Importers, Freight Forwarders not Taking Advantage of Shippers Complaints Unit—Jime

…Shippers Council Set to Train Staff Abroad, Trains 501 Workers in 1-Year

By DAPO OLAWUNI

The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council, Hon Emmanuel Jime has said that importers and freight forwarders are not taking sufficient advantage of the Shippers Complaints Unit domiciled under the agency to resolve most of their challenges.

Jime stated this while briefing journalists in Apapa Lagos on Tuesday.

The Shippers Council boss also revealed that the agency in the past one year has trained 501 staff, even as he revealed plans to train more workers abroad in order to prevent the knowledge gap when senior officials retire.

In the aspect of complaints handling and resolution, he said the council in 2021 received and handled 518 complaints, while in first quarter of 2022, 118 complaints were received and handled.

The Council in 2021 was able to recover the sum of N1, 072, 008, 040.90 while in the first quarter of 2022, stakeholders were saved of the sum of N18, 493, 961.70k

Speaking Jime said “There
is actually a need for the industry to understand that there is a complaints unit that handles complaints for stakeholders.

“So far, I don’t think the industry is taking sufficient advantage of this complaints unit.

“We conduct investigation on facts that is available to us. There is the Port Service Support Portal (PSSP) which can be used to reach the council. There is no report sent through the platform that has not been resolved. There is no complaints that lasted more than 24hours on my table.

“The only way we can tackle most of the problems bedeviling the industry is when complaints are filed to us, and we would immediately respon”

Speaking further, the Shippers Council Chief Executive Officer boasted that the level of training that has been offered to staff in the short period that he was appointed into office has surpassed almost all of his previous predecessors in office put together.

“When I came into office, what I noticed was the need for the moral of the staff to be at its highest in order to get the best out of them.

“I discovered that sending staff to as small as a two weeks training is something they valued a lot, it doesn’t only benefit them as individuals, but it ultimately benefits the institution because of the proficiency and knowledge base.

“Officers in the council are not having the benefits of training that the senior staffs have gotten, so, what happens by the time they leave? There is going to be a serious knowledge gap

“Very soon, we would start sending our staff abroad to do trainings that would empower them to be the kind of Shippers Council staff that these ones who are about to leave had. I do not want any vacuum to exist under my watch.

“Training is something we take seriously, and the staff are happy that we are moving in that direction” he said

Reeling out the figures, Jime said that, as at June to December of 2021, the number of officers trained stood at 280, while from January 2022 till date, the Council has trained 221 staff.