Lagos – The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) said on Tuesday that the International Cargo Tracking Note (ICTN) was aimed at preventing revenue leakage, under-declaration, concealment and imposition of surcharges on cargoes.
The Executive Secretary of the NSC, Mr Hassan Bello, said this in a message to a one-day Enlightenment Seminar on International Cargo
Tracking Note (ICTN).
The seminar was organised by the NSC for International Freight Forwarders Association (IFFA) in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that ICTN also means Advanced Cargo Declaration (ACD).
Bello, who was represented by the Deputy Director, Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement of NSC, Chief Cajetan Agu, said that countries in Europe, America and Africa were already implementing the ICTN scheme.
He said that some countries like: Angola, Congo, Gabon, Burkina Faso, Niger, Madagascar, Benin Republic, Cote D’ Ivoire, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Guinea were also implementing the ICTN.
“Our resolve to organise this enlightenment programme is therefore to educate the members of IFFA on the purpose of ICTN/ACD, the benefits and the framework for its implementation in Nigeria.
“The collaboration with IFFA and the decision to hold this seminar was a deliberate attempt on our part as the Ports Economic Regulator and the implementing Agency for ICTN in Nigeria to create more awareness on ICTN/ACD,’’ Bello said.
He urged the IFFA to collaborate with the Council toward improving clearance of goods from the ports.
The executive secretary, however, said that the enlightenment programme would create the required awareness on ICTN among IFFA members.
The Group General Manager, Transport and Port Management System (TPMS), in charge of Cargo Tracking Note (CTN), Mr Tony Falana, said that the company had programmed the ICTN in such a way that nobody could hack into the system.
Falana said that presently, TPMS had validated over 40,000 Entry Summary Note (ESN), adding that the company had attended to over 1,000 users operating ICTN daily.
He said that the company had sensitised the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), adding “that the NCS was aware of how ICTN operates’’.
Also speaking, the Communication and Transport Manager, TPMS, Mr Opeyemi Oke, said that ICTN was created to checkmate revenue leakages and other anomalies in Nigerian ports.
Oke said that ACD was a central platform through which all stakeholders would be able to access information with regard to cargo shipment.
He said that ICTN kept in view the safety and security of all categories of goods including Roll On and the Roll Off (RORO) and bulk cargoes.
Oke said that revenue would be adequately ascertained through ICTN, adding that the process would also generate accurate statistics of goods imported into the country.
In his closing remark, the President of IFFA, Chief Sam Onyemelukwe, said that before now, the association was not in support of the ICTN, adding that with the enlightenment they went through, they were now fully informed of the programme.
Onyemelukwe said that whatever affected the implementation of ICTN would affect stakeholders, adding that there was no option than to key into the system.
“Our concern is that The ICTN should not surcharge us because we have been facing a lot of extortion at the ports.
“Having been informed about the processes, we will inform our members about it and work toward full implementation. (NAN)
