NPA Deepens Non-Oil Exports Through Establishment Of Export Processing Terminals In Ports, Says Bello-Koko
- Harps on collaboration Among Government Agencies
The Managing Director of The Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mr Mohammed Bello-Koko, has said the authority has deepened the Non-Oil Export through establishment of Hinterland Aggregation Points and dedicated Export Processing Terminals within the ports to facilitates easier export of cargos.
Bello-Koko disclosed this at the 2023 Edition of Zenith Bank International Trade Seminar on Non-Oil Export on Tuesday in Lagos.
Bello-Koko said “We commend Zenith Bank for continuing this discourse on Non Oil Export which is of high importance to Nigeria. What we first of all did to facilitate easier exports is that we sat back and studied the challenges and the problems.”
“Nigerian Ports Authority has the mandates of handling the logistics issues as relates to the delivery of cargos to the Ports, receiving cargoes and also ensuring that the cargoes are loaded to the vessels for voyage .
“We realised that if we do not take active action and deliberate actions the delays will continue. Then, we encourage the Terminal Operators to create Hinterland Aggregation Points and also dedicated spaces for export within the ports terminal. We need to realise that the ports are small in size and therefore, there was a capacity issue. What we did was to create an export processing terminal and the Export Processing Terminal is supposed to be a One-Stop-Shops, where you consolidate, test, weigh, brand it, package and finally straight into the ports. What Customs did for us was to create an Export Command. Which simplifies export related businesses that exporters can easily relate with.
“So far, this has been yielding results because in 2019, the ports registered about 2.8 million metric tons of export. By 2020 it was 3.8 million metric tons, 2021 it was 3.79 million metric tons, in 2022 there was a leap of over 5.1 metric tons and by this half of 2023 we have already recorded 3.5 metric tons. We should not forget that shipping actually normally picks from the middle of the year to the end of the year. We can conclude that we are going to achieve more than we recorded in 2022. It might not be too big in dollars but we can see that we are progress in the quantum of exports taking place.
“We are also achieving all these through the collaboration with Nigeria Customs and Nigeria Export Promotion Council. We have Truck Call System that we have created that ensure that only trucks that are ready to load come into the ports. We educate them to use our platforms and log into ATO, the cargoes come in and straight to the ports for voyage. We created time belt for export and also a lane for export just to ensure that we improve the speed in the export business for the exporters. In the past, the processes for export could be delayed for a month but now, within days, cargoes are off for voyage because at the Export Processing Terminals all the documentations are done.
Bello-Koko further said, “In the collaboration, we thank Lagos State Government for working with us to enforce traffic regulations especially along the ports corridors. Through this, congestion has reduced. Nigeria Police Force and the Customs are dependable partners and we commend them, concluded Mr. Bello-Koko.
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On his part, the representative of the Nigeria Customs Services Controller General, Alhaji Baba Dende said
“One of our key responsibilities of the Customs is to facilitate legitimate trade and the best thing that has happened to the export community in Nigeria is the establishment of the Lilypond Container Terminal Command that has been saddled with the responsibility of handling all export related issues.
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“When we came into board last year November, with the help of the Nigerian Ports Authority , we sat and decided on the challenges bedevilling the exporters and we came up with the template. The first thing we did was that we created a One-Stop-Shop that removes all delays that lead to the rejection and return of our cargoes.
“By doing that, we eliminated the rejection and return of cargos to the nearest minimal. We have also reduced the cost of doing export business. We have also reduced intervention by other agencies. We have also reduced multiple checks. We removed the barriers of touts extorting exporters. We have also reduced pilfering of the containers. Before the establishment of Lilypond, there were cases of pilfering of containers, the exporters here can attest and confirm that. We have handled that with the help of NPA because once containers are released, NPA has dedicated routes for the containers can follow”
Earlier, the Organiser of the Seminar, Zenith Bank PLC and African Continental Free Trade Area( ACFTA) had signed an MoU on digitisation of trade in Africa and the bank committed one million Dollar for the project.
The Group Managing Director/CEO of the Bank, Ebenezer Onyeagwu signed the MoU on behalf of bank and the Secretary-General of AfCFTA, Wamkele Mene signed for the organisation.