NACIMMA to Hold Dialogue on Shipping Gridlock, June 2014

    The national president of Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, has recently stated that the association will be holding a national dialogue session for a day purposed to address the challenges at the ports. The programme is scheduled to hold on Tuesday, June 3, 2014 at NACCIMA office in Lagos and the dialogue session will be declared open by the special guest of honour and Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, who will also deliver the keynote address. Mr. Abubakar said, “The dialogue session which is tagged, ‘Unlocking Shipping Gridlock at the Ports: Stakeholders’ Initiatives’is to provide the press and other stakeholders in the Nigerian business environment with all relevant facts and figures that will enable them to make informed decisions on the way forward for Nigeria.” He added that a communique would be issued at the end of the session and presented to the government for consideration and adoption. “In recent times, ports users have been faced with numerous challenges, ranging from the payment of huge demurrage by shipping companies, unnecessary delay in pre-arrival assessment report (PAAR), issuance/wrong computation and the perennial traffic congestion that is evident in and around the ports, among others. “It is for this reason that this stakeholders’ dialogue is being organised by NACCIMA to provide answers to a number of burning issues on the shipping gridlock at the ports, with a view to coming up with a communique that would assist the government in achieving her on-going onerous task of transformation of the ports for the overall benefit of the Nigerian society,” he stated. With the objective of furthering its advocacy role, Mr. Abubakar said, “The association is keen on the need to find a lasting solution to these issues as experienced at the ports by exporters, importers in particular and the public in general.” The anticipated paper presenters at the dialogue session are the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) and National Association of Government Approved Freight Forward (NAGAFF) while discussants are the assistant comptroller general of Customs (Zone A), Nigeria Shippers’ Council (NSC); Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agent (ANLCA) and Intrass Limited.