The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF, has said that foreigners still dominate Nigeria’s trade logistics chain involving in exportation and importation of goods to the country.
NAGAFF’s national president, Mr Oluwole Adeyemi, told the minister of industry, trade and investment, Mr Okechukwu Enalamah, at a trade and investment forum in Abuja that exclusive control and domination by foreigners, unprofessional conduct by some government agencies and uncertainties inadvertently created by government policies were the bane of the development of the maritime sector.
Adeyemibo also identified the lack of adequate infrastructure, issues of import of fake and substandard goods, as well as import bans and restriction of tradable goods, as other challenges facing the trade(import and export) chain in Nigeria.
To this end, the association called for full automation of the cargo clearance process and adherence to some global trade treaties with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), World Trade Organisation (WTO), World Customs Organisation (WCO) and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), among others.
“Trade facilitation has remained a global phenomenon which ensures the free flow of trade and the elimination of all hindrances to the smooth movement of goods and services along the transport logistics supply chain.
“Nevertheless, while other national governments ensure that all barriers to trade are promptly addressed to ensure unimpeded trade flow, the Nigeria supply chain environment is characterised by trade malpractices by the importing public, high local shipping/terminal charges, frivolous issuance of notice of under payment D/N and incessant server failure and alert system, as well as ambushing of containers on the highways by government agencies,” Adeyemi said.
He noted that these negative trends not only kill businesses and discourage investments but on the macro level, they affect the development of various sub sectors of the economy including the freight forwarding profession.
