NSC urges shippers to use ICD to facilitate efficient cargo delivery
NAN-HE-8
ICD
By Deborah Coker
Benin, Feb. 27, 2018 (NAN) The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) on Tuesday urged importers and exporters to use Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Benin to facilitate efficient cargo delivery to the hinterland.
Mr Hassan Bello, the NSC Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, made the appeal at a seminar organised for stakeholders in Benin.
Bello spoke on: “International Trade and Shipping Service Delivery through Effective Implementation of Inland Container Depot.
He said that the seminar was to sensitise participants on the benefits of international trade accruable to Edo and its environs, using the ICD in Benin.
Bello said that the development of ICD in the country was a necessary response by the Federal Government to accelerate and bridge the deficit of transport infrastructure.
The council executive secretary said that ICDs were conceived to decongest the seaports, facilitate efficient cargo delivery to the hinterland, provide access to ports services, stimulate economic development and as well boost export of agricultural commodity.
According to him, it will also provide employment opportunities, increase the revenue generation capacity of the government and facilitate cargo movement to landlocked states.
He urged importers and exporters not to neglect the ICD project situated across the nation’s six geo-political zones.
Bello said that the ICD in Edo has potential to harness the abundant agricultural resources of Edo for export as well as turn the state into an industrial hub.
He also said it would support the new manufacturing and other real sectors in the North-Central, South-East and South-South geopolitical zones.
In his remarks, Mr Ekpeyong Eke, the South-South Zonal Coordinator of the council, said that the seminar was aimed at educating shippers and stakeholders on the benefits of ICD in the state.
Eke said that the essence of the Federal Government’s port reform programme in 2006 was to instill and promote a service delivery culture in the country. (NAN)
DCO/JI/GOK
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Edited by Joseph Idika/Olagoke Olatoye