EASTER CELEBRATION: NAGAFF PRESIDENT SALUTES FREIGHT FORWARDERS
… councels on operational adjustment agility
By Joy Enamuna
The President of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), High Chief Tochukwu Ezisi, has advised his members to quickly put in strategies in their business plans to adjust to the new Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) adjusted import duty exchange rate which moved down from ₦1,405/$ to ₦1,364/$.
In a telephone interview with Chief Ezisi in the early hours of Thursday, he expressed concerns over the incessant increase in import duty exchange rate since last year, in his words, “l have been so worried for the past few months and very uncomfortable with the constant 24 hourly increase in import duty exchange rate by the Federal Government. But l want to categorically state that it has not been the best for our economy because we are still very import-dependent”.
According to Ezisi, “It gave me some relief when my stock exchange manager called to give me the good news that the exchange rate came down from ₦1,405/$ to ₦1,364/$. The shippers are grateful, but like Oliver Twist, we are appealing to the Federal Government to still bring down this exchange rate to enable us all clear the backlogs of cargoes at the ports so that they will not become over time cargoes”.
“Each time I see cargoes being auctioned because of the issue of non-payment of statutory fees, it troubles my mind because l know that someone somewhere is dying of heart attack or is being sent out of business. Even though some of the mistakes and delays in cargo clearing are from terminal operators and shipping companies and in some cases Government agencies, we will continue to deal with it until sanity returns”.
The NAGAFF boss equally felicitates the members of NAGAFF and all freight forwarders on Easter celebration. He urged everyone to reflect more on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ during this harsh economic situation which he said was just for a little while.
