MAJAN President, Ray Ugochukwu visits Apapa Customs boss
* Says MAJAN maritime summit a humble contribution to economic growth
(Written by Silas Onuoha)
The President, Maritime Journalists Association of Nigeria (MAJAN), Comrade Ray Ugochukwu, has said that the national maritime summit, being planned by ‘Powerful Pen’ is a humble contribution of MAJAN towards rejuvenating the port industry for greater growth.
Ugochukwu made this assertion during a working visit to the new Customs Area Controller (CAC), of Apapa Area Command, Comptroller Malanta Yusuf, who took over recently from Mohammed Abba-kura, now ACG Customs headquarters, Abuja.
The MAJAN President explained that the summit slated for March, 2021, focuses on Apapa traffic gridlock and the urgent need to come up with practical solutions.
He lamented that traffic gridlock on Apapa ports access roads poses a threat to Customs operations at Apapa, TinCan, PTML, Western Marine and other Commands along Apapa axis.
According to him, “traffic gridlock at Apapa roads is also affecting revenue collection for the Federal Government.
His words:
“Welcome to Apapa Command. Let me use this opportunity to inform you of our national summit on Apapa traffic crisis coming up in March.
“The summit will bring together government officials, regulatory agencies, terminal operators, freight forwarders and relevant stakeholders in the maritime industry, to brainstorm and proffer lasting solutions to the perennial gridlock on ports access roads taking its toll on businesses.
“MAJAN as a group is doing a lot on enlightenment Programmes in the sector. In the last two months, we have organised three different programmes.
“The first one, we invited port users to talk on Apapa traffic, we organised another event on investigative Journalism and only last week, we had a roundtable discussion on African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and the readiness of maritime stakeholders to key into this new concept.
“As maritime Journalists, we are concerned about growth of the sector. So, we believe our humble contributions will make positive impacts in moving the sector forward.”
In his remarks, Comptroller Malanta said Apapa Command as the premier port remains focused on trade facilitation, revenue collection for government and other core functions of Customs Service.
Photographs taken during the visit :
