The Acting has pleaded with all aggrieved members of the Association forgive one another and overlook all imperfections of any member who tried to truncate the development agenda of the association in past year.
In his New Year message, Dr. Farinto stressed the need for all contending members to return back to the Association adding that the leadership of ANLCA is ready to forgive the bad behavior of those who went astray and accept them while upholding the tenets of the Association’s constitution.
He stated that the young freight forwarders have suffered the most owing to the crisis that bedeviled the association in the past four years and as such there is need for the young freight forwarders to be liberated in the year 2023.
On revamping the maritime industry, the acting ANLCA president called for the establishment of federal ministry of Maritime stressing that it was high time the government separate the maritime industry from the Ministry of Transportation’
He further declared that the nation stands to benefit the huge potential of the industry if allowed to perform on its own with technocrats put in place to run its affairs.
“With the scope of the transportation ministry, maritime had not attained the set goals in the last four years of the Buhari-led administration, hence the treasures of the seas left yet untapped.
“The creation of the maritime ministry agencies such as Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) if put under the maritime ministry will be able to achieve its full potential. Nigeria can only achieve greener shipping via the creation of the ministry as this would provide an opportunity to focus on the importance of a sustainable maritime sector.”
The ANLCA acting president further said a maritime ministry will support the IMO activities with focus on a greener transition of the shipping sector into a sustainable future, thereby showcasing maritime innovation, research and development, and the demonstration and deployment of new technologies.
“The Ministry of Transportation is very big, which is why they cannot oversee all the departments under it. By creating a maritime ministry, we will reduce cost, create employment and generate more revenue and bring up innovation in the industry.
“Creation of a maritime ministry would also aid Nigeria benefit more from the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) that’s yet to commence fully despite all efforts of the country to start trade in the year 2022.
“Government should take the maritime sector seriously by fixing all the dilapidated infrastructure in the sector.” He said.
Dr.Farinto described the nation’s inland waterways as a cash cow long overdue for harnessing adding that the waterways abound with economic potential capable of boosting the country’s gross domestic product.
He commended the level of work done by the Co-champion on Transportation, Funmi Folorunsho, while condemning Nigerian government’s failure to show commitment towards the actualisation of AfCFTA, which according to him, would be of great advantage to the country if properly managed.
Speaking further the ANLCA acting President called for the use of the operation of the National Single Window (NSW) at the nation’s seaports noting that the absence of the NSW platform is responsible for most of the challenges stifling trade and compounding cargo clearance process at the nation’s ports.
“Nigeria remains one of the few countries in West and Central Africa that has not fully operated the single window platform and as a result affects ease of doing business initiative and efforts aimed at improving efficiency at the port.” He said.
Dr. Farinto alleged that various agencies under the ministry of transportation now use the single window for fraudulent purposes.
In his words, ” Various agencies are now using the one single window to siphon money and spend money unnecessary, it is Customs responsibility to generate the same single window, that of NPA is not necessary that of NIMASA or Nigeria Shippers Council is not necessary everybody wants to just have its own single window and we are losing funds towards it.
“So we need to just have one, because the creation of a single window will give us enough security, ensuring that our waterways are secure and the stoppage of psychotropic substances will be eliminated.
On the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the ANLCA acting president called on the federal government to appoint core competent trained officers to pilot the affairs of the service as against current practice of appointing retired military officers for the service.
He decried the role of the Customs Police in cargo clearance, noting that the Customs Police has no role in cargo clearance and as such their activities should be confined to only disciplinary measures for the customs officers.
Dr. Farinto also urged the federal government to provide more scanners at the port stating that those available now are not enough while bemoaning the attitude of some Customs officers who despite the presence of the scanners still subject cargoes to 100 percent examination.
“Scanners are not enough the very few one that are functional, we still have situation where some security agencies do not rely on the scanning image analysis they want to subject cargo to the initial physical examination so everybody should key into the scanner image analysis report.”
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