FG Set to Digitalise Internal Processes in Maritime Industry

Federal Government Agencies under the Federal Ministry of Transportation (FMOT), said they would digitalise their internal processes, while also maintaining focus on actualising the National Single Window regime in the nation’s transportation sector.

Heads of the agencies in the sector stated this at the end of the 4th Heads of Maritime Agencies meeting in Lagos at the weekend.

The Registrar of Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), Barrister Sam Nwakohu, addressing the press after the meeting, disclosed that full automation of the internal processes of the various Agencies represented, is a pre-requisite to achieving the much-anticipated National Single Window regime in the sector.

Nwakohu, who was the Chairman of the meeting, said the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the various agencies have agreed on timelines to achieve full automation of internal processes.

“We have agreed that all Agencies under the Ministry of Transportation should, as a matter of priority, attain full automation. This process will be well coordinated and we also gave ourselves timelines to achieve this,” he said.

The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh disclosed that NIMASA automation processes have reached over 80 per cent, while giving the assurance that NIMASA’s commitment to automation is to reduce human interface as well as plugging revenue leakages in the system.

He stated that “In line with the Federal Government’s Executive Order on Ease of Doing Business, we are committed to full automation to attain reduction of human interface in majority of our transactions with our stakeholders and this is in our bid to ensure transparency and professionalism which the sector requires to grow. The goal is to align with the National Single Window initiative, when all the internal processes of the various Agencies have been concluded.”

Commenting on the high freight rate occasioned by the War Risk Insurance placed on Nigerian bound vessels; the NIMASA DG explained that the Agency would focus on creating the awareness, while also canvassing the International Community for a review.

This move, he said is in relation to the removal of Nigeria from the global piracy list.