Prince Olu Ologbese (Stakeholder)
Prince Olu Ologbese (Stakeholder)
The last quarter of 2014 was quite controversial and worrisome following the customs closure of the airport and the shutting down of the terminal in Apapa port for about two weeks, also the Shippers Council made effort to ensure that shipping lines and terminal operators go back to status quo in the area of pricing. But above all the year is remarkable, PAAR came into the system and everybody accepted it. But next year will begin with so many debates in the maritime sector and we urge the government to look inward and address them bit by bit. Not forgetting that politics also came at the tail end of the year and the maritime sector has it participants in that effort. However the year 2014 experienced some level of growth most especially with customs.
Matthew Alalade (President Merchant Navy)
There are signs that the country's maritime sector is moving ahead even though there are some unresolved challenges. One of the greatest successes recorded for 2014 is that there has been a drastic reduction of sea robbery in our waters which I will say is good for the industry and for the year. We can say that NIMASA and the Navy have tried, but we still want them to do more.
Frank Aliakor (ANLCA)
The year 2014 has its own challenges, so also there are some level of growth for the industry. PAAR regime has come to stay, but we will urge the government through the customs to make sure that there will be no hiccup as regard PAAR. Apart from that, the shipping companies and terminal operators should provide a level playing ground for the stakeholders for the purpose of moving the sector to greater height. I will also urge the government to implement some of its policies as it affect the maritime industry.
Chima Sampson (Registrar NIS)
For 2014, I will say the maritime sector performed a little bit above average because there has been some of improvement in all ramifications, but the major challenges is the issue of charges at our ports which overtime has caused a form friction between the freight agents and the terminal operators and shipping agencies. We thank God Shippers Council is the economic regulator and we want them to do more in that regard. My position remains to the effect that we have been able to achieve some burning issues and we also have some unsettled issues so it is fair from our part for 2014.
Ojo Peter Akintoye (ANLCA, Tin Can)
The year 2014 was a good year for us because of the introduction of PAAR, despite the fact that we faced a? lot of challenges at the beginning, compared to the former era of service providers; we can categorically tell you that it is better now, if you do your documentation very well, within hours, you will get your PAAR. However, the policies rolled out in this country are not okay, even though their projections are good, but our standard of living in this country does not support these policies, government is stopping importation of used vehicles and yet we cannot produce cars in Nigeria, they are trying to encourage agricultural sector by discouraging rice importation, yet, smuggled rice is still entering into the country. My projection for 2015 is a change of government, if we have a change of government, things will be better, the government of the day is trying their best, but their best is not enough, they bring policies without any alternatives.
Uchu Bloc (Deputy President, NCMDLCA)
I wouldn't say it's a bad year, but things were not the way we expected them to be, with some improvements, we hope the coming year will be better if things are put in the right perspectives. Looking at the customs when the year started and they took over from service providers with the PAAR, it came with a lot of problems and bottlenecks, but today I commend them for issuing the PAAR in less than two hours, I am a witness to that; if you submit your documents, in the next one hour they will upload you, but the problems we have now is the value they are imposing, and the customs itself have not accepted the PAAR, if they have, we will not have the high number of queries and alerts we have now, they should put their house in order.
Davies Chucks Kanikwu (Secretary, Tin Can ANLCA)
2014 has been a mixture of activities, the good the bad and the ugly, the maritime industry has not fared well, though, from the customs angle, they can be telling people that they have done well, but generally speaking the year cannot be compared to 2012 or 2013, the volume of importation presently is not as much as it used to be, the take home of an average agent is nothing to write home about and there is palpable tension here and there and we lost a lot of our valuable members as a result of the stress. Also, 2014 there was constant policy summersault from the government, in the beginning of the year we thought they have lifted ban on importation of furniture, all of a sudden they reverted it, and there is arbitrary alert at the port and queries from people who naturally should not be at the port. However, the good aspect of 2014 is the training programme that customs has given to us, bringing us at par with modern day procedures, because knowledge is ?power. Some things actually improved, but I take exception to some over bloated values that customs is giving us on PAAR.
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