‘Ports efficiency, necessary for trade facilitation’

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has harped on the need for the country to improve on its ports governance for greater efficiency if it is keen on realising improved earnings from the non-oil sectors.

Preparatory to its Public-Private Dialogue on Port Efficiency & Maritime Sector Roadmap in Nigeria, scheduled for Friday, October 21, 2016 in Lagos, results of the chamber’s Maritime Ports Research conducted in the third quarter of 2016 showed that the efficiency of port operation is a major driver of trade and economic activities across countries.

The chamber noted that despite the advantages of ports reforms, users and operators at the Nigerian Ports have over the years been facing lingering challenges and bottlenecks.

The dialogue being organised in collaboration with the Financial Derivatives Company, hopes to design a roadmap for the transformation of the Nigerian maritime sector towards port efficiency and trade facilitation across borders.

The Chamber’s research further revealed that, “Improving ports governance for greater efficiency has major implications for the potential development of non-oil sectors at this time.The growth and promotion of trade and economic activities could only be pragmatic, when economies thrive to provide a conducive and friendly environment.

“Public authorities and the private sector have come to the realization that the starting points for activating the diversification objective of the present government is fixing the ease of doing business at the nation’s ports.”

The Stakeholders’ forum, is expected to bring together key government agencies major players at the Nigerian ports, importers, exporters and other stakeholders to discuss the current state of the ports and proffer solutions to myriads of problems militating against the growth and development of the sector and improve ease of doing business.