Executive Secretary of Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Hassan Bello has decried the poor standards of freight forwarding practice in Nigeria despite the sector’s contribution to the nation’s socio economic development.
Bello who was speaking at a one-day train the trainer retreat for freight forwarders organised by the council yesterday in Lagos, said the lack of standard in the profession was because freight forwarding practice has over the years become an all-comer affair, which he said is inimical to smooth and efficient clearance of goods at the ports.
Represented by the Director, Commercial Shipping Services, Dabney Shal-Homa at the event held in collaboration with the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) and Vestraker – a Ghanaian firm, Bello said the NSC organised the programme as part of its effort to promote capacity building and bring about international best practice in the sector.
He maintained that for practitioners to operate effectively at the ports, they must be exposed to standards of practice in the profession, which he said will help in minimizing unethical conducts and promote efficient service delivery.
“It is in this light that the Shipper’s Council as part of its regulatory mandate in striving to bring about International best practices in freight forwarding profession in Nigeria packaged this retreat programme that would expose our freight forwarders to standard practices, organisation, cost and benchmarks of freight forwarding using the vestracker experience,” he said.
Speaking at the event, National President, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Prince Olayiwola Shittu said failure of practitioners to embrace ICT was a major factor responsible for poor standard in the profession.
He charged operators to seek knowledge to help them build and adopt professional practice in the sector.
He said, “People don’t like training, they don’t want to spend their money for training but for them to grow, they must seek knowledge.”
Coordinator of Vestraker, Osam Kyemenu said the firm was in Nigeria to help build capacity and help freight forwarders improve and apply best global standards to their business through the use of technology.
“Our main goal is to let the freight forwarding companies know that they need to move away from the status quo and employ international process through the use of technology. Being able to use software to communicate, store important document and measure their productivity would help practitioners grow,” he said.
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