CILT inducts chartered fellows, chartered members, corporate members

The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Nigeria on Thursday inducted some persons and organisations into her elite membership cadre.

The investiture was a high point at the 2021 CILT Fellows and Corporate Members Forum held in Lagos with the theme: “Optimising Opportunities in African Continental Free Trade Agreement through Logistics and Transport Services.”

Among the high-profile inductees in the category of Chartered Fellow was Dr. Magdalene Ajani, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transportation. Others were Dr. Bashir Jamoh, Director-General, the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Mrs. Magreth Orak Wusi, a foremost maritime lawyer, and Chairman Shippers Forum.

The specifics of the categories and number of inductees of each shows that 12 persons were inducted as chartered fellows, eight persons as chartered members, and 12 as corporate members.

Dr. Ajani harped on the need for trade groups to professionalise its practice to achieve excellence. She added that professionalisation of the practice requires training and retraining as well as interacting with people who have the requisite industry experience.

“The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport is a professional body that is very relevant in the logistics and transport sector.

“And of course, there are others, if we all work together with this group of people and position the industry to be highly professional, then, we expect an efficient service delivery and improvement in the sector.

“It takes all of us, land, water, air, and rail to come together to make a functional intermodal seamless transport sector in Nigeria,” she said.

Ms. Funmi Folorunsho, Co-champion on Transportation, African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), said that CILT had intellectual capacity in logistics and transport but unfortunately was missing in action.

Folorunsho urged the institute to optimise its strength in the logistics and transport sector by not only prioritising its already identified opportunities but strategising as well so that their implementation guidelines would align with the national strategy.

Earlier in her address, Mrs. Mfon Ekong Usoro, National President of CILT Nigeria noted that the discourse on AfCFTA was one of the strategies aimed at preparing operators in the logistics and transport space for full participation in AfCFTA.

According to her, Nigeria should not only be viewed as the largest man to be exploited by its trade partners but should evolve to be the logistics hub for the continent.

“We aim to work with all partners in the industry to drive up the logistics efficiency index for the country.

“Consequently, starting from 2022, CILT Nigeria will publish a Logistics and Transport Advisory and Forecast on a quarterly basis,” she said.

Usoro hinted that CILT with its array of experts including professors and entrepreneurs in every field of logistics and transport would work with government and other stakeholders to put into effect their recommendations.

“CILT joins the throngs of Nigerians to urge the government to issue the Transport Policy document this December,” she said.

Usoro urged inductees whom she described as persons known to occupy very high positions of responsibilities in the industry to progress activities of logistics and transport in their domain.

“Our expectation is that they will continue to further the interest of the logistics and transport industry and strive to continuously upgrade and improve efficiency and profitability in the sector,” she said.

The Chartered Institute of Logistic and Transport Nigeria was founded in 1958 as a national branch of CILT International, with the mandate on education and training, certification, setting standards of practice, licensing of professionals in logistics, transport, and supply chain management.