FG adopts electronic cargo tracking to curb insecurity

Irked by the rising insecurity in the country, President Mohammadu Buhari has directed the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, to reintroduce Cargo Tracking Notes (CTN) to curb the proliferation of arms and increase in banditry across the nation.

The president, who is shopping for ideas to beef up security in the country, is convinced that CTN could play a crucial role in addressing the growing spate of banditry, kidnappings and restiveness fueled by easy access to guns.

Amaechi has, thus, directed the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) to commence preparation to undertake the responsibility of administering CTN as it takes off.

The Shippers’ Council has been encouraged to introduce the system in a way that would not add to the cost of doing business at the ports but enable the nation to track imports from ports of origin. This is to drastically reduce the import of arms.

Speaking on the reintroduction of CTN, a maritime lawyer and Director of Education and Research in the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), Dr Alban Igwe, said CTN remains the best answer to anomalies and security challenges in the country.

Igwe explained that CTN would improve the security and safety of the supply chain as it would profile cargoes being imported into the country.

“The objective is to improve the security and safety of the supply chain and help us see the profile of products we are bringing in. It will help us to know the origin and destination of cargoes and help us know our enemies,” he said.

The Executive Secretary, NSC, Hassan Bello, said: “It will boost the revenue of the government in the sense that it will abate under-declaration and concealment. It will boost the revenue of NPA because there will be no more alteration of the manifests. It will boost the revenue of NIMASA because under-declaration on the weight of ships will not be there any longer.

“CTN is also a veritable source of data and some economic experts describe this as the best quality of the electronic-based platform.

“You will know everything that is coming into your country. We have had many African countries having this because it is the initiation of the Union of African Shippers Council (UASC),” the NSC boss said.