‘Destruction of transport infrastructure threatens cargo movement to hinterlands’
By ADAKU WALTER
National President of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Iju Tony Nwabunike, has declared that the attack on the Kaduna-Abuja train and continued destruction of transport infrastructure by terrorists is a threat to successful movement of cargoes from the nation’s seaports to the hinterlands.
He lamented that the occurrence would also constitute a major setback to the anticipated seamlessness of cargo movement from Lagos and Port Harcourt to Kano, Kaduna and other states of the country, The Trumpet gathered.
Nwabunike, who stated this in his Easter message to licensed customs brokers, freight forwarders and colleagues in the country’s logistics chain, said the situation had driven the cost of doing business higher and depleted returns on investments.
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“Our ports are not properly utilised if import and export cargoes suffer clogs in the logistics chain. From the farmer of export produce, whose field is occupied by terrorists to the dockworkers waiting to assist in the loading and unloading of cargoes, we are all involved.
“Our collective interest is in the cargo, because government generates huge revenues from our activities. It is also from our activities that employees are paid, service charges collected and profit from warehousing and sales are obtained,” he said.
He, therefore, urged the Federal Government and politicians and policy makers not to be subsumed by the hysteria of campaigns and forget citizens who are in kidnappers’ den and sought prayers for the Nigerian military.
He stressed that the potential of a peaceful Nigeria were limitless, adding: “When peace is lost, the results include instability and lack of cohesive direction.”
