The African Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON) on Tuesday said that the country’s logistics supply chain management was in urgent need of efficacious remedial measures.
Mr Godfrey Nwosu, Chairman, APFFLON Tin-Can Island Port Chapter in a statement in Lagos declared Nigeria’s logistics supply chain management system as ‘sick’.
According to Nwosu, with Nigeria’s 2023 general elections fast approaching, it was unfortunate that addressing the issues in the country’s logistics supply chain was not forthcoming from any of the political gladiators.
He noted that the acts of omission or commission of the three tiers of government impact the logistics milieu profoundly.
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He urged the electorate to judge the capacity of each of the aspirants or candidates mainly by their respective proffered workable solutions to the country’s lingering logistics supply chain management problems.
“It is baffling that, thus far, none of the aspirants or candidates for the various seats, including States Houses of Assembly, Governorship, National Assembly and the position of President, has publicly enunciated manifestos on enthroning cost-effective, efficient, and sustainable logistics supply chain management.
“Once Nigeria is able to get it right on the logistics supply chain management front, all other sectors will fall in place for the actualization of her boundless potential as a great nation.
“For too long, a lack of the requisite appropriate logistics supply chain management system in Nigeria has retarded and stunted the nation’s development and progress,” he said.
Nwosu posited that Nigeria was in self-denial of the much expected huge investment opportunities the African Continental Free trade Area (AfCFTA) offers the continent by removal of trade barriers by not yet being fully positioned to participate effectively as a major maritime nation in the continent.
He noted that Nigeria’s bad logistics supply chain management system drags and keeps her back from keying into the AfCFTA, which was aimed at accelerating intra-African trade and boosting Africa’s trading position in the global market.
“Nigeria has suffered needlessly and endlessly from revenue leakages and persisting inflation, among other ills, because she is yet to get her logistics supply chain management right.
“The bane of efficient logistics supply chain management in Nigeria is inexorably linked to the sharp practices by unscrupulous officials of government at the local, state, and federal tiers, respectively.
“It is an unfortunate state of affairs that keeps breeding endemic corruption and inefficiency in the system.
“Therefore, as a responsible organization, APFLLON is compelled to express its very real worries that, as the 2023 general elections are fast approaching, none of the aspirants are talking about what their respective plans are for rehabilitating the nation’s ailing logistics supply chain management system,” he said.
He pointed out that Nigeria must get out of the bind of an incompetent system that had held her back for too long.
“APFFLON is all out for interrogating all seeking elective political offices in the 2023 in order to establish their respective positions on this most crucial of matters.
“APFFLON cannot emphasize it enough that the capacity of any particular aspirant or candidate to offer workable solutions to Nigeria’s lingering logistics supply chain management problems must be a big determinant of that aspirant’s or candidate’s suitability for whatever elective position sought.
“The electorate must prioritize resolving the multifarious issues strangulating the system in order to rescue Nigeria wholesomely,” he said.
The APFFLON chieftain added that a well negotiated and applied supply chain management system in Nigeria would resolve the discrepancies between the fiscal and monetary policies of government and financial institutions’ processes and procedures.
