2 ........ V«Ugulllrd;·FmDI'\Y~ - SEPTEMII£R · 30~ 2"11
LCCI canvases adequate funding for SON rrHE Lagos Chamber
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From l ell: ,\.{r.Kop 'ep Dilgurla'. ProgriUTlDle Officer, West AIrican Civil Sodety Forum, WACSOF, Ahuja: Antouio More~ Fir?andal Mlll1ager, 1lansport Fadlilallon Programme Abu/a; Jules Gogoua, Prlndpitl PT?gral1lme Ollit:eL; 1i"l!DSport, Economic Community 01 West Alrlt:an Stat es, ECOWAS, Commission, Abu/a and Berger Elian, Inlernafional ConsulfillJl, GOPA during a on e-day training 10 sensitize represenllllifl't!S of Non-Slale At:lors lll1d other prillale sedor sl akehoJders on transport fadlllatJon DleasUIeS on lhe Abidjan-Lagos corridor, In u,lonou, BenIn Republlt:.
ECOWAS plans Nigeria, Benin Joinfc border post Uy DANlf LGUMM & flOP E.r<ANEM
O LLOWING multi ple challf,nges facing trnnsport secf.o- in \Vest AIru:t!, the Eooooln!cCormnunity of •...."e!t A ·rican States (ECOW~S) C !JrnmissioD -md the 1la.'lS)'ort Facilita'i~n Project f3JCP-ROCl4) feCe!1Ur or;Hrised a OD~
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security. and to advance PlOQre5S OD inter-modality issu'!!S. The largest part of the Project funds is allocated to flDance the design and comtruction or five Joint Bott!er Alsts to replace the lU1.I!t~e existinG admin~ tre.tive infrdSlructu res; ~ will impIU\'e the proce!S ;moj eIl5tl.re an important economic advantage fo r the region and its pop•.1lation.
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;n lransport racilitation m~u~s on the Atoi!.ljanLagos corrido r, T.r:ith 'p~rul~ emp,a., "is on th!! 5em!(Krak'!l: J oint Border Pt-st.. JEp, ~g- construct~ on t.;'! 00[1 ~er betwe!!l\ B~ R~blli · and N"tg!!["ia. Som~ of the chall<i!llge5 f~gtmnspor' sectotinth~
Afric!lI1 sub Ie_lien include defid!!nt and d·scuntinuO'.Js 'nnSpOlt inbaftructure, indd~!lt~ or ron-existent maintenance, disparities ~twe2n regullWry ~ 'wlnKs, abnt'nral. ontetice!', yuors~ri~'o(~ t 4Dd passenger mO"i'ements, 41ld severe transp'Irt capacity pmbleIl'r'l due to high volumes of traffic. The Europo4J1 Union, througb lbe 9tb E~
Programmes a!ld projects In b..iI; IIddress at lhe opening ceremony of the wor!l!;bop, which took plac~ in Cotonou, Benin Republic, Director (or liMspllrt and "Thleoommunication., ECQWAS Commis..";'on, Ahuja, Mr DlIVid KllntaTa said over the yean, ECOWAS in collIJb. oration with Member States had been implementing several programmes and projects towards enhancing the flKilitalion of transport and trad~ within \\est Africa. According to him, "key among these projects whkh fall under the regional transport and ban-
sit £acilittItion prngramme. aimed at supporting intracommunity trade and cross-border movements, is the construction of Joint Border Posts. Under this programme, most heavy tl1!ffi.cked and viable bordeJ5 hcrve been identified to beoonsbucted into Joint Border Posts to losler simultaneous checking and controls by Governme nt Agencies [rom adjoining member slates. The objective is to drastically reduce border crossing times and delays, with the ultimate goal to reduce transport and logistics cost along our key trade and transit costs. Joint and simultaneous controls will also speed up the attainment of regional cooperation and integration th>!lt ECOW AS seeks to achieve." A similar sensitization wodtshop was beLd in AceR!, Ghana on 14th September 201 \ on the construction of the Noepe Joint Border I\tst between Ghana and Cole d'Ivoire. The workshops and similar missions are part of the continued eHorts by Ule ECOWAS Commission to implement programmes and projects that will faril-
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has rnnde1 tt e Commissions or ECO'VAS and of '.he ¥\et ACria"n Econoo:Ii.-= and Mono:,tnry Union (UEMON with -63,000.000. tf! stmng!b.en regioD<IllnmsFm and road ':rnl$it f~at'oQ. Thelil'mp?1 t F~!l
Project (9ACI'ROC14) is :he tf!ChnictolllSSis~ to:! the Ct'l!letiUi.OllS of ECOWAS &. -JEMOA to in~~ m tJ: e nctors of w>!Id tRo"-,,,_ :eil."~. eI\;~ :i~n aml ·n~~'"C!e. Po '!n'~ ~ge~ urpr'Jt'"!lg' m!lrke~ ~tructurn· ~,:o:! m~ket
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Flour millers get 3 months ultimatum on 10 % cassava SUbstitution HE Federal Gov emment on Mon ~ day in Ahuja gave Dour mUlers a three- month ultimatum to commence Ute 10 per cent substitution of Cll5~ava nour for wheat flour being im ported. into the country. Th.e Minister of AgricuJ.t·Jr~ ~d Rural Development. Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, who g llv~ the di re,:tiye during II. m eet-
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ing with Hou r millers, urged them to ensure that th e in iliative was full y implemented by all millers . Forme r President O lusegun Obasanjo had during hi s tenure launched the 10 percent substitution of c>!lssava nour [or wheat fiour by flour mills across the countrj.
