The Nigerian Shippers’ Council has expressed willingness to support the International Trade Centre to address some of the challenges at border crossing points.
Speaking during a courtesy visit to the NSC headquarters in Lagos recently, Associate Program Officer, ITC, Richard Eke-Metoho, who led the delegation, said the visit to the council was part of the team’s ongoing study to identify areas for improvement in trade facilitation.
He highlighted the importance of collecting data from the NSC, which manages a border information centre at Seme-Krake Border.
ITC is a co-implementer under the Economic Community of West African States Agricultural Trade Programme, which aims to improve intra-regional agricultural trade at border crossing points.
According to Eke-Metoho, one of the identified challenges faced by traders and truck drivers using the Seme-Krake Border, a key trade route, is the number of checkpoints.
He said information collected by the team would not only identify existing trade facilitation measures that were working effectively but also led to the development of new trade facilitation measures that address the challenges faced by traders.
“We are here to collect experience from the Nigerian Shippers Council. From our interactions with the NSC, we kept finding similar problems faced by traders, most especially with the number of checkpoints, especially for transporters and truck drivers.
“It is still an ongoing study. The more information we collect right now, the more it will help us make a more informed decision process. At the end of the study, we would be able to develop a report that would pinpoint all the main obstacles that traders are facing,” he elucidated.
According to the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Pius Akutah, trade facilitation is a major initiative of the council, which is pledging to provide the necessary support to ensure the success of the study.
He noted that the study would strengthen the NSC’s ability to formalise informal trade in border areas, gather statistics, and plan for trade volumes.
Akutah highlighted that the focus of the study, which was on agricultural products, was a significant area of potential for Nigeria, not only in the African region but also globally.
He expressed optimism that the study would help develop skills and improve operations at the Border Information Centre managed by the council.
“Trade facilitation is one of the major aspects of what we do. So, we are going to give you the necessary support to achieve the success that is desired,” he assured the ITC team.
