Maritime activities closed
on Thursday with the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) lamenting over declining port revenue caused by unethical practices by some inexperienced freight forwarders.
The President of NAGAFF, Dr. Eugene Nweke made the remark in an interview with The Tide source in Lagos.
“You will be surprised if you know the level of revenue lost by government as a result of some freight forwarders’ malpractices.
“When somebody is not informed, that person will lack what we call ethics and when there is no ethics, there is no professional conduct,” Nweke said.
He said that an uninformed practitioner would not be able to add value to the supply chain.
The NAGAFF president urged inexperienced freight forwarders to enrol for professional courses organised by the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) to boost their knowledge of the profession.
“There are ongoing sensitisation and enlightment of all freight forwarding practitioners by the CRFFN,’’ Nweke said.
During the week, the Comptroller-General of Customs, Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko called for synergy among regional customs organisations in the West and Central Africa, adding that the “reality of our time’’ had made such collaboration mandatory.
Dikko made the call at the opening ceremony of a three-day sub-regional meeting of the World Customs Organisation (WCO) on Wednesday in Abuja.
“With the dynamics of international trade and complex nature of border security, we must see ourselves as partners with other government agencies within and outside our borders.
“The reality of our time imposes on us the obligation of collaboration among all partner agencies of government; using Information Technology (IT) and various World Customs Organisation (WCO) tools as support,’’ the comptroller-general said.
Dikko spoke on the theme, “Coordinated Border Management, An Inclusive Approach To Connecting Stakeholders’’.
He said the Abuja meeting, which saw Nigeria, Benin, Chad, Cameroon and Niger brainstorming on a collaborative approach of combating cross-border terrorism within the region, had began to yield positive results.
The comptroller-general said this was in addition to assisting in streamlining transit trade between Nigeria and the neighbouring states of Benin and Niger.
He, however, stressed the need for capacity building, through training and retraining of officers, as well as the continuous employment of talented youths.
The WCO Secretary General, Mr Kunio Mikuriya praised the leadership role Nigeria had been playing in the sub region.
Mikuriya said that from 2011 when he first visited Abuja, till date, he had continued to marvel with the Nigerian spirit.
Also in the week under review, Mrs Jean Chiazor-Anishere, President of Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA) said that maritime disputes should not only be resolved by litigations.
Chiazor-Anishere told NAN that there should be room for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).
“By emphasising more on the fact of other means of dispute resolution like ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution), that it should not be through litigation method alone that maritime disputes can be resolved.
“As we have observed, it takes a longer time if we have to take it through litigation,’’ Chiazor-Anishere
In the week under review, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) said 17 states had keyed into its National Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP).
Mrs Irene Macfoy, Deputy Director, National Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) told our reporter that NIMASA would continue to sensitise the remaining states who had yet to key into the programme.
Mcfoy said that over 2,500 Nigerians youths were being trained in various countries through the NSDP.
“ Right now, NIMASA is training well over 2,500 students in various institutions in various countries.
“We have some students in India, we have some students in United Kingdom, we have in Romania, we have in Philippines and we also have in Egypt,” the deputy director said.
Macfoy said that the outcome of the training was to produce a large number of seafarers for the nation as well as to generate revenue for government from tax payment.
“We have conducted sensitisation in some of these states that have not keyed in. Some of them have responded, while some are yet to respond,’’ she said.
On the other hand, Mr Olu Akinsoji, a former Director-General, Government Inspector of Shipping (GIS), has urged Ship owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN) to work jointly and effectively partake in international shipping.
Akinsoji, told NAN that it would be difficult for a nation to compete in international shipping, if the ship owners were not organised.
“From my experience, I believe that a nation cannot compete favourably in international shipping if the private sector is not organised.
“This is the beginning of many more things to come