Freight forwarding sector didn’t do well in 2025 – Layoku

The Managing Director/CEO of D-One International Services Limited, Mr. Oludare Layoku, has stated that the freight forwarding sector did not do well as expected in 2025 because of instability in the foreign exchange policy of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Mr. Oludare Layoku, a leading customs agent, made this position known while reviewing freight forwarding, particularly air cargo handling operation, in 2025 with PortNews in Lagos recently.

Layoku noted that many customs agents and freight forwarders operated below their capacity in 2025 as import dropped badly due to the unstable economic policies, particularly foreign exchange.

“Foreign exchange determines our business. Import drops when there is instability in foreign exchange. So many importers and manufacturers imported below their capacity in 2025 because of the volatility in the foreign exchange policies of the government. As their agents, this impacted our business badly.

“When I have enough jobs, I give to others to do. The little ones I have, it is only me and my staff who would execute them. So, all the people that I have been giving jobs to before, I could no longer give them. That tells you how bad it was,” said D-One CEO.

Layoku, who also spoke on other aspects of the sector, advised the Federal Government to ensure that its economic policies are stable and constant encouraging businesses, particularly importers and manufacturers, to plan.

He also advised the government to invest more in agriculture with a view to bringing down the huge amount of money Nigerians spend on food.

Speaking on the operations of the Nigeria Customs Service at the Lagos Airport, Layoku said the Customs Service did not do badly in 2025 but its B’Odogwu system posed a lot of challenges to cargo clearance at the initial stage of its introduction.

He said since the Customs subdued the challenges in the B’Odogwu operation, there was a tremendous improvement in cargo clearance, attributing this to successful consultation, collaboration and interface between the Customs, customs agents and freight forwarders.

In the new year, Layoku advised the management of the Nigeria Customs Service, particularly the Lagos Airport Cargo Command, to increase and sustain the collaboration with customs agents and freight forwarders.

Layoku commended the level of efficiency of all cargo handling companies, especially Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Plc and Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) Plc, in the area of cargo handling and delivery.

“I think they did well in the year. There is a healthy competition between them. If you take your cargo to NAHCO or SAHCO, it is the same charges. They deliver our cargo to us as expected. We just expect them to further consolidate on this in 2026,” advised Layoku.

On the recent celebration of 100 years of aviation industry in Nigeria and presentation of awards to eminent aviation stakeholders by the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Layoku said it was bad that the ministry did not seem fit to consider customs agents and freight forwarders among the award recipients considering their contributions to the growth of the industry.

Layoku said there is no aviation without customs agents and freight forwarders, pointing out that it was regrettable that the ministry did not consider one of them for the award.

“We are not happy that we missed out among eminent Nigerian aviation stakeholders who were given awards by the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development in 2025 recognising their contributions to the growth of aviation in Nigeria. The truth is, there is no aviation without freight forwarders.

“But there is no way we could challenge them because we are fragmented,” admitted Layoku, who attributed the crisis in the Airport Chapter of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) to greed, selfish interest, lack of respect for elders and, ultimately, respect for due process.

He said as a result of the leadership crisis in the ANLCA, customs agents have lost their voice on the industry issues, suggesting “there is a need for all actors in the crisis to drop their ego, come to a roundabout table and iron out the issue once and for all.”