By Chinelo Obogo
Managing Director of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Kabir Mohammed, has assured that the agency will support the development of new Standard Operating Procedures for the operators in the cargo terminals in Nigeria that will bring to an end, the rejection of Nigerian exports abroad.
Mohammed who said this during the monthly briefing by the Aviacargo Roadmap Committee, headed by Mr. Ikechi Uko, also said that the lingering problem of delays and multiple charges for cargo at the airport will soon be a thing of the past and assured the Committee that its observations and recommendations will be implemented.
Uko told the FAAN MD that they could not make presentations in the last months because of the field trip embarked upon by the Committee. He said that the five-stage project plan has only two legs left to complete the job and seeks the support of the MD to proceed with the remaining parts of the job. This will include collation and report writing of the findings by subject matter experts.
He said 10 points have been identified by the committee for implementation which includes the FAAN cargo bill of rights that guarantees the swift, transparent and efficient handling of any goods that steps into any Nigerian airport.
Uko dentified levels of registration and certification needed for the industry starting from farm registration to certification of cargo agents, handling companies and freight forwarders.
“Nigerian exports are rejected because they are unknown and cannot be traced. So the job of an Aviacargo Village will be to transform unknown or unsecured goods to known goods before export.
Nigeria has successfully implemented IATA IOSA for airlines and should establish a similar thing for players in the cargo ecosystem,” he said.
After receiving the presentation, the FAAN MD thanked the committee for it’s selfless commitment to the delivery of a new aviacargo environment in Nigeria and promised to support the development of new Standard Operating Procedures for the operators in the cargo terminals in Nigeria.
He said FAAN will also implement new service level agreements that will overhaul the whole cargo operations in Nigeria. By implementing the Cargo Bill of Rights, the new SOPs and SLAs, the airports will effectively become a corruption free zone. These new measures, he said, will improve the integrity of the exports from Nigeria and will reduce the rejection of goods.
The implementation of a new five-level secure supply chain pathway will improve the quality of Aviacargo business in Nigeria as it cuts across the whole value chain starting from the farms. He said that nothing will be accepted at the airport that cannot be traced and did not pass through the pathway. He assured that FAAN management will join the retreat for the final production of the report as it will mark the beginning of a new era for aviacargo in Nigeria.