– N3.8bn invested in Truck Call up system
Esther Oritse
Lagos — In a move aimed at boosting export activities, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigerian Ports Authority, and the Trucks Transit Parks have harmonized their systems to improve efficiency in Nigeria’s export trade.
Speaking at a thought leadership session themed “From Gridlock to Growth: Reimagining Port Logistics in Nigeria” hosted by Truck Transit Parks, the Managing Director, Mr. Jama Onwubuariri, said delays in moving export goods into the ports are putting shipments at risk.
Onwubuariri also said that many Nigerian export cargoes are rejected at their destinations because prolonged delays at local ports cause the goods to lose quality or become completely spoilt.
Explaining the reason for the integration, he said it was necessary because export cargoes take an unusually long time to move from their points of origin to the time they are finally shipped.
He said: “What informed the integration is that it takes too long between the time that export cargoes leave their point of origination and the time they are shipped. And what causes some of those delays is documentation. So, if the documents are not ready, you can’t bring the cargo to the quayside, you can’t put it on the ship, and it can’t move.”
“And if these are perishables, by the time they arrive sometimes containers of yams arrive in the United States and the European Union they are too bad to be brought into the country. And then there’s going to be even a cost to destroy the product, apart from the loss to the exporter.”
He disclosed that discussions with relevant authorities were aimed at shortening the documentation timeline to prevent such losses.
“So one of the things that we discussed with the Nigeria Ports Authority and the CBN is to shorten the timeline it takes to prepare this documentation,” he said.
According to him, the new system will automate and integrate payments and documentation to speed up processing.
“The payments that need to be made for the export are put on a platform and integrated with ETO, so that as you are making your booking to go to the port for an export, these documentation and payments have already been done. So that shortens the time it takes for this cargo to arrive at the port and then to be shipped. So that’s the reason for the integration,” he said.
