By Steve Agbota
Acting President of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Dr. Kayode Farinto, has urged aggrieved members of the association to overlook and forgive all imperfections of those who tried to truncate the development agenda of the association in 2022.
In his new year message, the acting president said there was need for all warring members to return to the warm embrace of the body, even as he said the leadership of the association was ready to accept and forgive the misdeeds of those who have gone astray while upholding the tenets of the association constitution.
Farinto stated that the young freight forwarders have suffered the most owing to the crisis that bedeviled the association in the past four years and as such there is need for the young freight forwarders to be liberated in the year 2023.
Farinto also called on the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency establish the Federal Ministry of Maritime, as a bold step forward to revamp the maritime industry in Nigeria.
He stressed that it was high time the government stopped lumping the maritime industry with the Ministry of Transportation, noting that it had huge potential if allowed to perform on its own with technocrats put in place to run its affairs.
He noted that with the scope of the transportation ministry, maritime had not attained the set goals in the last four years of the Buhari-led administration, hence the treasures of the seas left yet untapped.
He further explained that with the creation of the maritime ministry agencies such as Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) if put under the maritime ministry will be able to achieve its full potential.
However, he described the nation’s inland waterways as a cash cow long overdue for harnessing. He stressed that the waterways abound with economic potential capable of boosting the country’s gross domestic product.
Farinto said Nigeria can only achieve greener shipping via the creation of the ministry, he said the ministry would provide an opportunity to focus on the importance of a sustainable maritime sector. The ANLCA helmsman opined that the maritime ministry will support the IMO activities with focus on a greener transition of the shipping sector into a sustainable future, thereby showcasing maritime innovation, research and development, and the demonstration and deployment of new technologies.
He said: “The Ministry of Transportation is very big, which is why they cannot oversee all the departments under it. By creating a maritime ministry, we will reduce cost, create employment and generate more revenue and bring up innovation in the industry.
“Government should take the maritime sector seriously by fixing all the dilapidated infrastructure in the industry.”
He informed that the creation of a maritime ministry would also aid Nigeria African Continental Free Trade Agreement trade that’s yet to begin despite all efforts of the country to begin trade in the year 2022. He although praised the level of work done by the Co-champion on Transportation, Mrs. Funmi Folorunsho, but lamented that the Nigerian government had failed to show commitment towards the actualisation of AfCFTA, which according to him, would be of great advantage to the country if properly managed.
The ANLCA acting President called for the use of the operation of the National Single Window (NSW), explaining that the absence of the Single Window platform is responsible for most of the challenges stifling trade and compounding cargo clearance process at the nation’s seaports. He informed that Nigeria remains one of the few countries in West and Central Africa that has not fully operated the single window platform and as a result affects ease of doing business initiative and efforts aimed at improving efficiency at the port.