BUSINESS

Effective logistics is key to AfCFTA—-Otunba Akomolafe

&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The importance of the logistics industry cannot be overemphasized since it is a very vital factor in all aspects of national development&period; As long as there is a need to receive&comma; assemble&comma; transfer and distribute goods and services from one place to the other&comma; the place of transport and logistics will always be preserved&period; Millions of people and goods worth billions are moved by road&comma; rail&comma; air and water throughout the world and the safety and efficient movement of same are the concern of every stakeholder&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The above was  part of the welcome address by  the National President&comma; Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce&comma; NACC&comma; Otunba Toyin Akomolafe  at the Chamber’s November 2019 breakfast meeting themed&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the Nigeria Logistics Industry&colon; Current Trends and Persisting Challenges” which  held at Lagos Continental Hotel&comma; Victoria Island&period; Akomolafe  admonished government relevant agencies and other critical stakeholders in the private sector to roll up their sleeves for  sustainable solutions to the challenges bedeviling the logistics sector&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>For an industry with Annual Growth rate of 19&period;5 percent&NewLine;according to Q1&comma; 2019 National Bureau of&NewLine;Statistics report and estimated Global logistics value of &dollar;357&period;5 billion by 2022&comma; Akomolafe&nbsp&semi; emphasized the auspiciousness of the&NewLine;breakfast deliberations saying&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;In the light of the recently signed African Continental Free Trade Agreement&NewLine;&lpar;AFCTA&rpar;&comma; and the significant opportunities it presents in various sectors&comma;&NewLine;especially for SMEs&comma; it is paramount that we revolutionise our logistics&NewLine;sector&comma; which is a huge obstacle to trade&comma; to maximize the benefits of the&NewLine;AFCTA&period; A stronger logistics sector could catalyse economic growth&comma; slash prices&NewLine;of goods and services and enable Nigeria to evolve into West Africa’s key trade&NewLine;hub&comma; if not the leading intra-African trading hub&comma;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>In concurrence with Akomolafe’s submission&comma; the guest&NewLine;speaker&comma; Dr&period; Olusola Obabori&comma;&nbsp&semi; Group&NewLine;Chief Executive Officer&comma; &nbsp&semi;RedStar Express&NewLine;Plc&comma; a global leading courier and package delivery company&comma; reputed for&NewLine;accurate&comma; real time and secured deliveries&comma; explained the company’s commitment&NewLine;to &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote; better customers experience” in view of &nbsp&semi;a better logistics service in the emerging Africa’s single economy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>He enumerated the company’s unassailable strength in Real time transportation&NewLine;and shipping tracking&period; On its part&comma; &nbsp&semi;the Director General&comma; Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency&comma;<em>NIMASA&comma; Dr&period; Dakuku Peterside <&sol;em>stated&NewLine;that government&comma; under President Buhari&comma; &nbsp&semi;is addressing&nbsp&semi;&NewLine;security challenges associated with maritime operations &nbsp&semi;through the deployment of modern technology including internal and external multi&NewLine;agencies collaborations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The DG whose&NewLine;paper was presented by Bernard Awusa said &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Nigerian Maritime domain also&NewLine;falls under the role of the Agency&comma; in accordance with its cardinal objectives&period;&NewLine;This role is accomplished through its maritime security infrastructure called the&NewLine;Integrated National Maritime Surveillance and Security Project other wise known&NewLine;as the Deep Blue Project&comma;” he stated adding that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The role NIMASA plays in&NewLine;optimizing safety in the Maritime Logistics Industry is vital to the protection&NewLine;and safety of the Maritime Environment&period; With the port and flag state&NewLine;inspections leading to a reduction in the risk of oil spillage and pollution of&NewLine;our waters&comma; and with the proper implementation and enforcement of SOLAS 1974&NewLine;and ISPS Code having led to the proper handling of cargo&comma; port equipment and&NewLine;increased security at the ports&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>He added that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We still have a long road ahead of us to be a benchmark for global safety and security practices&comma; and with the milestones we have achieved we know that we are on the right track&period;” The single window security architecture&comma; he stated&comma; will completely minimize security challenges&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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