President of African Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON); Otunba Frank Ogunojemite has kicked against plans by the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to return to the nation’s seaports.
In a chat with our correspondent, the APFFLON President noted that SON’s planned return to the port will sabotage the aims of Federal Government’s Single Window, especially as it concerns reducing the number of agencies at the ports.
He stated that there is need to adopt international best standards, instead of creating avenue for exploitation, and stressed that SON should be seen promoting synergy with other agencies, especially Customs and other stakeholders rather than being desperate to go back to port.
Ogunojemite argued that with the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) in place, SON should rather be more concerned about promoting MANCAP that will promote indigenous products that can develop the economy, rather than agitating to return to the port.
He urged SON to come out with a strong proposal that will encourage local manufacturing, adding that SON should be thinking about how government will generate money through export of local products.
According to him, “going back to port will sabotage the single window and the aim of reducing agencies at port.
“They can have affiliations with countries of origin of products’ quality control rather than wasting government resources.
“We need to adopt international best standards instead of an avenue for exploitation.
“SON should promote synergy with other agencies especially Customs and other stakeholders rather than being desperate to go back to ports…
“Even with signing of AfCFTA, the government should consult and do the analysis before taking decisions. We expected SON to talk more about promoting MANCAP rather than agitating to be stationed the at ports.
“SON should promote indigenous products that can develop our economy rather than encourage importation
“SON should come out with a strong proposal to Federal Executive Council that will encourage our local manufacturers. They should be thinking about how government will generate money through export of our own products.
“Thinking about the exchange rates and the value of Naira should be of importance to SON, one of the means to help this country is to encourage local production especially with this AfCFTA”, he advised.
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