Captain Emmanuel Iheanacho is a frontline Master Mariner and the Chairman of Integrated Oil and Gas. In this interview with Anozie Egole, the former Minister of Interior spoke extensively on the challenges in the maritime sector and sundry others industry issues.
“I think that the reform that really ought to be revisited is the reform that was undertaken so many years ago, where the intention was to create competition within the ports by allocating terminals to private sector operator”
“We shouldn’t over-militarize our society by advocating the creation of another armed force dedicated to providing maritime security that is the job of the Navy”
Do you think the collaboration between the Navy and NIMASA on the issue of protecting our waterways is yielding fruits?
I am not entirely sure of what the details of the collaboration are, but I know that the Navy is involved with NIMASA and I know that jointly they are involved in trying to police our waters and to ensure that there is a greater security on our waters. So it is something to be encouraged because I think that there is a synergy between the Navy being an armed force and NIMASA which is purely a civilian organization but has financial resources that can actually be deployed in supporting the Navy in achieving its work. So I think that there is a very good reason, good imperative for the two organizations to work well. The only thing is that there has to be a very clear cut in terms of what the Navy does and what it doesn’t do. One of things that NIMASA really shouldn’t do in my own opinion is to militarize its own functions. So for instance if there is a need to detain a vessel, the military should not be involved; I mean detaining a vessel for administrative infractions not piracy or any serious crimes, the military should never be involved. But currently, you see a situation where military are brought on board. Say we are detaining a vessel military are brought on board, it is unheard of; it doesn’t happen anywhere else but in regards to the requirement to stem the more serious crimes of piracy, armed robbery attacks and all that, of course the full force of the Navy will be brought to bear on those who try to tarnish the image and reputation of the country by involving themselves in that type of business.
How would you assess the Nigeria Ports reforms?
I am not very familiar with the reform going on at this point in time, I have been somewhat at a distance from the port and I don’t really know the details of the reform that they are contemplating currently. But, I think that the reform that really ought to be revisited is the reform that was undertaken so many years ago where the intention was to create competition within the ports by allocating terminals to private sector operators so that anybody who wishes to use the ports will have a choice of different terminals he can go to and will make a choice based on the facilities that are available, the quality of the service that is given and the pricing of each terminal operator. I recall that the reform of yesteryears also sought to create a choice for port users so that we avoid the type of congestion that we have seen that is killing Apapa slowly. If you have independent port management in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Calabar and each port management is at liberty to determine its own pricing policy to be able to attract people then people have choice . If I come to Lagos and I am going to pay say N10, Calabar, N5 and Port-Harcourt, N3, so they can now use the pricing mechanism to attract customers to their area. So all the stories that we hear about businesses being monopolized in Lagos will no longer be there because people will be at liberty to chose where they want to go based on the prices and the cost merit of that decision.
What do you think is the solution to the congestion on the approaches to Apapa?
The solution is very simple to be honest, first you have to ask why we have congestion, there is congestion because there is a mismatch in capacities on goods coming in, fixed capacity of existing infrastructure. Capacity on goods coming in has changed over time, so that you have greater number of containers and other types of goods coming through. The nature of goods coming in has changed over time so that the structure of the trade has expanded, but the infrastructure through which these cargoes will be processed have remained the same; it is the same Creek Road and Wharf Roads amongst others and absolutely over a period of say 50 years there has not been any major development in terms of trying to match growing trade throughput with fixed infrastructure such as roads. I have advised severally that it would be a good idea if the government will look at the possibilities of acquiring all the properties or most of the properties along Creek road just by the sea and if they do, a lot of them are actually obsolete. There used to be factories and other kind of things but they are no longer there. So some of them are just sitting down there and nobody is using them, so why can’t we acquire them and get somebody to redesign the port area so that the hinterland will be put to much more efficient use than to be a repository for derelicts and moribund properties. If we did that we will be able to carter for the parking and transit requirements of most of those trucks that cluster our roads and then we will be able to also redesign the road networks that lead into and out of the ports towards the destination of the goods.
Do you think that there is need for the tank farms to be relocated out of Apapa?
That is not it at all, don’t be fooled by all of those things, go down there and have a look for yourself, you can see for yourself. The specification of the trucks that cluster the roads are not tankers, it is container traffic all the way. So don’t start talking about tank farm operators, of course tank farms will exist whether they exists here or elsewhere, if you move them away from here the same problem you saw will still manifest at that side as well. So it is not tank farm at all, what we really need is to have expanded road, good marshals to marshal traffic through the critical points. So these are some of the things we need; it has nothing to do with tank farms, not in my opinion anyway.
Talking about the MASECA Bill, do you think there is need for another agency to be created to fight the menace of piracy?
Look, let’s get away from this idea of arming people everybody wants to be carrying arms if everybody is carrying arms; the MASECA that you are talking about, what is MASECA. Anyway the Navy is there they have a lot of men under arms and they can put them to good use doing the job with respect to this MASECA. But I would really want to advice that we don’t continue to militarize our society, we walked away from military rule so many years ago and this idea that you are bringing in military to do things that civilians can do I really think that we will use them where it is necessary. But only when it is necessary, we shouldn’t over-militarize our society by advocating the creation of another armed force dedicated to providing maritime security that is the job of the Navy.
What is your assessment on the Cabotage Act implementation by NIMASA?
I don’t need to continue to talk about this issue, if you really know the history of Cabotage we were the people that articulated this Cabotage. We brought the idea because it has existed in places like the USA and some other developed countries for a very long time. And we also saw that it really would be veritable vehicle for creating market entry opportunities for indigenous shipping interest in terms of owning and operating ships, locally and internationally. So I don’t have to continue to mark people whether they have implemented it or not, they are doing their best and we are hoping that things get better.
Recently, NIMASA accused ship owners that they are the reason the Cabotage fund is yet to be disbursed, what is your take on that?
I don’t really want any discussion that I have with you on maritime issues to center around what NIMASA has done and what it has not done; it has a job to do. Dr. Dakuku Peterside, who is the Director General is a very nice man, he is a friend of mine and I think he is very sincere in terms of the plans he has for developing the Nigerian maritime and I think what we should do is to support him fully. With regards to the Ship Accusation and Ship Building Fund whether it was successful or not, I would really like to use myself as an example. You know we were one of the first beneficiaries; we bought and operated a number of ships with very limited funds you know that shipping is a capital intensive business. So if you have $2million or $2.5Million to buy a full-sized ocean-going vessel it is not really a lot of money. But we brought our ingenuity and experience to bear on the challenges that we faced at that time and we bought first of all a Type AD14 general cargo vessel that is 15,000 tons in shape which we operated from India to Brazil, from Brazil to Spain, worldwide. And we then managed to increase the size of the fleet that we have so that at one time we had seven fully-built ships starting from a small $2million that we borrowed. The most important thing is that we paid up; we absolutely paid up the money so if people tell you stories of people that didn’t pay I don’t know who they are but I paid up that money that I borrowed and I bought a ship and trained a lot of people. Right now I don’t have significant tonnage under my control, I would really like to have the opportunity to indeed avail myself of some of that money that has been accumulated under the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund. So if the fund is there, I would like to borrow to buy a few more ships to rebuild my fleet and to continue to train Nigerians in the business of seafaring.
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