Nwabude Uche (NAGAFF chieftain, Tin Can port)
The industry is getting better, it has passed the way it used to be between then and now and we are still hoping that it will continue to improve. Before now the government can just stand up and impose a policy in the ports, but today, we have people at the National Assembly, we have freedom of the press to report issues in the industry, if the government says this is how it should be and the masses say we don’t want it so, then they should listen.
Concessioning and privatization of the port has been one of the major changes during this democracy, it has made the ports friendlier by creating room for competition, and the changes are quite numerous. However like in every government of the world, there are short falls, nobody gets there immediately and don’t forget that our democracy is just about 11 years old, so we have to start from somewhere, the maritime industry you see today will not be the same that you will see in the next five or ten years because I believe things will continue changing from better to best.
Olu Olasore (Gemtrade Int’l Ltd)
Before now, the system was okay, but lately and with the way things are going now, it seems nobody is in charge. If you look at the privatization of the ports, personally I have mixed feelings, initially it had advantages, but now the fact that there is no regulator or some form of control has made the disadvantages higher than the advantages because the terminal operators can just wake up any day and bring any charges that they like. If you look at what is happening at the APMT and many other terminals, you will begin to wonder what is really happening, can we survive under this type of condition, APMT has now decided that they want to cut cost and where 10 people are supposed to work they decided to put two people there and yet we are talking about efficiency. Now we take about 20 days to book while the government is there talking about 48 hour clearance.
Mazi Joseph Anabaraonye (Registrar, FFAN)
We all know that the worst of democratic government is better than the best military government and as such we will say that we have experienced a lot of changes. First is the issue of port concession and the Cabotage; even though it has not been implemented, it is still a step in the right direction. Concession has also brought about tremendous changes in the port system in terms of infrastructural development and equipment, there is now also speedy cargo clearance compared to what it were, it is not as if we have arrived, but there is still need for improvement. Stakeholders too now have better participation during this democracy than the military where everything is one command, today stakeholders can fight against any arbitrary charges and so on.
Prince Kayode Adedoyin (Licensed Customs Agents)
What I will just say is that before the coming of the democracy 11years ago, things were going well because that time we were clearing cars of less than 5 to 7years, it was Obasanjo that stopped the importation of 8 years old cars from coming into Nigeria and placed it at 12years in year 2000 and since then it has been increasing every year, even up till now it is only cars of the age of 10 years that are allowed to come in, but before democracy it was not like that, then you can bring any car that you like. Since the ports have now been privatized, clearing agents now enjoy the clearing of their consignments, but during the time of NPA we had a lot of processes.
What we are appealing for now is for government to bring down the high rate of clearing cars at the port because this is really affecting us.
Cosmas Ndimkora (Vice chair, PTML NAGAFF)
Democracy has been able to stabilize so many things, but the thing with us in this country is that we know how to promulgate wonderful policies that are well spelt out but the implementation has always been our headache, not only in the maritime sector but every other facet of our society. The ports are now better organized, but there are so many duplications in terms of work, what ought to be done by one person is still being done by five people and all these militate against trade facilitation. Also during the military era, policies were implemented with immediate orde, but now when you hear about new policies it takes two to three months before you begin to see the effects.
Ray Ugochukwu (Maritime journalist)
One major issue which democracy should have addressed and is yet to be addressed is the issue of tonnage-ownership of vessels by Nigerians. During the military era it was a battle that we never won. And that’s why today foreigners continue to dominate the shipping industry. Even with the Cabotage Act, you discover that those vessels that operate on Cabotage regime are still foible. We still expect that with democracy that aspect should be addressed. However we still have to give credit to democracy in a way because there have been many legislations at the National Assembly that are adding value to the industry. Another good thing is port concession. Even though it still has a lot of problems, but at least it has brought some kind of sanity into the industry in the sense that before now the dockworkers used to hold the entire industry to ransom. That aspect has been addressed now and things are going normal except that the concessioning arrangement needs some fine-tuning. We are also looking at a situation where cost of clearing goods at our ports will come down. But right now, from what the agents and importers are saying, cost has increased by over 400 percent since 1999. If the government can take measures against the arbitrary charges, we can say that democracy has come to play a key role in maritime industry.
John Ajegbu (Freight forwarder)
11 years of democracy in Nigeria has not had any tremendous impact on the maritime sector of the economy. Nothing significant has been happening. For instance, look at the port access roads. Everyday we are losing a lot of money and lives whenever a container falls down because of the bad state of the roads. Although the minister has just given the NPA one month to put the roads in good shape, but I don’t believe any tangible thing will happen. The shipping companies and terminal operators are ripping us off our hard earned money unmindful of the unfriendly business environment. If the Nigeria Ports Authority finds it difficult to repair the roads, the concessionaires can as well come to their rescue. Ask those that are doing businesses here, you can see anxiety written all over their faces. Democracy has not had any positive impact on the maritime industry.
Deola Ganny (ANLCA, KLT Chapter).
It’s unfortunate that despite the huge resources and manpower that we have in the maritime industry, we have been unable to have our own national career. I remember that during the first regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo as military head of state, we had fleet of vessels under the Nigeria National Shipping Line which have all been sold off.
Shittu Rashidi Bamidele (Freight forwarder)
The tariffs which have been increased to about 100 percent are meant to send us out of business and bonded terminals are dying. The concessionaires are exploiters. The government is celebrating 11 years of uninterrupted democracy. Majority of those in power are older than those in other countries. Also the 7-point agenda should be pruned down for better implementation.
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