Mr. Raph Agbogu is the Managing Director and CEO of Sovereign Gate Nigeria Limited and also the National Public Relations Officer of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA). In this chat with Anozie Egole he speaks extensively about the numerous challenges in the Nigerian maritime industry.
“All the vessels and consignments that come into this country come on transhipment, there is no single 20,000 TEU that comes into Nigeria”
“70% of those overtime cargoes are first-time imports”
How would you access the efforts of the Federal Government’s task team on the Apapa traffic gridlock?
Well, in the first place it is a front burner issue and this thing will keep elongating except the right thing is done and what is the right thing that should be done; it is getting into the remote and immediate cause of this gridlock, it is a nightmare and for now it is an ill-wind that blows nobody any good. So the government should do the right thing it is not all about setting up a task team, who are the members of the task team and what is their background. Are the stakeholders involved; because it takes professionals and experts to bring solution to issues? Members of different freight forwarding associations and customs clearing agents should be part of the task team. Because if the government should view this from the point of conspiracy and breakdown of law and order something urgent and drastic should be done.
What we are saying is that there must be a proper regulation as an enactment and enforcement on the side of the government to checkmate the operators and who are the operators, the shipping lines and terminal operators. They are flouting the laws, can you imagine, a presidential order was neglected; it shouldn’t be like that. At the same time, the people in the task team- who are they, are they very conversant with the cause of the traffic. If you are not conversant with the cause of a problem, you cannot have the solution. So it is better that the government comes back to stakeholders, liaise with them and let there be consultations.
Are you saying that the task team has not really done well?
Look at it, running from pillar to post does not make sense, what makes sense is doing the right thing at the right time; like putting a square peg in a square hole. If you put a square peg in a round hole, fine an action has been taken but does it solve the problem, was it a perfect order or perfect solution, these are the questions, otherwise there will be leakages.
How would you access the ports for the past 20 years of democracy?
It is very shaky now, I cannot give it all to them and I cannot also take it all from them. But then the issue now is, as it is today the country is not getting enough proceeds from the ports. The concessioning was not done properly, the concessionaires are not doing well, it is just a winner takes all affair. The moment the government realizes that the maritime industry is the main stay of the country; the government has to do some urgent things to address the situation. Have they reviewed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of the concessionaires? After this number of years, who are the people that these things are concessioned to? Have they brought enough impact to the nation, is the economy better at that? These are the things we check, what has been the situation of our ports, very soon we are going to have river ports and not seaports because nobody is taking care of the seaports.
What do you have to say about the multiplicity of customs group during cargo examination?
It’s a market place situation, the multiplicity and duplication of agencies in the port puts the country into a chaotic situation. And I will tell you that Nigeria is the costliest place to do business and the country is losing grip of the maritime business, everybody is running away. You are faced with the inaccessibility of the port access roads and when you finally come into the ports, this multiplicity of group is making things worst. All these small countries like Benin Republic, Togo are all smiling. Togo has become the hub of West Africa; all the vessels and consignments that come into this country come on transshipment, there is no single 20,000 TEU that comes into Nigeria, is the government not aware. Every consignment that comes into Nigeria is on transshipment from Cotonou to Nigeria, because the country is so expensive and the government cannot checkmate the terminal operators and shipping companies. They are all agents representing a shipper abroad, but here they are holding Nigeria to ransom, that is the problem. What has the minister of transportation done, whenever you talk about the maritime and cargo clearance, there are two segments of it, the licensed customs agents under the ministry of finance where customs is working, the other one is freight forwarding under ministry of transportation. So these two ministries what are they doing? When we began something last year, there was a chaos, the Central Bank of Nigeria and the federal Ministry of Finance who is calling the shots? A lot of abysmal principles and policies were brought in place and Nigeria is not good at that. So the solutions to all these things is for the government to come back to stakeholders, look for professionals bring them to a round table discussion, there is solution to all these things.
What do you have to say on the government’s directive to CRFFN to start the collection of POF?
Where is it found in the law, we should go to the books and the law to see if it is there. Like I was saying, we are making things to be more difficult for Nigerians. Just like the Lagos state government is collecting Wharf Landing Fee, what are they using the money for, have they repaired the roads? Has the collection scaled debate in the National Assembly?
Let’s talk about the overtime cargoes, what do you think should be done to the overtime cargoes at the ports?
What we will do is this; it boils down to what we are saying, majority of those containers are laying down there because of demurrage, over-billing. 70% of those cargoes are first time importers, apart from improper documentation, a lot of them are trapped when you consider the bill they will give you and demurrage and these things you will abandon the container there. The second shot is improper documentation and false declaration and this is where the Nigerian Shippers’ Council needs to come in. There is no need, it does not do us any good playing the Ostrich looking through the window, let’s come in and get things done.
Recently the Police arrested some agents at the ports who were alleged to be miscreants and the Police also intercept cargoes on the road, what do you have to say about that?
The people you saw on the roads are not maritime police, the police the Nigerian Shippers’ Council are saying that they don’t have the right to intercept cargoes are maritime police which my association contributed in telling the nation what is going on. The other police you see on the high ways are Nigeria Police working for Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) or the National Agency for Foods Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the other ones you will see are various segments of the customs. But there was a time about a few months back that the maritime police was on rampage blocking containers everywhere. It was a racket but it has stopped.
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