The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has said that rather than prioritize the meeting of revenue targets, the federal government should tend the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) towards meeting cargo throughput targets.
President of the association, Chief Eugene Nweke, during a chat with SHIPS & PORTS DAILY yesterday, said that government should base its assessment of the NCS performance on the volume of cargo handled rather than revenue generated. He said that it will galvanize efficiency in the nation’s port system if Customs is given cargo throughput targets as this will further enhance customs clearance procedures to ensure that cargo move out of the ports seamlessly.
He said: “Let us change from that idea of revenue target to cargo throughput target. We need to experiment that. Let government make a u-turn and give Customs cargo throughput target by deemphasizing revenue. Let us experiment it as a nation and see how it goes.”
Nweke said that cargo throughput targets will drive the NCS to work in collaboration with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the shipping lines to develop marketing strategies that will encourage more vessels to call at the nation’s ports.
The NAGAFF president specifically called on NPA to give incentives to shipping lines to encourage them “gather cargo to bring to Nigeria instead of diverting them to neighboring countries.”
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