicit drugs and substance abuse. Assistant Controller of Narcotics Ringim noted that uncontrolled use of substances have been known to cause a lot of social, economic and political damage to societies and these knowledge have acted to motivate officers of the agency to put in more work to curb the menace of hard drugs and all substance abuse.
On her part, the representative of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, Mrs. Alao-Mamman noted that the cargo terminal of the Airport is always too crowded with too many stakeholders. She said a new plan is in place to have access control so that the Pilgrims and Cargo section of the Airport can be sanitised.
DC Ngozika Anozie of the MMA Command making her presentation at the event.
DC Ngozika Anozie who represented the CAC of the Command noted that the agenda of the Command should not be different from that of the Comptroller-General of Customs which uses the policy of consolidation, collaboration and innovation to try and achieve the the core mandates of the Service. DC Anozie added that revenue risks such as pilfering and not making honest declaration are acts that rob government of the right revenue. She concluded that Customs officers are always
ready to help reduce bottlenecks and also help to promote easy access to foreign markets.
Adeola Apim of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) noted that the organsition’s primary role is to ensure that every product coming into the country or going out meet the minimum required standards. She noted that they issue SONCAP for all imported standard goods and MANCAP for outgoing standard products.
Sunday Stephens of the Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) noted that the primary responsibility of the Nigerian Police is the protection of lives and property, but that the EOD takes it a bit further at the business environment in order to further enhance safety. He admonished that at any given time, questions should be asked whenever there is something not too clear in any given environment as this will enhance safety.
Salma Mamman of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) assures that the ground handling company shall continue to ensure smooth business environment at all time within and around the Airport.
Generally, all stakeholders agree that there is a need to improve on all aspects of services as the agencies are all children of the same father (government), but of different mothers. On the part of freight forwarders and other stakeholders, the consensus is that they should abide by the extant laws that govern their operational areas so that everyone can attain mutual satisfaction on all sides.
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