Maritime agencies enter agreement to automate internal processes

Government agencies under the Federal Ministry of Transportation (FMOT), have reached an agreement to digitalise their internal processes and maintain focus on actualising the National Single Window regime in the nation’s transportation sector.

This agreement was reached at the fourth Heads of Maritime Agencies meeting held recently in Lagos.

Addressing newsmen after the meeting, Sam Nwakohu, the registrar of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), said that full automation of the internal processes of the various agencies within the FMoT is a pre-requisite to achieving the much anticipated National Single Window regime in the sector.

Nwakohu, who was the chairman of the meeting, said the chief executive officers of the various agencies have also agreed on timelines to achieve full automation of internal processes.

“We have agreed that all agencies under the Ministry of Transportation should as a matter of priority, attain full automation. This process will be well-coordinated and we also gave ourselves timelines to achieve this,” he said.

On his part, Bashir Jamoh, the director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), said that NIMASA automation processes have reached over 80 percent.

Jamoh also gave the assurance that NIMASA’s commitment to automation is to reduce human interface, while also plugging revenue leakages in the system.

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“In line with the Federal Government’s Executive Order on Ease of Doing Business, we are committed to full automation to attain reduction of human interface in the majority of our transactions with our stakeholders and this is in our bid to ensure transparency and professionalism which the sector requires to grow. The goal is to align with the National Single Window initiative when all the internal processes of the various Agencies have been concluded,” he said.

On the high freight rate on Nigerian-bound goods occasioned by the war risk insurance, the NIMASA DG said that the agency would focus on creating the awareness, while also canvassing the International Community for a review as Nigeria has been removed from the global piracy list.

“It may interest you to know that by the end of this quarter, which is the end of June, we would have recorded another milestone as we are yet to record a single attack or incident of maritime insecurity on our waters. Therefore, we will keep advocating for the total removal of war risk insurance by the international community, so that Nigerians can benefit from that,” Jamoh added.

Recall that the maiden edition of the meeting was in 2020, with the aim of enhancing synergy and cooperation of parastatals under the supervision of the FMOT, which is intended for a more effective and efficient maritime sector.

The meeting also had in attendance Mohammed Bello Koko, managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA); Emmanuel Jime, executive secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), and George Moghalu, managing director, National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA).

Others include Fidet Okhiria, managing director, Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), and Bayero Salih-Farah, director-general, Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), Zaria.