Captain Abiodun Omotesho (Master Mariner)
I think I will expect all I have been expecting every year. Ours is to focus on maritime training because there is still a lot of jobs to be done on human capacity building, we have been saying it every year, even the Niger delta development is part of the human capacity development, so every aspect of the human element must be developed in this year. We are in the industry where the job is there for the boys if they are well trained, the background for any job is the credible human element to do the job which is not available in the maritime sector, the jobs are there to be given to Nigerians, but their basic qualification is too made up of fraud, fraud in certification and the younger boys bringing out diploma certificates from everywhere, fraud in the accreditation of maritime schools, and a genuine ship owner will not employ such persons, because he wants to ensure safety of his cargo and crew. In the area of Cabotage, Nigeria is still granting waivers and the whole world knows that we are just noise makers.
Prince Olusegun Ologbese (Stakeholder)
The year is unpredictable because we don’t know what government is planning for the sector, it is unpredictable in the sense that most of these items that were lifted from the import prohibition list will go back to the prohibition list because we suspect that it is because of the elections that government is trying to make people happy by telling them that the road to the port and boarder is opened wider. But, at the same time, where is the money to go for these goods? So it will take people some time before they start going for importation because they will not know what will go back into prohibition and what will remain.
Major Henry Ajetunmobi (Rtd.) (MD, Haulage and Logistics, Sifax.)
I will expect that there will be segment strengthening in maritime policy implementation; I will expect that there should be a better dialogue between the major players; a good example is the 48- hour cargo clearance, how successful have we been in this regard? You will find out that there are very few terminals that have been able to manage the delivery time of cargoes to be 48 hours, so there should be more rational analyses of situation and let’s have a realistic schedule of actions to address this problem.
Mr. Tope Wan (T&K Enterprises worldwide)
We don’t know what the year has in stock for us yet, but I believe that as the year goes by everything will be unveiled, perhaps there will be new policies that will favour the industry because there are so many impediments that are so small but mighty which the people at the top tend to over look as insignificant but which is very important. One of such is the issue of multiple agencies in the ports, we have the Customs, ICPC, EFCC and so on, all these do not make the job to move forward, and who are the people that make seizures in the port? Is it the ICPC or the EFCC or the special task force that they put in place? It is the customs that are making seizures, but instead of encouraging them, they are bringing in more people to congest the port and we are talking about 48-hour cargo clearance.
Mr. Olu Olasore (Gemtrade International ltd.)
This year, government should try as much as possible to improve infrastructures; like good electricity, the road network within and outside the ports, the policy makers in the country must also sit down to find out how we can reduce the cost of production, if there is no way to reduce the cost of production, then there is no way the economy can grow. Looking into the different freight associations in the country the regulators should try as much as possible to liaise with the government and see ways how infrastructures in the ports can be improve and ensure reduction in port charges and corruption. The associations are in a good position to advice the government if they will listen. The duty of the customs is to facilitate trade, but you find out they are not doing so, instead they are adding more problems to it, people prefer to use other neighbouring ports now than using our ports, the revenue target given to the customs is too high, and that is why you see every customs command scrambling to hit the target by collecting extra duties.
Adeleye Ajayi [MARAN President]
The C.E.O’s of the maritime industry agencies should get it right this time around. They should get it right. They should get their priorities right this time around there should be policy consistency, because over the years we have been having policy inconsistencies. For Nigeria to be the hub for the sub –region, there are so many things that are still begging to be put in place and the terminal operators should also live up to expectation by providing the necessary facilities. The service providers too should put the right facilities in place for Customs to take over so that cargoes could be scanned appropriately so that there would no longer be issue of importation of arms, ammunitions, drugs and other things. In 2011, cargo should be cleared very fast, the 48 hours target should be met this time around, once cargoes are brought in. there should be fast clearance of cargoes and cargo clearance fee should be reduced to promote healthy competition with neighboring ports. Until this is done, Nigerians will continue to divert cargoes to neighboring ports of Cotonou, Lome and Tema.
Chinedu Ogbonna [PRO Customs, PTML]
As we are approaching the electoral process, the political stability of the country will determine the economy direction, when we have economic stability, it will build confidence in the political process. Most big economic players are skeptical and reluctant to do business with Nigeria until they are sure and convinced that that the political process is stable and it is the stability that will determine their investment plans for 2011.
Besides that, I believe that in 2011, the training programme of Customs as put in place by the CGC will begin to yield results because a trained manpower is a skilful manpower and a skillful manpower is a trained manpower who will not tolerate service failure and when there is no service failure Customs is poised with an excellent service delivery.
Comrade Bisi Bello [Dockworker]
The maritime workers union has tried a lot in the areas of support to the workers; both in terms of welfare and other wise in the last year. But as an ‘Oliver Twist’, one still needs to ask for more this year and we pray to God for them to do more for the dockworkers because there are still more problems on ground that are affecting our members. But we thank God that the leaders of dockworkers are putting their heads together to make sure they save the workers from the hand of the management that are trying to enslave us and if not for the sake of the maritime workers union mostly the dockworkers branch, the story would have been bitter. I believe that in this year, things will work out for good. So our expectations are high.
Mr. Chukwuemeka Odogwu [Auto Dealer]
For 2011, I believe things will work out on a positive note and it will be better when compared to last year. But, I want the government to look into is the area of the customs , Customs duties is too high and will love the Government to look in that area and if the Government can work in that area, then things like smuggling will drastically reduce and prices of goods will reduce. Government should also look at the activities of the Customs as they are going beyond their boundaries because the rate at which the Customs officers are impounding imported vehicles on the high way is alarming.
Discussion about this post