Rev Nicodemus Odolo is a shipper and member of Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Shippers Association of Lagos State SALS). In this interview with Joshua Yousouph, he talks about sundry industry issues, such as waiver, cost and speed of clearing cargoes from the ports
We are running towards the end of the second quarter of the year, as a stakeholder, how can you assess the maritime industry vis-à-vis the issue of cargo throughput and businesses of shippers so far?
To be honest with you, things are not better yet. Our major concern as shippers, is that the cost of doing business in Nigeria is crazy; compared to other countries of the world. Until we are able to achieve that, we are not going to be able to do business in Nigeria. We have to bring low the cost of doing business and one of the things we have to do to reduce the cost of doing business is to reduce human contact and the number of hours of ship turnaround time or clearance of cargo from the port. Over the years, we are talking about 48 hours’ clearance, other nations have achieved that. Within 48 hours, your cargo is out of the port, then the cost will go down. So, if we are to assess the maritime industry, we are not there yet. In terms of cargo throughput of cargo coming to Nigeria, cargo will continue to increase because Nigeria is an import-dependent country. So, no matter the situation, the cargo will continue to increase. But are we deriving the benefits of this cargo increase? We are not. Our neighboring countries, like the Benin Republic, have great speed in cargo clearance and turnaround time. Benin is developing its port and receiving more cargoes than Nigerian ports, importers divert their cargo to other neighboring countries. Before now, the imports of Niger, Mali, and other countries came from Nigeria, but now they have taken their import to Ghana. So Nigeria is losing, but because Nigeria is highly-populated the volume of cargo coming in will still continue to be on the increase because we import almost everything.
People are of the opinion that this issue of economic meltdown is a global phenomenon and that it is not only Nigeria that is experiencing it.
It is true that the economic meltdown is global. But the fact that someone does business and fails does not mean you should also fail like that person. Comparing ourselves to other countries it’s supposed to be to our advantage but we are getting it wrong when we are making some comparison. The cost of things all over the world is getting high, but our own is too much. What is making ours to be too much is because of how a child of a butcher can complain of not having meat to eat. By the grace of God, I have traveled to the United States and other countries in Europe like Singapore and with what Nigeria has, compared to some of these countries, Nigeria ought to be the richest country in the world. But look at where we are. Some countries who don’t even have crude oil are doing better than Nigeria. So Nigeria should gear up. If I was the president of this country, I would even shut down imports. Let us be locked up inside and look inwardly, let’s develop ourselves. This was what China and India did. So let us look inwardly and I trust Nigeria that in any career or any line of business we choose to do, we will be the best in the world. We have brains here, but our brains are being wasted. That is why when developed countries see a brain coming up in Nigeria, they quickly buy them over. Let’s look inward and do something for ourselves, this country will be greater than the way we imagine. So we have not done enough in the maritime industry, and it is unfortunate. When are we going to get back the National Shipping Line or National Carrier? That is the truth; we are not yet there in the maritime industry. We still have a delay in cargo clearance in the ports for three to four weeks, when we are talking of 48 hours. To be able to achieve that, you need constant electricity, good roads and a strong internet network to attain 48 hours of cargo clearance.
Stakeholders have been looking forward to the implementation of the Electronic Cargo Tracking Note by the Nigerian Shippers Council. Why do you think the implementation is still difficult?
From the onset when they brought the idea and they wanted to introduce it, I was one of the antagonists. Why do I attack it? This is the problem Nigeria is having. The Nigerian Shippers Council is trying to bring in cargo tracking note to Nigeria for their selfish gain. They want to be making money. It is wrong. Actually, when you introduce the cargo tracking system, it is supposed to fast track movement of cargo and cargo clearance, but the Nigeria concept, everything they copy, they copy it to create problems. What brought the problem is because of the corrupt tendencies and the corruption of their heart and mind. When developed countries are trying to develop and introduce a new innovation or making an invention, they do so to make things easier. But in Nigeria, the inventions we are making is to make life worse because of the corrupt minds that were trying to put it together.
So when this internet cargo tracking note that they are talking about, other ports in the U.S, Singapore and other ports, they have all those things. How does it work? In the port of shipment before cargo are shipped, it must have been scanned in advance and the scanning manifest will be sent to the final port of destination. There is clearance from the cargo manifest, on which one is allowed and which one is not allowed. So anything that the Customs NAFDAC or other authority has marked as not allowed will be delayed. They will not pick it from the port of shipment. So those have been pre-released, they are shipped. When they get to Nigerian port, it’s just coming from the ship. If you have processed your document, they drop it on the truck and go out of the port. That is what that cargo tracking notes are supposed to do. But Nigeria is not like that, that’s why I said No. Also, they attached fees to be paid and I said No. That is what will bring the delay.
