Founder of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, Dr Boniface Aniebonam, has advised the Federal Government to refloat the Nigerian National Shipping Line.
Aniebonam made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos on Monday.
He said that nation was losing a lot of revenue to foreign shipping lines.
“We are we are not flying the nation’s flags, that is why freight is on the high side.
Founder of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, Dr Boniface Aniebonam, has advised the Federal Government to refloat the Nigerian National Shipping Line.
Aniebonam made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos on Monday.
He said that nation was losing a lot of revenue to foreign shipping lines.
“We are we are not flying the nation’s flags, that is why freight is on the high side.
“This means that Nigeria is losing a lot of money because every cargo coming into this country is paid for in overseas,’’ he said.
Aniebonam advised that government must have the will power to ensure the success of maritime business in the country.
He said that some of the laws governing the port industry like the Customs and Excise Management Act should be reviewed
Aniebonam said that some of the laws could not address the current global trends, stressing that “the Customs and Excise Management Act is anti-trade’’.
“Again you look at the import guidelines of 2002; the business of Nigeria is left in the hands of the customs.
“To the extent that if they do not like your face, they seize your cargo and that does not enhance maritime trade.
“We have not made efforts to join the global trend of logistic management, meaning that the multi-modal transport system is not operational in Nigeria.
“ The ports must be linked with the rails where cargoes can move from the conventional ports to other terminals,’’ NAN quotes him as saying.
Aniebonam said that the government had not achieved what it wanted with the concession of the ports.
“With the concession policy, doing business in the ports would have dropped by 30 per cent in the first year’’.
“The concession policy of government is supposed to reduce the cost of doing business in our ports, but what do we have today.
“The cost of doing business at the ports is higher and this has not created opportunities for competition with the neighbouring ports,’’ he said.
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