Umar Omezia Jimoh (Former President, NPA Senior Staff)
A contract does not exist for eternity, it could be revoked for one reason or the other, I know that NPA has the right to engage 3rd party and also to terminate their contract if the terms are not honoured, so also, INTELS can pull out of the engagement. It is just like the relationship between employer and employee; you cannot force an employee on an unwilling employer. Nobody concessioned pilotage, it is terminal that was concessioned. Originally when we agreed that the ports should be concessioned, the BPE agreed that the core job of NPA should be done by NPA, one of the core jobs is pilotage.
Lucky Amiwero (President, NCMDLCA)
INTELS is not a government organization and I don't think their contract should be terminated because of the TSA arrangement. The issue of that contract termination should not be political, it should not be after Atiku, contracts should not be terminated on the basis of politics, it should be terminated on the basis of performance and fulfillment of contract terms. A lot of us right now are confused, INTELS have their own problems, but their problems need to be addressed professionally and not politically, they are doing a lot of bad things which government is supposed to intervene, but not on termination of contract.
Chris Sadoh (Head, Shipping Mgt Dept, Stars Maritime Academy)
Nigeria is country where we have wrong people piloting the affairs of this nation, the cancellation of the INTELS is not the issue, I believe the company has the enablement and resources to executive the contract, a trial should have been given to them before NPA called it off, nevertheless, this is a country where a round object is placed in a square hole and it can never fit in. Until we go back to the drawing board and begin to look at the system, the problem we are having in this country is not human, it is the system on ground, the system is so bad, so we begin to go back to the drawing board to revisit the system and allow people and organizations who have skill to do a thing should be allowed to come in, we should not use our selfish interest if we must get to the promise land. The system is corrupt and wrong, if people were corrupt, the situation would not have degenerated.
Bolaji Sunmola (President, Stevedores Association)
NPA entered into the contract, so they have the right to pull out of it, why did NPA allow INTELS to enjoy such monopoly in the first place. The termination would not affect the workers, there won't be a vacuum, if NPA is terminating the contract, it means that somebody else would be taking over the contract. What NPA would have to do now is to appoint another contractor; NPA has no business going commercial, it is better to outsource the function for it to be better managed and for efficiency.
Rev Jonathan Nicol (Shippers Association)
I certainly don’t have anything against government decisions, especially when it concerns the constitution of the country and if they say that the constitution doesn’t give INTELS the powers to begin to manage that aspect of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), so be it. It is not a do or die affair.
Engineer Matthew Alalade (Merchant Navy)
To me I believe that INTELS should do what the federal government wants them to do, they should comply by remitting to the Single Treasury Account. From all the comments i have read so far, they have not remitting to the account. They should do that so that things will work out well for them.
Mr Stanley Ezenga (Freight Forwarder)
The way they executed the contract is very wrong, do you know how much they are making and what they are supposed to remit it is faulty. I think NPA just woke up from the sleep there were flaws from the way the contract was awarded. So to me it is a good development so that it will be competitive and it is also for the benefit of NPA. On the issue of people losing their jobs, some will lose their jobs while others will get jobs because the contract must be executed. So if those who were there before lose their jobs the people who were not there before will get jobs because they will employ new hands. So it is still the same thing.
Capt Joseph Awodeha (Master Mariner)
You know I hate to be talking about things I don’t have complete details on I have not really been around so I don’t know much about that. But I believe that any contract is subject to be reviewed so if NPA feel compelled to review any contract they have signed with anybody. Circumstances must dictate what you want to do with the contract you signed with anybody either you want to continue or you want to terminate it. So I think reviewing the contract is a normal thing. You don’t blackmail people because of contract, all the people they said that will lose their jobs were they employed because of that particular job. There are a number of services that INTELS provides, but my question is the number they said that will lose their jobs were they working on the pilotage arm of the firm if they said yes, they have to see it and prove it. For me there is not live contract every contract is subject to be reviewed. If NPA has reasons to review the contract, you have to give them smooth atmosphere for discussions and re-negotiation and whatever needs to be done will be done for both parties to be comfortable. Anybody that is not making is comfortable for that review to take place must have something in mind. So if you ask me I don’t know the details but I am looking at the surface of it that any contract has to provide atmosphere for review if necessary.
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