Story by Dili Utomi.
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Port accessibility, ease and cost of doing business, corruption, efficiency in operation and many more issues formed the topics of discussion as freight forwarders, truck owners, drivers, officials of the Nigerian Ports Authority as well as staff members of the electronic traffic control operators, the Trucks Transit Parks Limited gathered at the Creek road office of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), Apapa.
The occasion is the Town Hall meeting put together by the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) and AMATO with all stakeholders gathered to dissect the various militating factors that are creating hurdles and limiting the growth of the logistics chain around the maritime sector.
NAGAFF had such personalities as Chief Eugene Nweke, Chief Afam Chukwuma, Dr. Arthur Igwilo, Chief Patrick Ogboo and Mr. Ifeanyi Emoh among others in attendance while AMATO had Chief Remi Ogungbemi, Mr. Seyi Mordecai Adekanbi while the Port Manager of the Apapa Port of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Mr. Charles Okaga was at the meeting as well as Bukola Fayese and Adekunle Ojo of the TTP.
The ball was set rolling on the discussion with the Convener of the meeting, Dr. Igwilo opening the floor for contributions, he stated that “It is no longer news that the cost of doing business in Nigeria is still high, no thanks to the current exchange rate and high inflation, but there are other contributory factors that force the cost of doing business to be high especially in Lagos: That is why we are here”. He added that “Traffic has been identified as one of the extraneous contributory factors. Others are hostilities due to extortion both-by traffic managers and none state actors (agberos) and poor road infrastructure (our port access roads are due for expansion). Lately, we noticed the proliferation of check points targeted at trucks carrying containers. we desire to approach this hydra-headed traffic malaise differently, hence this Townhall meeting”.
Chief Afam Chukwuma noted that ” we are here to proffer solutions to the problems affecting our businesses and in that vein we should be conscious of the two basic things that are critical to our business, these are cost and timeliness. The industry is a very serious one and every mistake affects it one way or the other”.
Chief Eugene Nweke in his contribution says that the process of cargo movement is an international business and so long as the cargo arrives from one country to the other and has not arrived to its destined warehouse for whatever reason, it is seen as not having met the required international standard. The factors that impinge on the movement of cargo should be eliminated to facilitate efficiency in cargo movement and to meet the international standard.
One of the representatives of the Trucks Transit Parks (TTP) Adekunle Ojo stated in his contribution that they are at the verge of launching the Electronic Interchange Transaction Network (EITN) which will provide a tag for trucks to access the Ports.
The Apapa Port Manager of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Mr. Charles Okaga in his submission said that we as a people have allowed the human factor to affect all our activities thereby creating so much inefficiencies within the system, he called for concerted efforts at playing by the laid down procedures as he noted that his Authority is always ready to help the TTP achieve its objective of proper traffic control.
Seyi Mordecai Adekanbi in his contribution says that ” In a nutshell, I will say, that for the continuity of commendable developments, all stakeholders in the maritime transport industry must recognise the Trucking community as key stakeholders that must be carried along in the formulation of any policy that affects the transport sub-sector of the maritime industry”.
In a summary, the participants recognised that there are so many factors that have militatated against the growth of businesses in the subsector, but that these factors are mainly human engineered and can easily be dealt with. They also seem to agree that the only problem is the will to tackle these problems owing to vested interests and clearly sounded it all out that if our’s is a nation that desires growth and stability, we must do those things that engender economic growth and also work to remove those practises that hinder it.
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