By Anthony Areh
Dr Magdalene Ajani, newly-appointed Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transportation, on Tuesday commended the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) for promoting the establishment of Vehicle Transit Areas (VTA).
Mrs Rakiya Zubairu, Head, Public Relations, NSC, made this known in a statement in Lagos.
She said that Ajani also commended the council for other initiatives aimed at trade facilitation, to boost the nation’s economy and deliver high quality service to shippers.
Ajani, according to the statement, spoke in response to the briefing she received from Mr Hassan Bello, Executive Secretary of the council.
Bello had led a team of top management staff to the Federal Ministry of Transportation in Abuja.
Ajani encouraged the management to press ahead with the impressive work they were doing, assuring them of the ministry’s support.
“The prospect of the actualisation of VTAs in various parts of Nigeria leading to a significant reduction of road traffic accidents is very commendable.
“The VTAs will create sanity on the roads while generating employment.
“The National Single Window is also very important for the development of the maritime sector in Nigeria as it will ease the business of shipping,” she said.
The permanent secretary commended heads of maritime agencies their monthly meeting during which issues within the industry are discussed exhaustively with a view to finding solutions.
“The Ministry expects synergy and collaboration amongst all the agencies under its supervision in order to deliver on the mandate of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“We promise that the ministry will assist Shippers’ Council to actualise its goals,” she said.
She pointed out the importance of further synergy between the Nigerian Railway Corporation and Shippers Council in transportation of containers to and from the ports.
In his presentation, Bello spoke about various ongoing projects and initiatives that the council had embarked upon.
He told the permanent secretary about the push for 24-hour port operations, efforts to address congestion at the ports, multimodal transportation of goods to and from the ports and digitalisation.
