According to the high cost of shipping, the Nigerian Shippers blamed the fluctuating exchange rate for cargo clearance for the rising inventory among manufacturers.

The Shippers disclosed this during the conference meeting of the National Shippers Association of Nigeria on Wednesday.

Shippers are exporters, importers, manufacturers and owners of cargoes being exported or imported into the country.

Innocent Akuvue, the President General of NSAN, expressed that the protracted exchange rate crisis and the attendant effect had affected members of the association and manufacturers.

He noted that some policies had been implemented by the government without due consultation of the stakeholders, saying he also blamed the inconsistent policies on the part of the government.

“There is also a complex nature and inconsistencies in the process of clearing plus the rising cost of doing business at the ports. Our roads and other infrastructure including logistics of goods from the ports have been a challenge,” Akuvue said.

Meanwhile, Ijeoma Ezeasor the Secretary-General of NSAN, who is also a Director at Cutix Plc, a cable manufacturing company, expressed that manufacturers’ warehouses were filled as Nigerians could not afford to buy their products.

“Some of the goods we ordered for and paid for since the era of COVID-19, which were disrupted then, are still coming back now and we are faced with the challenges of clearing them with the new rate.”

Also, Jonathan Nicon, a chieftain of the association, added that the purpose of creating the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council by the past administration had been defeated.

Former President Buhari, had to set up PEBEC to remove bureaucratic constraints to doing business in Nigeria and make the country a progressively easier place to start and grow a business in July 2016.