July 27, 2017
By Ijendu Iheaka
Stakeholders in shipping business in Eastern Nigeria have called on the federal government to quickly realize the Inland Container Depot at Ntigha in Isiala Ngwa North LGA to reduce their losses.
They said that long distance land
transportation of goods from Lagos and Onne Ports to Aba and other parts of the South-East
region increases the risk of loss of their goods.
The stakeholders made their demands
known through a Communique issued at the end of one-day seminar themed “Compliance
with global standard and best practices for enhanced international trade” in
Aba.
They further urged government to urgently
dismantle all Customs road blocks on the roads in the East and limit their
operations to the ports, where they belong.
This, they said, would help to eradicate
corruption and reduce the hardship stakeholders go through in importing goods into Nigeria.
The stakeholders also called on the
government to harmonize the operations of product certification agencies or
merge them to enable easy product certification and conformity to specified
standards.
The Shippers further asked government to act
quickly to reduce the cost of doing business at the ports and ensure the
enthronement of efficiency and effectiveness in the sector.
They enjoined shippers to ensure
strict adherence to international best trade practices to avoid grave
consequences associated with non compliance to international rules.
They said Nigerian shippers were
bound to transact international businesses with honesty, sincerity and respect
for all the parties involved, so as to sustain mutual trust and cooperation.
They praised the efforts of the Nigerian
Shippers Council as the port’s economic regulator in building capacity of
players in the maritime industry through enlightenment programmes and
encouraged them to sustain the tempo.
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