In a bid to end the tradition of empty containers leaving the shores of Nigeria, the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) have agreed to a partnership to drive export volume.
This partnership was reinforced on Thursday when the Executive Secretary (ES) Nigerian Shippers Council Mr. Hassan Bello paid a courtesy visit to the Executive Director/CEO the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) Mr. Olusegun Awolowo.
In his remarks, the Executive Secretary, NSC, Hassan Bello, stressed that unless Nigeria drives her export volume now, the economy will be worse for it in the near future, adding that out of ten containers that come into Nigeria laden, only two or three are taken out with exports.
“We can do even more. We can do even twelve.The NSC is facilitating export by cutting export charges to the barest minimum, and the digitisation of the ports and ensuring multi-modal transportation access to the ports have commenced”.
He said once these happen, the port’s efficiency will improve and the dwell time for cargo will reduce to six days maximum.
He stated that, “We have to incentivize the exporters. We need to bring the incentives in a total package. Even our terminals are not export friendly. The cost of export is higher than our competitors. The government must be conscious and concerted by this” he stated.
He stated that, “Nigeria has no option but to look at exports. The volatility, uncertainty and unpredictability of oil has been exposed. We have learnt our lessons. If we didn’t go back to producing rice locally, when the pandemic came, China and Thailand were no longer shipping rice to us so we wouldn’t have had rice.
“We have 63 products which we may have a competitive edge for export”, he stated.
For his part, the CEO NEPC Awolowo, said his agency has identified 22 export commodities that can help them reverse the ugly trend of containers going back empty from Nigeria.
“Nigeria must refocus the economy to the point where we don’t need oil to survive. But the message is sinking because the presidency is also responding” he said.
He indicated that his agency wants to key into inland container depots across the country to drive exports starting with the Kaduna dry port.
