In its continuous support to guide against the spread of COVID-19 among the port users and especially the freight forwarder who are going about their duties in this lockdown period, the Nigeria Shippers’ Council has assigned its officers to the various shipping companies and terminals to assist in ensuring that all safety and health regulations issued by the authorities are strictly adhered to during these times.
As stated in a press release by the management, the council has been engagingwith all stakeholders under its purview to ensure that safety and health guidelines are strictly adhered to so as to prevent the spread of the virus.
It states that the Council cannot overemphasise the importance of all portusers, particularly freight forwarders conducting themselves responsibly and adhering to health guidelines as they go about their very essential business.
Meanwhile, Secretary to the Government ofthe Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, underscoring the importance of port operations, had during the daily COVID-19 briefing in the past week, referred to his conversation with the ES/CEO of NigerianShippers’ Council, Mr. Hassan Bello, in which it was confirmed that some banks had agreed to open for business in the Apapa axis for a limited number of hours in order to facilitate port operations.
The SGF explained that at the onset of the lockdown, banking halls had been marked out as potential risk zones for Covid19.
However, a review of that thinking becamenecessary when it emerged that banks had to open for people to pay custom duties and other charges.
