Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer, CEO of the Nigerian Shippers Council, NSC Emmanuel Jime has said that the deployment of the International Cargo Tracking Note, ICTN will not attract Xtra cost for Nigerian Shippers. The Shippers’ Council boss disclosed this when he played host to a team from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN who went to express concern over expected additional cost implication of the deployment of ICTN. Jime also explained that the deployment of the ICTN will reduce proliferation of small and medium arms as well as reduce crude oil theft in the country. According to him, “The cost implication has been located in a way that doesn’t do dramatic damage to the economy.
“However, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN is within their rights to seek clarification and be informed on what to be expected as far as Cargo Tracking Notes is concerned. The cost will be very minimal and let’s keep in mind that this cost has always been a shipping charge. It isn’t something that is really new. Nevertheless, we have to look at the real impact this will have on the Nigerian economy. Part of the challenges from the port sector has been the proliferation of small arms in the country. Some of these arms found there way into the ports and the reason is that we haven’t had a tool like the ICTN that will enable us dictate from the get-go the arrival of such consignments on our shores.
“It makes more sense that with ICTN we can secure ourselves because no one wants to do business in an environment devoid of security. The amount of crude that has been stolen from Nigeria is enough to fund the kind infrastructural investments we want for the nation. The problem of undervaluation of goods is something that can also be curbed by ICTN. These are some of the balancing factors that ICTN is going to bring,” he noted. Speaking earlier, the Chairman, Corporate Affairs and Strategic Planning Committee of MAN, John Aluya, expressed concern about additional cost implication, knowing the almost every new issue in the sector attacks additional cost.
In his words, “Almost every issue at the port comes with additional costs. Nigerian ports are already overtaxed. Manufacturers ultimate aim is to make sure that Nigeria becomes the hub of the West-African region in production; but if our costs keep rising we will be driving the land-locked countries from using our ports. We don’t pay these additional costs directly. It is the final consumer that pays because it would would reflect on the final prices of our products,” he noted.
