By Ajibola Adedoye
Barr. Pius Akutah Executive, Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), has reiterated the primary responsibility of NSC which is to facilitate trade and to protect the interest of Nigerian Shippers across borders.
This followed the official visit by officials of International Trade Centre (ITC) and GIZ on ECOWAS Agricultural Trade (EAT) Programme at the NSC Secretariat, Lagos on Friday, May 3, 2024.
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In his submission Akutah said “Trade facilition is one of the major aspect of what we do so we are going to give you the necessary support to achieve the success that is desired”.
“In Nigeria we have various agricultural produce that are good for export, not just within the African region but around the world, this type study will help us to plan and develop more skills in terms of what we do at the Border Information Centre. Shippers Council is a partner and I want us to take our partnership to the next level that will focus on engagement with our stakeholders” he stressed.
In his submission, leader of the delegation, Richard Eke- Metoho,
Associate Program Officer, ITC, highlighted the importance of collecting data from the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, which manages a border information center at Seme-Krake border.
According to him, “We are here to collect experience from the Nigerian Shippers Council, From our interactions, we keep finding similar problem faced by traders most especially on the number of checkpoints and scanners that are really needed especially for transporters and truck drivers.
“It is still an ongoing study, the more information we collect right now, the more it will help us to make more informed decision process. At the end of the study, we will be able to develop a report that will pinpoint all the main obstacles that traders are facing.”
Adaora Nwonu, NCS’s Deputy Director, Trade Services in her submission opined that the collaboration with GIZ/ITC is a worthy one.
She said “The essence of this report is to look at issues militating against seamless cross-border trade which is something we are keen about in Nigerian Shippers’ Council. You will agree with me that collaboration works the magic of exponential growth, when there is collaboration, a lot more happens that is why this is collaboration is happening so that we can deepen our efforts across the region in dealing with these bottlenecks that are known to hamper free-flow of trade across the region.
“Of course you know we are talking about the AfCFTA, so some of these will need to be dismantled consciously and deliberately so that free trade will happen because when you facilitate trade more trades will happen which will work for everybody” she maintained.
Nwonu who assured that the report by the GIZ/ITC will be out as soon as the feedback from all stakeholders were received also disclosed that “by the time report were released, then we will move closer to a situation where the GIZ/ITC will proffer solutions and deal with those solutions. And they have promised us that they will support us in making this a reality” she concluded.
Similarly, Barr. Pius Akutah led management team also paid a working visit on port concessionaire APM Terminals Apapa on a fact finding mission which also bothers on exports.
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