In this part of the world as with elsewhere, the norm is to be hopeful that each new year will be better than the previous one.
So, even as the issues of the previous years have remained prevalent and dominant, the tendency to be pessimistic is indeed high.
While we agree that the Nigerian maritime industry, just like others contended and indeed struggled with COVID-19 and related challenges in 2021, there were indeed some issues that had their own identities. Herein are issues about the bad port access roads, scarcity of forex for importation, extortion, and a plethora of others.
It is shocking that for the fourth year running, the fears that we nursed and indeed predicted have refused to abate.
As if we had an inkling of what was ahead, this newspaper had written on this same page about this time in 2020, that, “at the risk of being called a pessimist, it is unlikely that 2020 will be any better for the industry than 2019. This however does not indicate that agencies of government will not generate revenue; they will. But the infrastructure decay may continue”. How right we were. All that we feared, we contended with actually starred us in the face last year,
Apart from the COVID-19 pandemic, the issues that dominated the industry in 2021 were not quite different from those of the previous years.
From shippers to clearing agents, to ship owners, haulage operators, stevedoring companies, the story was the same. It was perhaps worse for those who either work or live in the port city of Apapa and its environs, who had to contend with debilitating traffic.
For the importers, the agony of 2021 was still about accessibility and cost of foreign exchange. For the customs licensed agents, it was the usually cumbersome and high cost of cargo clearance. For the ship owners, it was the same old story of lack of patronage and dominance of foreign ship owners and the non-disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund. For the owners/drivers of articulated vehicles that are used for dry and wet cargo haulage, 2021 was perhaps worse. But for those who patronized them, it was a bit better, because it cost less.
We all saw how trucking of containers out of Lagos ports became a hot cake for truck owners in 2020. But it wasn’t the same in 2021, thanks to the electronic call up system of the NPA. However, trucking business still remained an avenue for extortion by certain interests in 2021.
The problem of haulage was due to the slow pace of the reconstruction going on at the Apapa end of the Oworonsoki –Apapa expressway.
Just like in the previous years when government mounted pressure on the maritime sector for revenue, owing to the drop in earnings from crude oil, attention was on the sector for revenue for the government in 2021.
It was one year when the Nigeria Customs Service became obsessed with revenue collection. To confirm that it was desperate to up the game of revenue collection, the Service recently said it collected the sum of N2,240,880,308,195.77 in 2021.
Read Also: What are your expectations for the maritime industry in 2022?
All said, a better and prosperous year can only be assured if some of the issue that have plagued the industry and have almost crippled it are addressed.
First on our ‘wish list’ is the roads leading to Tin Can ports. The bedlam from Mile 2 to Tin Can should be tackled early enough in 2022. We hope that this will not be carried over to 2023!
One of the good sides of 2021 was the coming into life of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN). This is exemplified by the myriads of positives that the Council recorded in that year. We hope a new governing council will emerged early enough this year.
As a maritime media organisation, we are saddened by the fact that, Nigerian waters have become a theatre for sea piracy.
It appears like the hope of safety for ships navigating in Nigerian waters is hinged on the $195 million maritime security contract. Even though already commissioned, its effect is yet to be seen.
It our hope that, in 2022 NIMASA will work more seriously towards ensuring that arrested pirates are sent to jail by the instrumentality of the SPOMO Act.
We pray for a Happy and Prosperous and a better 2022. Amen.
Kindly like us on Facebook
Discussion about this post