Spokesman of Ports Logistics and Freight Forwarders Association (PLFFA), Osita Machie, has urged the Federal Government to seek the inputs of the association in formulating maritime policies.
Machie, also the CEO of Ossy Gold, made the plea in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Lagos, saying involving freight forwarders in policy making would forestall friction in the freight forwarding industry.
“The current maritime polices, especially the ban on some imports, took all of us unaware and it had resulted to huge loss of jobs. I am not saying that importation is the only way out but as stakeholders, our contributions should have given government policy a human face,’’ Machie said.
The freight forwarder said that members of the association were licensed to carry out freight business and to also pay tax, but wondered why government should take decisions that affected the livelihood of freight forwarders without their inputs.
According to Machie, most industries can no longer produce due to the inability of the management to access forex for importation of raw materials.
He said that if the government had involved stakeholders like PLFFA, shippers (importers and exporters) would have been advised better and the ban effect would have been minimal.
