The Sun reports, The President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Tony Nwabunike, has called for a special loan scheme for expansion of logistics firms in the nation’s maritime sector and others.
Nwabunike, who stated this in his new year message to commended customs brokers and freight forwarders for their resilience in the freight industry in 2020 despite daunting challenges posed by COVID-19 pandemic, said: “We look forward to interfacing with the Federal Ministry of Finance, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bank of Industry (BoI) on the need for a special loan scheme to help logistics firms in expanding and maintaining fleet of heavy-duty and lighter vehicles required beyond coverage of train services.
As the world evolves new and faster ways of doing things, he said there is a need to strengthen the chords of e-commerce, online transactions, virtual meetings and deploying internet of things (IoT) to maximise economic and productive use in the country.
“As you are aware, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the 2021 Appropriation Law of over N13.5 trillion with a charge to revenue-generating agencies to scale up their efforts for collection into government coffers.
“We, as professionals, interface with no fewer than nine revenue collecting and regulatory agencies of government in the course of our professional services and will, therefore, be part of Nigeria’s success stories economically, as we have always been, albeit unsung.”
According to him, the impact of customs brokers’ activities on Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and many others reinforces freight forwarders’ strategic role in government’s economic diversification agenda and increasing its non-oil revenue base.
Source: https://www.sunnewsonline.com/anlca-advocates-special-loan-scheme-for-logistics-firms/