itate transport and trade in Y\e;t Africa. They will also contnbute to the harmonization of tmde and transit procedures ;md documentation, regulation of transportation and movement of persons, goods and services as well as sensitization and provision of infoITDll.tion. The Cotonou and Accra workshops were organized in collaboration with the Europelln Union under its Transport Facilitation Project aimed. at assisting the ECOWAS CoDllDission to implement transport projects that will conbibule to poverty alleviation, bansportcosts reduction I!.Dd iInprovement of fJt!e now or goods and services. Partidpants at the workshopindudedrepre;e!ltatr."'e!I of Civil Society groups ; Private sector stakeholders' auodation ( Ie rOl!.d transporters, truck drivers, lotWmders, customs dearing agents exporteJ;. ma:rnbers of cornmercelllldinciuslry, etc); key government agendes (customs, hu.migratioll, national ports, land transport) and local authorities; ECOWAS and UEMOA
Commerce and Indu stry, LCC I, h>!ls called on the Fedual Government to IIdequately fund the operations of Standards Organisation of Nigeria. SON, to enable theagency discharge its responsibilities effectively. Speaking recenUy during an intetcl'l!ative session with the SON and other stakeholders, the PIt5ident, LCCl, Otunba Fern! Deru, note d that there was no way SON couJd e[fectiveLy enforce its policy o(zero tolerance for substandard products without sufficierit funds at its disposal. He told the stakeholders that Uley bear in mind the paltry annual allocation [rom the government to the organisation. He said that SON Director-General , Dr. Joseph Odumodu, bad been doing a good job since h e sla.r ted th e enforcement or the zero toler>!lnce policy, but added that he could ac hieve more if th e agency is well fund'!d .
Monitoring and enlightenment "We would like to appeal to the Federal Government to improve the funding or the agency. The c8pacity of this agency needs to be improved. for it to play the desired. role of standards setting, monitoring, enlightenment, and e nh a ncement, " Oeru said. He said it is high time the Federal Governmt"nt fully supported the SON to tackle sub stand!lrd products and those who !Ire behind it in Nigeria. In his own speech, Director-General, SON, Dr. Joseph Odumodu said despite the efforts by SON to ensure Ulat all goods manufactured in Nigeria and imported into the counlly, were of
good quality more efforts from all stakeholders were needed to achieve results. According to him. the organisation hdS numerous challenges, which have bll.Illpered. its eUorts to ensUIt! standardisation of products in the COUll-
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"SON has been doing its best to ensure that all products that !Ire manufactured in Nigeria and those being imported are of good quality, but we ate not well funded . The government~ us to generate our own funds. The only money we get (rom government is just to pay staff salaries . Apart from that, our stall at th e borders is not armed. This hdS m>!lde them unable to (dce the smugg lers of substandard products. '~so, the situation at the nation's ports is not malting it easy for us to identify containers WiUl Sub-stdndard products. The~ is no way we caD effectively check the numbers o f containers with fake products at the ports wHhout causin g congestion, " he explai ned. He sa id that m o!!.nv mllD U f act uring companies In Nigeria had closed down due to inability lo maintain standards in their production process, lidding that poor packaging 0 1 N igerian goods bad mo worked IIgainst ils acceptability in lh e international mMkeL H e ple dged SON 's co mmitment to the prevention o[ production of sub-standard to consumers . "We will ensu re th"'l our manufacturers are not turned into tr>!ldeJ5. We must fight to ensu re that those fake products coming into the country are not distributed," he said.