Multimodal West Africa Promotes Economic Growth through Transport Sector
written by FQ_KAN_BAI
Thousands of stakeholders from the private and public sectors of the Transport and Logistics industry, ranging from road, rail, sea, air to inland waterways, will meet at the Multimodal West Africa Exhibition and Conference holding from Tuesday, 24th to Thursday, 26th January 2017 at the Landmark Event Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Multimodal West Africa, according to the organisers, Clarion Events West Africa, will create a platform for freight contracts from over 2,500 major cargo owners (importers and exporters) and generate new leads to over 16,000 cargo owner in the Multimodal West Africa network. The Trade event also has the potential of creating new business opportunities across multiple market sectors.
Officials of Clarion Events West Africa claimed that this exhibition will support government’s efforts in increasing ports and terminal activities throughout the freight transport, logistics and supply chain management sectors. ‘’Currently in Nigeria, there is the need for rapid improvement in the transport and logistics sector, as it plays a crucial role in the growth of organisation and economic development of a country. Multimodal West Africa offers exhibitors a unique platform to showcase latest supply chain solutions and equipment to decision makers from leading cargo owners, importers and exporters”’, they stated.
Supporting the event, the immediate past Chairman of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transportation (CILT), General Umar Usman, said Multimodal West Africa Exhibition and Conference has the ability to deliver more business than any other Transport and Logistics exhibition in West Africa, with the attendance of so many major decision makers from all sectors. He confirmed that the Association will be participating as he strongly believes in the major business opportunities that would arise as a result of the exhibition.
Speaking in the same vein, Jennifer Ijeoma Anoyika, the Director General of the Nigerian-German Business Association (NGBA) whose association is a leading supporter of the exhibition, declared that there are numerous expectations by the logistics sector, the business community and the general public; one of which is to see a great deal of obvious and measurable economic impacts and benefits resulting from the proposed port and terminal activity expansion, with appropriate investments and implementations in the right aspects, the plan should yield positive direct and indirect effects. She further stated that her the desire of the association is to see economic, technical, infrastructural and organisational development, and the Multimodal exhibition has the capacity of creating this environment.
Top players in the sector also laid credence to the importance of the transport and logistic sector to the economy.
Oluremi Ajayi, General Manager of DSV, the fourth largest freight forwarder in the world, believes that the innovation will strengthen connecting modes of transport especially the rail system and also foster easy accessibility across borders. “In July 2016, the Minister of Aviation made a pronouncement that the ports are overwhelmed and as a result of that, they are creating dry ports for the different geopolitical zones, this is very optimistic indeed. Additionally, Epe (Lekki Free Trade zone and the deep sea ports) as well as the Badagry ports are also in the pipeline by the Lagos State Government. Expecting that this will go a long way to strengthen our connecting modes of transports especially the rail system and also boost relationship within and outside African countries through the Ecowas Trade Liberalization Scheme.”, she stated.
Samuel Jeffson, Director at St. John Freight Systems agrees. According to him, “Nigerian economy is ready to take a big leap and we at St. John Group are equally excited as we closely monitor some interesting developments ahead with investments coming in from global conglomerates like AP Moller in the upcoming Badagry port facility and also the setting up of Lekki Deep Sea port by AfDB and a consortium of private investors and banks. With these additional facilities coming up, it will increase the port and terminal throughput activities by multiple folds.” He continued that “presently we see that the Nigerian economy is ready to take a big leap but its port infrastructure unfortunately does not support the vision and forms a major bottleneck. We believe with the new facilities coming up, the port and terminal industry landscape will totally change.”
DSV and St John are both already confirmed to exhibit at the upcoming Multimodal West Africa transport and logistics exhibition and conference
Multimodal is an exhibition organised by Clarion Events West Africa, responsible for the widely acclaimed Nigeria Manufacturing & Equipment Expo (MAN Expo) which took place March 2016 in Lagos, attracting more than 2600 attendees, with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) as event patrons. With nine years’ experience in the transport and logistics industry, Clarion Events West Africa and the Clarion Events Multimodal portfolio successfully connect shippers, manufacturers, retailers, importers, exporters and official government bodies to bring about greater port activity, increase connectivity and display the latest solutions for a slicker supply chain. The portfolio consists of Multimodal, held in London, UK; The Supply Chain & Logistics Summit and Expo, held in Europe; and Multimodal West Africa, in Lagos, Nigeria.
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