Institute Advocates Appointment Of Experts As Transport Commissioners

The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT), has advised state governors to appoint experts in the institute as transportation commissioners of their respective states.

This was disclosed by the president of the Institute, Barr. Mfon Usoro, shortly after the inauguration of the Academics in Logistics and Transport (ACALOT), at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), on Wednesday.

According to Usoro who is a former director general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the expert will help to advise the governors appropriately on necessary investments that will help other areas in the state to flourish.

“I will advise the incoming government that the governors should appreciate how crucial it is to invest in logistics and transport because they will come up with different projects but without logistics and transport, their projects cannot become realities

“If they say their priorities are in power, how are the equipment going to come to Nigeria? From the port where it arrives in Nigeria, how will they get to the location? It is by logistics and transport and if you don’t get that right, then the cost of investment in that project is going to be high.

“Instead of taking one or two years, it is going to delay because they have failed to pay attention to logistics and transport. I want to encourage our governors to try their best to get experts as commissioners of transport because it is a specialised area so that they may know that the rest of all the projects in the state rest on having the transportation and.logistics aspect correct.

“If they don’t have experts, they won’t know how to convince the governor to make sure they have sufficient budget to do what needs to be done to upgrade our logistics performance index,” she advised.

However, as a way of encouraging more membership into the institute, Usoro said they had simplified the entry process into the institute.

She said the institute has given a 50 per cent discount on entry fee for youth and students in the profession, saying the drive of the institute was to catch the students young and to expose them to the rudiments of the profession.

According to her, the reduction in the cost of obtaining form will adversely affect the revenue of the institute but that the core of CILT is not profit making but the benefits to the target audience,

Her words, “What I was talking about was reviewing the process of becoming a member because even the membership form was very cumbersome. Some people who are already CEOs complain that the membership form is too complicated.

“So, we have made it simple, straight forward and most importantly, it is online now where most people can go and fill the form. We gave embarked on digitisation project in CILT, we are reducing the use of paperworks which most of the times, you don’t need after entering the particulars in computer that process has been completed and we have simplified the process of getting members and also sometimes the qualifications were unclear and there are bits of arbitrariness in evaluating people who qualify to be members or qualify for upgrades. We have simplified the process and it is going to be circulated to all the members.

“If you don’t empower the youth, then there is no point in us being here. What we are doing now is to create more opportunities for the youths. One of the things that we have done in this administration is that we have halved entry fees by 50 per cent for students because it is better for us to catch them when they are students, exposing them to the needs to understand logistics and transport in the economy of Nigeria. The discount will make the institute lose revenue but we are not profit making but think of benefits to our target audience which in this instance, is the youths.

She, however, called on state governors to acknowledge the importance of investing in transport and logistics saying that transport and logistics is the bedrock of all other projects and priorities in any state

She added that state governors should engage experts in the sector as commissioners of transport in each state because according to her, the expert will help to advise the governors appropriately on necessary investments that will help other areas in the state to flourish.

“I will advise the incoming government that the governors should appreciate how crucial it is to invest in logistics and transport because they will come up with different projects but without logistics and transport, their projects cannot become realities

“If they say their priorities are in power, how are the equipment going to come to Nigeria? From the port where it arrives in Nigeria, how will they get to the location? It is by logistics and transport and if you don’t get that right, then the cost of investment in that project is going to be high

“Instead of taking one or two years, it is going to delay because they had failed to pay attention to logistics and transport

“I want to encourage our governors to try their best to get experts as commissioners of transport because it is a specialised area so that they may know that the rest of all the projects in the state rest on having the transportation and logistics aspect correct.

“If they don’t have experts, they won’t know how to convince the governor to make sure they have sufficient budget to do what needs to be done to upgrade our logistics performance index,” she advised.