Nigeria's former Vice President and Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has alleged that the Nigerian port system is not working, and that importers making use of Nigerian ports to ship their cargoes are made to pay extra $1,000 dollars abroad.
Atiku stated this at an interactive session with maritime stakeholders at the National Art Theatre in Iganmu, Lagos yesterday.
Represented by his running mate and former Governor of Anambra state, Mr. Peter Obi, he assured that if voted into power, proper attention wound be given to the maritime industry while special incentives would be provided for Nigerian shippers taking delivery of their cargoes through eastern port of Port Harcourt, Warri and Calabar.
According to him, in order to make the eastern ports busy and viable, there is need to make it cheaper to clear cargoes there than in Lagos.
He said "How can you say Nigeria is working and you have ease of doing business if the roads leading to your ports are in bad shape? It simply shows a government that is not working"
"For every goods you ship from anywhere in the world into Nigeria you pay additional $1,000, the reason you are paying that is because of the inefficiency of Nigerian Ports. If you ship your goods through Nigeria, the country loses additional $20billion which is about their annual budget because of the inefficiency of their port"
"The ports today have not been expanded from what it was from when they were built, nobody has given them any attention and we are not even building new ones, Singapore has the busiest port in the world, and as it is, they are building the busiest and biggest port under the sea, this would start in 2050, but here we are not doing anything, we are busy making sure that the ones built are not working"
On the ever-present traffic gridlock in Apapa due to bad roads, Atiku assured the stakeholders that fixing the Apapa- Oshodi expressway could be completed in less than one year.
According to him, running a business and running the country is the same thing. He vowed to deploy his business acumen in development of the ports.
"Atiku/Obi presidency would make Nigeria work. Atiku has experience in governance and in business, people cannot offer what they don't have, imagine Atiku as an ex custom officer and myself being a trader, the port will turn around", he assured.
Meanwhile, the stakeholders presented various position papers on the various challenges confronting the sector.
The Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) in a document presented by its Vice President, Mr. Farinto Collins said even though the port as a critical sector generates N5billion daily into Federal Government's purse, the government has abandoned it.
He said that maritime operators regretted galvanising over 30,000 votes for President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, saying that most of the promises made were never fulfilled.
One of the promises according to him was made by the current Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo on revision of the auto policy, he said the policy has succeeded in sending many clearing agents out of jobs.
Other challenges itemised by Farinto include bad access roads leading to the nation's ports, foreigners practicing custom brokerage in Nigeria. He called for indigenization of the profession.
The ANLCA vice president also stressed the need to review the Customs and Excise Management Act and a creation of a Ministry of Maritime.
He called for the development of a port development plan, saying that all the ports in Nigeria currently have been overstretched.
The Lagos State Governorship flag bearer of the PDP, Mr. Jimi Agbaje was also at the forum accompanied by his running mate. He assured that if voted into Apapa, the traffic gridlock in Apapa would be addressed.
Discussion about this post