Mr Jonathan Nicole, President, Shippers Association of Lagos (SAL), says shippers are expecting a more conducive trade environment in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nicole said this in a statement on Saturday in Lagos and attributed the quest for a more conducive trade environment to the lingering effects of agitations, lawlessness and other negative consequences experienced in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He called on the port economic regulator to be more pro-active in curtailing and eliminating the root causes of maritime backwardness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nicole noted that the restrictions on foreign exchange would be counterproductive as a lot of industries would be grossly affected by the policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to him, import trade will suffer due to foreign exchange restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He noted that importers could hardly pay freight charges as the approved window was 5,000 dollars limit for 30 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFreight above 5,000 dollars will be held up until freight charges have been fully prepaid upfront. Goods will attract storage charges abroad for as long as the freight is pending and this type of restriction is counter-productive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHowever, it is encouraging that President Buhari promised to provide foreign exchange for industries and manufactures in 2022 because of the importance of local production of essential materials and for exports,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nicole noted that the other major challenge was that 82 per cent of the country agro-allied products are either seized or rejected by EU countries, reasons being that they are illegally exported without certification of government agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c82 per cent of export cargo is enormous. With this in view, it might grossly affect our farmers directly or indirectly without export proceeds from the receivers abroad,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nicole said that to have a good trading environment, shippers expect the Nigeria Customs Service amendment of CEMA to meet with the current realities in the World Trade Agreements. No more threats to Importers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that they were seeking peaceful co-existence in the maritime sectors, urging shipping lines and terminal operators to induce development of the maritime systems not just increasing costs as a major target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe expect reduction of cost of doing business in Nigeria and encourage entrepreneurship through direct investments from proceeds from our imports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe security of our waterways must be guaranteed. Fishing vessels should be protected to enable Nigerians supply fish into our various markets. This is local content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Gulf of Guinea has to be protected from invading pirates. Nigeria waters should be safe enough for ourselves as stakeholders in Nigeria,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nicole urged freight forwarders to be closer to cargo owners who provide them with jobs rather than becoming spies to government agencies in the name of getting rich quick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe do not want anyone or group of people to take laws into their hands in the guise of compliance to ravage the sector in 2022,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n
Mr Jonathan Nicole, President, Shippers Association of Lagos (SAL), says shippers are expecting a more conducive trade environment in 2022. Nicole said this in a statement on Saturday in Lagos and attributed the quest for a more conducive trade environment to the lingering effects of agitations, lawlessness and other negative consequences experienced in 2021. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4807,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[126],"tags":[657],"class_list":["post-39324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trade-and-industry","tag-shippers","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"yoast_head":"\n