The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has lent its voice to that of stakeholders who have been clamouring for the creation of a separate ministry to oversee seaport operations in the country.
The association spoke through its Apapa chapter chairman; Dr. Fred Ajuzie, who also canvassed for the establishment of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs in Nigeria.
Dr Ajuzie disclosed this last week while fielding questions from newsmen about the state of affairs in the maritime industry.
The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has lent its voice to that of stakeholders who have been clamouring for the creation of a separate ministry to oversee seaport operations in the country.
The association spoke through its Apapa chapter chairman; Dr. Fred Ajuzie, who also canvassed for the establishment of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs in Nigeria.
Dr Ajuzie disclosed this last week while fielding questions from newsmen about the state of affairs in the maritime industry.
According to Ajuzie, the maritime sector is the second largest revenue earner for the country, it thus needs special attention from the government.
He said, “after petroleum, maritime is the next industry that accrued revenue into the federal government account so why should it be under the ministry of transport, it is demeaning”.
“Should the government create this ministry a technocrat should be appointed to man the ministry in other to put things in order”, he said.
The chairman also advocated for a forum where the Minister of Transport, Minister of Works, Terminal Operators and freight forwarders can come together to chat a better way forward because of the terrible state of the common user facilities such as the port access roads.
His words, “without good roads, goods cannot be taken out of the port, we can all see containers falling all around the place everyday how, things cannot go on this way, there should be a way forward.
“The access roads that are provided for the port 50 years ago are still what is being used today, there is supposed to be a flyover for trucks coming into the port, so that they can move directly into the port and pick whatever they want to pick from the port. For instance, from Ijora, there is supposed to be a flyover that will lead directly to Apapa port, the same thing goes for Tin Can port, there should be a flyover from Coconut down to the Tin Can port, but what we have today is trailer on queue or taking part of the road.”, he lamented.
Shipping Position Daily recalls, that a maritime group ;the Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders Importers Exporters Coalition, (SNFFIEC) had also recently charged the President and the National Assembly to consider creating Ministry of Maritime Affairs that will address remote and immediate problems affecting ports operations.
In a chat with Shipping Position Daily recently, National Coordinator of SNFFIEC, Chief Patrick Osita Chukwu explained that the maritime sector generates huge revenue for the federal government and as such the industry should not be handled with kids gloves.
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