The Nigerian Shippers’ Council has cleared the air on the controversies surrounding the cargo palletisation policy of the Federal Government. He said the policy has come to stay.
The Council’s Executive Secretary; Mr Hassan Bello made the declaration yesterday at a parley with stakeholders on the need for seamless operations at the Inland Dry Ports. He told industry stakeholders that there is no going back on the policy,
Apparently reacting to a statement credited to him, while speaking at the opening of the second edition of Multimodal West Africa exhibition in Lagos on Tuesday, the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Shippers’ Council explained that palletisation of cargoes is a policy of the Federal Government.
Bello told the gartering of industry stakeholders that it was important to clarify the misconception. "I think I will use this opportunity to clarify the issue of palletisation, the palletisation issue is already on, there is no going back on that’’.
Explaining further, the Shippers’ Council boss added that : ‘’All we said was that because this policy would have been on ground for a long time, but the shippers’ council just said no, there is need for the buy-in of critical stakeholders and that we will rally stakeholders in our meetings and we took the concern of the stakeholders to the appropriate authorities’’.
Speaking emphatically, Bello stated that: "Palletisation is not suspended, it has already started, there is no going back on that’’.
He also assured that, ‘’however the concerns of the critical stakeholders would always be noted and we will ensure that some of the issues are addressed’’.
Shipping Position Daily recalls that Minister of Finance; Mrs Kemi Adeosun, had last year, said the palletisation of cargoes coming into Nigeria would aid manual examination of consignment while the country awaits the acquisition and installation of functional scanners at the seaports and land borders.
The minister had also given January 1, 2018 as the take-off date for the new policy.
Speaking at a workshop on revised import and export guidelines organised by the Ministry of Finance in Lagos, she had asked all stakeholders directly involved in the export and import trade value chains to become acquainted with export and import guidelines to avoid sanction.
“In order to ensure quick clearance of import at the Nigerian ports and borders, the additional responsibilities assigned to the relevant government agencies would be carried out in a well-coordinated and collaborated manner, while the sanctions specified for non-compliance with the provisions of the guidelines would be strictly and impartially applied across board’’, she said.
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