The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) on Tuesday called for the harmonisation of all sectors in the maritime industry to boost the nation’s revenue.

The President of the association, Mr Eugene Nweke, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
Nweke said that there was need to develop the agricultural sector to increase export activities in the maritime sector.

“Time has come in this country we should also look at capacity building in the maritime sector in relationship to those complementary sectors that make the maritime sector tick and unique vis a vis, how do we develop the agricultural sector, so that export activities will increase and hipe on the maritime development.

“How do we also build from comatose our steel sector that has remained silent and so many billions of naira have gone down the drain.

“How do we effectively involve it, so that at the end of the day, it will play a complementary role to our maritime sector.

“The manufacturing sector; at what point do we actually have finished products that are properly packaged that every other day you see freight forwarders sourcing for goods to ship out.

“So, the aspect of complementarity of sectors in the maritime sector need to be harmonised and made to work efficiently.“

Nweke said that harmonisation in the maritime sector would drive the entire shipping sector.

He said that the sector “has what it takes to address the issue of unemployment in the country if properly handled’’.—Ships and Ports