By Joy Baba-Yesufu
As part of the Trade Policy, Trade Facilitation, and Digital Trade dialogue, the World Bank Nigeria Trade Team has paid a working visit to Apapa Port Lagos to enable them understand the daily operations and trade bottle necks encountered those who run business around the port area.
The trade team which comprise of Aleksandar Stojanov (Economist) and Mohammed Shuaibu (Economist Consultant) said the main aim of their visit is to identify policy options to make trade seamless for Nigerian government.
The visit also aims to interact and engage with relevant government agencies present at the port and border post control to better understand their operations and day-to-day activities.
The visit involved discussions with Border Personnel (Customs, Security, and inspection agencies), small businesses located around the border, freight forwarders and trade/transport auxiliaries, shipping lines, and other relevant stakeholders.
The Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite during the working visit said she wants to see Nigerian products in foreign markets while encouraging the country’s foreign partners who want to invest in Nigeria, the largest market in Africa to do so in good time.
The minister who was represented by Dr Brenda Max-Nduagwuibe stated that the present administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu through the eNTFC has been working tirelessly to ensure a harmonized, standardized, and simplified trading processes adding that it is committed to achieving the goal and objective of the agreement.
According to Dr. Anite, “the visit to the port is to enable the Ministry, and the World Bank team to fully understand the daily operations, inspection processes, trade bottlenecks, identify policy options to make trade seamless for the Nigerian government and to interact and engage with relevant government agencies present at the port to better understand their operations and day-to-day activities.
In his remarks, the World Bank representative, Aleksandar Stojanor stated that he and his team were there to find out how the Agencies operate and also know the various challenges that they are facing and how to collaborate in trade facilitation.
He stated that World Bank has a state level operation that has an interstate trade related disbursement link indicator, which improves inter state trade and seamless movement of goods across states in Nigeria export promotion at the state level.
He disclosed that there was an operation on the pipeline that will support trade facilitation which has a link indicator that is on reducing inspections at the border and improving trade facilitation through authorised economic operator system with the custom service.
The Executive Secretary, Nigeria Shippers Council, Mr Pius Ukeyima Akutah said that the Council is one of the major stakeholders in trade facilitation in the country and has embarked on the promotion an establishment of trade facilitation tools such as the Border information Centres (BIC), the inland dry ports, vehicles transit areas across the country.
“These are meant to facilitate trade and to also bring shipping activities to the hinterlands, decongest the seaports especially Apapa and Tincan”, he noted.
