The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Bar. Hassan Bello has said the Kaduna Dry Port now exports at least five containers of ginger weekly at the facility.
Mr. Hassan Bello told our correspondent in Abuja that this further assures all importers and exporters that the Kaduna dry port is now fully integrated into the customs port of destinations for imports and exports. Dry port was officially commissioned in January this year by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Kaduna is doing five containers of exports of ginger. This will have positive impact on the economy of Kaduna and the ripple effect of other parts of the countries,” he noted.
The NSC CEO said Kaduna dry port is already generating traffic but he is deeply worried that containers are still being trucked to Kaduna rather than transported by rail.
“We must support Kaduna now. So much cargo is coming to Kaduna now but on trucks. It takes N100,000 to transport goods by trucks from Lagos to Kaduna. If it’s by rail, it will be N30,000,” he explained.
He decried inability of the Nigerian Railways Corporation to connect the Kaduna dry port to rail services.
“We have commissioned a study by a consultant to look at what is happening in Kaduna. Unfortunately, rail which is critical is not forth coming. There have been all sorts of problems. The Nigerian Railways Corporation has promised ten wagons for the Kaduna dry port. Unfortunately we have not seen that,” he said.
He lauded the cooperation from the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for issuing a station code for the Kaduna ICD and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for including Kaduna as a port on the Form M. “We have many freight forwarders moving to Kaduna and banks too opening offices at the site,” he added.
