- Urges Caution For The Long Term
By Kingsley I. Ilechukwu, Bureau Chief, South West
The umbrella body of Port Logisticians and Forwarders in Nigeria Port Logistics and Forwarders Association of Nigeria (POLFAN), has commended the recent actions of the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) in delisting 42 banned items from the list of items not eligible for Foreign Exchange.
The National President of the Board of Trustees of POLFAN, Chief Chima Innocent Osuji stated this recently in Lagos while briefing Port Stakeholders on recent developments in the Maritime and Shipping landscape of the country. While welcoming the development which is sure to engender a robust maritime sector and ease the suffering of the masses in the short and medium term, Chief Osuji cautioned that there was the need to encourage import substitution in certain key areas to encourage Nigeria and Nigerians to take advantage of the value chains of local production and employment.
Osuji further stated that the delisting from the “Not Eligible For Forex List” was very welcome as a short to medium term measure while it was expected that government would take necessary steps to encourage entrepreneurs to move resources into agriculture and manufacturing so that Nigeria and Nigerians could also enjoy the benefits of export trade.
While congratulating the new leadership of the Central Bank of Nigeria and Nigeria Customs Service(NCS) on assumption of duty and the milestones recorded so far, the POLFAN boss further tasked them to consult widely on issues of implementation of monetary policies in order to receive requisite intelligence that would enable them achieve their mandates and targets.
He assured the CBN and the NCS of the support and cooperation of Port logisticians and Freight Forwarders as he looked forward to the opening up of appropriate channels of communication between the two agencies of Government and Maritime and Shipping stakeholders.
