THE managing director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Captain Rabiu Yadudu has identified infrastructural decay, multiple government agencies conducting the same checks and oversights at airports, among others as impediments hampering the development of cargo business in Nigeria.
Speaking at an Aviacargo conference held in Lagos on “The Role of Airport Authority in Growth and Development of Aviation Cargo in Nigeria’, Yadudu though expressed the optimism that the cargo sector would soon receive a boost, equally acknowledged that the multiple activities of government agencies had brought about the increase in cost of operations and loss of revenue to cargo handling companies and agents.
This is just as Yadudu used the opportunity to spoke on the strategic plans and implementation of federal government directives to ensure the aim at boosting the air cargo business sub sector of the Nigerian aviation industry.
To tackle the myriad of impediments confronting development of cargo business in the country, Yadudu cited designation of strategic airports as cargo airports as part of the turnaround plans to support, develop and enhance air cargo business in the country.
Identifying some of the airports to include: Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano, Owerri, Calabar, Akure, Ilorin, Jos, Makurdi and Minna airports, the FAAN MD declared that freight of fresh agricultural produce from local communities to markets within Africa, Asia, Europe, USA and countries across the world will originate from the airports.
He called for cooperation among players in the cargo businesses while attributing the lack of synergy with ground handlers, limited number of cargo facilities to handle import, export and trans-shipment, low patronage by domestic airlines and lack of specialised warehouses to what makes the airports underutilised.
Yadudu also hinted of an ongoing move by FAAN to explore the possibility of creating a One-Stop-Shop (OSS) in the Cargo Terminal just as the organisation awaits the take-off of the National Single Window.
The OSS he said would consist of all critical border agencies working together from the same location to fast track cargo clearance and reduce impediments to trade through sharing of information physically and electronically, he added.
Export at the Lagos Airport he said was presently being done 24 hours with import business being carried out between 8am and 4pm with adding that plans are a top level to extend the working hours for import operation to 24 hours service.
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