The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has urged the Federal Government to introduce reforms to bring about efficiency and productivity at the ports.
Mr Muda Yusuf, Director-General of LCCI, made the appeal in the chamber’s 2017 Economic and Business Review document released to newsmen on Friday in Lagos.
Yusuf said that port users and operators faced major challenges and bottlenecks due to deplorable state of roads leading to the Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports as well as other infrastructure and technology breakdown.
According to him, estimates from LCCI research on Maritime Ports Reform reveals that billions of naira is lost annually due to inefficiencies and shortcomings in the nation’s ports.
He said that to enhance efficiency at the ports, there was a need to adopt and enforce an Integrated Advance Cargo and Customs Clearance System with scanning, and tracking (SST) capabilities.
Yusuf also urged the government to implement the National Trade Data Centre project that would be readily accessible to all agencies, operators and stakeholders at all times to eliminate inherent abuses.
The LCCI boss said that full implementation of a Single Window Platform was a vital reform measure with potential to create immediate positive impact in the ports.
He called for an improved private sector investment toward building and managing ports infrastructures such as roads, rail and truck parks with online call-up systems.
Yusuf urged the government to enforce the Presidential Order that reduced the number of public sector agencies/departments operating at the ports from 14 to six.
The LCCI boss appealed to shipping companies to establish adequate holding bay for empty containers to decongest the ports.
He said that from the Chamber’s research, the port could double its 2016 non-oil volume of 1.1 million 20-foot equivalent unit container transit over the period of 2018 and 2019, if the reform measures were implemented.
Yusuf said that effective implementation of the reforms would create 10,000 new jobs within the port sector and lead to approximately 800,000 additional jobs in other sectors over the same period.