I thought they said the Electronic Cargo Tracking Note will not be of additional cost?
I was with them when they were doing this in their seminars; I was there to attack them. There was a cost that was attached before. If they say there is no additional cost, they will not tell you now. See the game, because of the attack, they will take the additional cost and go back to the shipping
line and build in that cost into the freight. That is the game. The cost will be added to freight; the shipping company will charge you from port of shipment to destination. This cargo tracking system, the cost will be built in. That’s the trick. When we are fighting to reduce cost, they are adding more. Now they have become a port-economic regulator, a regulator that is now also charging money. How do you regulate those who are charging? I have not seen a referee in the field of play that is involved in kicking the ball; playing the ball. That means you are taking side with one side of the team. So you cannot be a good referee. This is the problem we are facing. Nigerians should understand all these thing. Yes, we need a Port economic regulator; a regulatory agency. But such agency must not be allowed to charge a dime. It’s like for instance, you ask a Nigerian Police to be autonomous and start charging money for their services. You may not do anything and the Police will come inside your bedroom and say you committed a crime, so that they can charge you money. So that is what they are trying to do. It’s wrong.
That takes us to the issue of one percent freight stabilization fee. Are you trying to say that it’s uncalled for?
It’s uncalled for. Do you know that it was three percent before in the first bill they sent out? It was when we attacked and kicked against it that they reduced it to one percent. I went to Abuja for the public hearing and they sent out information that the hearing has been postponed. But we stick to our guns. I went to Abuja which was the scheduled day for the hearing. I was the first to arrive. It was in my presence that they prepared the conference room. The people that were saying that the hearing has been postponed were also present. They did that because of those of us who are attacking them on the bill. We are in support of a regulatory agency. But no money should be attached to them to collect. There are other areas they have done wrong. They said they will be issuing licenses and permits. A clearing agent in Abuja has to go and pick another license from a Nigerian Shipper’s Council as the port economic regulator. How many licenses do you want to collect?
That takes me to the controversies behind the new bill about the Nigerian Shippers Council currently at the National Assembly. Stakeholders are kicking against the overlapping functions of other government agencies that are contained in the Bill. In order not to end up like the NTC Bill, what do you foresee from this bill?
If they will accept correction, it (the Bill) will see the light of the day. But if not, I pray it will not go the same way with the NTC bill. Yes, because it’s not going to help us. It’s going to create more problems. This is what we want. We are saying about cargo clearance in the port. By the time you introduce these people, you have more delays when they are charging money. Because, do you know that anybody that is out to do business, to make money, there’s every tendency you’ll be looking at the area where you can make money and how you can make it. So, there is going to be another bottleneck because the interest of money is there. But if you remove money interest, they will do wonderfully well. They will be a good watch dog to regulate what is going on in the port.
Recently, the Nigeria Customs Service said it lost some revenue due to waivers granted by the Federal Government to some companies. What are your concerns as regards the issue of waivers?
It’s a matter of choice. The truth needs to be told. You cannot say the government will not grant waivers. Waiver is necessary for the development of the country. Look at our industries now, they are all gone because of economic hardship. To do business here is too difficult. So we must grant waivers to attract investors, to attract setting up industries for Nigeria to become a productive country. So waivers are necessary. Also, the issue of customs crying out that they lost revenue as a result of waivers is stupidity of the highest order. They don’t understand what they are saying. In a Democratic government or country, it is even wrong to give your revenue agencies targets. You leave it open. So in a democratic setting, they should leave them to work at their maximum level. They can generate more than what you are even setting for them. So it is useless to be telling us that they lost revenue because of the waivers. It is inconsequential. Waivers are necessary for the development of the country, for industries and the nation. Also, the waivers they are referring to are even minor. They have to be able to do more of the waivers, encouraging investors to bring in their own money from other countries to come and invest. Create a good policy, because one of our challenges in Nigeria is that we are fond of interrupting our policies. We call it policy somersault. The situation we have in Nigeria today is because people who are in government don’t have good policy and they don’t bring good policy. You are now saying Nigeria Naira should be left to the open market forces to determine its strength or this and that; may our Naira not become useless. Other countries will tinker with it.
