The ability to timely deliver goods and services at affordable costs to shippers has been identified as a major indicator that a nation’s logistics supply chain is globally competitive, the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), has said.
Samuel Nwakohu, registrar of the CRFFN, said while delivering a paper titled: ‘The Role of the CRFFN in Cargo Distribution and Logistics Chain Management in Nigeria’, at the 2019 National Annual Bonded Terminal/Logistics Conference, that freight forwarding facilitates trade by ensuring that goods and services are moved across international borders at competitive costs, in the right way and at the right time in line with relevant regulations.
In Nigeria, he said, port operators and users of port services have been facing several challenges, particularly with respect to the quality of services offered by freight forwarders.
He blamed these challenges on the fact that a majority of freight forwarders lacked the capacity for processing shipment efficiently.
Conventionally, he said, the role of a freight forwarder is to ensure efficient movement of goods, adding that logistics which is a major component of the supply chain is crucial to economic development of any nation.
Nwakohu further stated that Nigeria presently ranks 110 out of the 166 countries in the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI), which means that the nation’s trade quality is poor due to high cost and slow speed of clearance at ports.
“This is in spite of the fact that ECOWAS has identified Nigeria as the most active West African country in trade, accounting for 76 percent of shipping activities undertaken in the whole of West Africa,” he disclosed.
Nwakohu however said CRFFN was working with the Nigeria Shippers’ Council (NSC) and Nigerian Railway Corporation (NSC) to promote the use of Kaduna Inland Dry Port (KIDP). “This will greatly reduce costs, congestion and accidents on the road network and also create jobs and facilitate import and export trade.
On the recently signed Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA), he said that it is a wakeup call for all involved in the freight forwarding activities to explore the new opportunities that come with AFCFTA bearing in mind that promotion of trade and economic activities can only be practical when there is provision of a conducive, friendly and compliant environment”.
“Human capacity development is critical to promoting efficiency in cargo movement. Therefore, in compliance with the enabling Act, the Council has set educational standards by developing and implementing courses in Freight Forwarding, Logistics and Supply chain management which cuts across legal, dangerous goods management and ICT applications and among others,” he said.
He further disclosed that by 2021, anyone without FIATA Diploma in Freight Forwarding and Supply Chain Management qualifications will not be allowed to practice freight forwarding in Nigeria.
Ambrose Obioma Okehi, convener/CEO of Richword Communication and Media Services, said the aim of the event is to remind stakeholders and government on the need to come to the aid of private investors, who sometimes borrowed money to establish bonded terminals.
Amaka Anagor-Ewuzie
