THE Nigerian Shippers’ Council, NSC, has listed lack of indigenous shipping lines as one of the factors limiting exports from Nigeria. Hassan Bello, executive secretary, NSC, said the council was championing the course to establish Nigerian vessel fleet to transport Nigerian cargoes, adding that when this is achieved, it would reduce the high freight rate currently experienced by Nigerian shippers.

Bello stated this while presenting a paper titled: “The Role of Port Economic Regulator in Promoting Export Trade in Nigeria” at the first anniversary lectures and honours organised by Searchlight Media Concept, publishers of Global Searchlight Magazine in Lagos.

Bello, who was represented by Ignatius Nweke, director, Special Duty, NSC, said the council equally carried out timely intervention in the implementation of the container weighing policy to ensure that unnecessary expenses were not transferred to shippers. On export promotion, he said that the council aimed to ensure zero rejection of Nigeria’s produce by organising regular sensitisation and enlightenment programmes to educate shippers on exports best practices.

According to him, interventions from the council have resulted in increase in exports in the last quarter of 2017. Citing data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the NSC boss noted that the nation recorded N3.9billion worth of exports in the last quarter of 2017, adding that the recorded value  grew by 9.35 per cent over the volume recorded in the third quarter of the same year and 31.27 per cent  over the one recorded in the  same period of the previous year. He added that agricultural exports grew in value by 54.9 per cent, amounting to N44.7billion compared to N16.5billion in the same period in 2016.

Raw materials in the fourth quarter in 2017 were 71.7 per cent more in value than the fourth quarter of 2016. Solid minerals, manufactured goods exports recorded N309.25billion in the fourth quarter of 2017 while crude oil and other oil products grew over the 2016 export figure by 57.6 per cent and 57.75 per cent, respectively, he noted.

On what the council was doing about haulage cost that had risen by 600 per cent in the last few months, he said that the NSC had been meeting with relevant stakeholders on reducing the cost. He said truck operators took advantage of the bad state of the roads to increase cost, saying that the council would revert to the former charge after the roads had been fixed.

– Aug. 24, 2018 @ 17:27 GMT |