When former President Olusegun Obasanjo came into office in May, 1999, he made it unambiguously clear that his government was interested in opening up the nation’s economy to the private sector. The position of the government was that there was need for reforms in many sectors of the economy, including the nation’s maritime industry, with the ports as the starting point.
When former President Olusegun Obasanjo came into office in May, 1999, he made it unambiguously clear that his government was interested in opening up the nation’s economy to the private sector. The position of the government was that there was need for reforms in many sectors of the economy, including the nation’s maritime industry, with the ports as the starting point.
Perhaps, the most popular sing-song is port concession, apparently because it translated to stripping Nigerian Ports Authority of its core functions and transferring same to private terminal operators.
To the government and justifiably too, the nation’s seaport were already decaying; both in terms of service delivery and security as well as infrastructures, not to mention integrity and best practices.
That was enough justification and we share government’s position on that. We also share government’s disposition that managing the ports by its employees had been most unprofitable.
The reforms led to the emergence (in April of 2006), of the first set of concessionaires, namely: ENL Consortium, Apapa Bulk Terminal Limited (ABTL), Greenview Development Nigeria Limited (GDNL) and APM Terminals. Between them, they shared the Lagos Ports Complex.
For NPA, the emergence of these new operators marked the beginning of reduced relevance, because its core operations, such as cargo handling, shore handling, traffic and so on were taken over by profit-motivated private sector operators, which in-turn balkanized the ports and erected perimeter fences to map out their areas of operations.
No doubt, there were monumental financial commitments on the part of those who now operate the terminals.
At the last count, APM Terminal has had issues with virtually all of these stakeholders; perhaps with the exemption of sister terminal operators. Perhaps, because it occupies one of the most strategic portions of the Lagos Port Complex (that is the old Container Terminal) for which it coughed out the princely $3.6Billion, its share of attention and blame has been phenomena.
Right from the onset, APM Terminals has been in the eye of the storm. If it is not being attacked by licensed customs agents, the attack would come from its employees. It has also had issues with the workers union; that is the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN). The terminal operator at a point also added the Nigeria Customs Service to its increasing list of ‘enemies’.
The question that begs for answer is: who are APM Terminal supposed to be serving or relating with. Under the dispensation of port concession, the stakeholders of any terminal operator (APMT inclusive) are: NPA itself (and its partners), the terminal operators themselves, importers and their agents, that is the licensed customs agents, shipping companies/agents, labour (especially dock workers).
At different times this year alone, APM Terminal has again had issues with the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, truck owners/drivers and lately licensed customs agents.
At the peak of the face-off with the terminal operator, the leadership of the union had complained about what they called “the unfair manner in which the private terminal operator has been treating its workers.
President of the dockworkers branch of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju had said that the union had no choice than to shut down the terminal, because, according to him, the union is not happy with the way the terminal operator is treating its workers.
“They (APMT) have no respect for Nigerians; they treat our members like slaves in our father’s land.
But, the President-General of the union, Comrade Anthony Emmanul Nted opened up on the real issues. According to him, the action was in protest against the management over protracted negotiation for improved conditions of service which began in April 2013.
According to him, “APMT discharges not less than 420,000 containers every year and generates over $7 billion yearly, but yet they cannot take care of their workers. Rather, they repatriate the profit to their country.”
He decried the hazardous environment under which members (especially those working in the cranes) were exposed to blaming it to the failure by management to put in place occupational safety and health measures in the workplace.
At another time this year, placard-carrying container truck drivers also grounded operational activities at the Lagos Ports Complex for several hours alleging that APM Terminal is the cause of the delay being experienced at the port because of its obsolete equipment.
Some of the placard carried by the drivers read messages such as: "APMT have failed Nigerians"," APMT must go before we work again", "APMT equipment are all obsolete"," We are tired of APMT activities", "Compare to other terminals like TICT , Ports and Cargo, APMT is not functioning well "etc., While some carried placards, others were chanting solidarity songs calling for the government to look into the plight of the drivers.
The haulage truck drivers lamented that the delay experience at the port overtime is as a result of poor infrastructures on the part of the terminal operator, especially as it concerns handling of containers that are due to exit the terminal.
Since the recent attacks on APM Terminal resurfaced, some operators have asked the most obvious question and that is: Why APM Terminals?
We quite agree with them that whatever is wrong with APM Terminal may also be wrong with others. Certainly, APM Terminal is not worse than ENL, neither is it worse than Josepdam, ABTL, or even Ports and Cargo. As a matter of fact, it is often used as an example of how a concessioned port should be fortified and impregnable.
So what is it that APM Terminal is doing that others are not doing, or what is it that others are doing that it is not doing?
The simple answer is that, while others are realistic about their challenges, while they are more stakeholders-conscious, APMT is the exact opposite; believing in propaganda instead of constructive engagement with its immediate publics.
It is not about how much it paid to win the concession, it is also not only about how much it pays to NPA as royalty, it is about how much satisfied the user of its services are. Its workers, the licensed customs agents, truck drivers can’t all be wrong and can’t all be mischievous.
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