•Charges members to contribute to Nigeria’s greatness
Steve Agbota
Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agent (ANLCA) is seeking Federal Government’s intervention through the provision of single digit loans to freight forwarding and logistics sector of the economy to procure trucks, maintain warehouses and investing in supply chain aided technology.
The National President of ANLCA, Iju Anthony Nwabunike, who stated this in his goodwill message to mark Nigeria’s 60th Independence anniversary, noted that freight forwarders other supply chain practioners have heard and seen the Federal Government interventions through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Bank of Industry (BoI) to private sector businesses improving on their viability and sustainability, lamenting that no such programme has been designed for practioners in the freight forwarding and logistics sector of the nation’s economy. He added: “Aside not getting any form of palliative from government, there is no offer of single digit loan by government tailored towards our needs in procuring trucks, maintaining warehouses and investing in logistics aided technology like tracking devises and fleet of motorcycles for e-commerce transactions in the face of difficult traffic situation we experience in Lagos.
“We call on the Federal Ministries of Finance, Transport, Trade and Industry, CBN, NCS and others to see us as professionals deserving of state support, not only as potential tax payers because the likely collapse of our sector will adversely affect the country,” .
He promised that under his watch, he would open talks with government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to see how freight forwarding subsector can be integrated into government interventionist financial programmes and support initiatives. “Our roles in the import, export and supply chain management has made us critical contributors to government revenue drive of attaining over N4 trillion by Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and supporting the Nigeria Customs Service in sustaining it’s N1trillion yearly collection,” he added.