George Okafor (NAGAFF, PTML chapter)
George Okafor (NAGAFF, PTML chapter)
I will say that we are coming out from the learning process, it is just to stabilize, we are now going to be 53years and yet we say we are still learning. In the maritime industry, I think we are coming out from learning, now that we have a Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarders (CRFFN) they should be allowed to work so that we can be treated as professionals, just like lawyers, when you do your job you will just collect your practicing fee, this should be the process so that those that are not qualified to do the job will keep away, then the customs can also train their officers because some of them up till now do not know the difference between vehicle inside container and a vehicle that is RoRo, some of them know the office work, but they do not know the field work, they should be trained to know exactly what is obtainable in the industry.
Emmanuel Bradillo (Freight Forwarder)
Infrastructure wise, has the terminal operators done what they are supposed to do? Instead, they are busy biting more than they can chew, trying to get contracts here and there and attracting every ship to their terminal, at the end of the day they end up short-changing the importer, the agents and thereby having the dwell time extending beyond the normal dwell time of cargo. For example, when you want to carry out examination of cargo, they give you 20 days to drop your container, according to CEMA, it takes 28days for cargo to be declared as overtime, and within the remaining eight days you are busy chasing shadows at the shipping company and there you can spend another four days, who is fooling who? The industry is supposed to have grown more than what we are having now.
Simeon Olua (Fin. Sec. NAGAFF)
I can score the industry 80%, since the concession exercise in the port, many of the concessionaires have not implemented the agreements reached with the government, we look at it that many of them came to make money and enrich their pockets instead of developing the agreement that was reached. We expect that by now, delivery in Nigeria should at least be 24hours, but today you spend one week in positioning a container, for instance, in terminals like TICT which maritime stakeholders have been battling the system of operations there, at APMT it takes three days for them to write a gate pass and Terminal Delivery order for agents, most of our boys spend 24hours carrying money and taking a risk before they could write TDO and gate pass at APMT. On the custom side, since the assumption of Dikko as CG, the Customs has been performing, but we wish that they will increase their performance because now there is issue of server, it will work today and tomorrow it will not work, they should bring competent hands to handle these things.
David Chuks Kanikwu (Sec. Tin Can ANLCA)
I wouldn't score the industry 50%, this was supposed to be the second revenue earner for the country, but yet in the midst of plenty we are still suffering as a result of somersault in policy and people not coming out holistically with the truth. Anybody can get up and tell you that the concession has done the economy so good, but it is the concessionaires that have benefited more from the process and made our port an unfriendly place for business in terms of cost. The Nigerian port is the costliest port to transact business in, but nobody has stood up to ask why, because we have people that have dug their fangs in the pie of this industry and continuously they have been milking us and not explaining to the people the actual ingredient in some of the charges they are collecting. We have been asking them what is the real component of the freight rate that we are paying, what does it cover? If they can be able to tell us, then we will be able to start aggregating and find the leakages. If you look at the service providers, we have some people they call Web Fontane and yet every time we have server breakdown, this leads to loss of man hour and also adds to dwell time of the cargo, Cotecna and Globalscan are more interested in the 1% commission they are collecting, the internal and external road networks leading to off dock terminals where containers will be stemmed to, they are all eyesore because containers are falling everyday. The Lagos State Government even compounded the matter, they are collecting Wharf Landing Fees, of what benefit has this been to the place they are collecting the money from? We have not faired better at all.
Dr. Boniface Aniebonam (Founder NAGAFF)
Yes there has been tremendous progress since independence because as far as I am concerned, it has to do with mind set and understand, it has to do with human beings to decide if the maritime industry has improved since independence or not. We have made a lot of progress even when you look at the concessioning of the ports, a lot of complaints were there but we have made a lot of progress since 1960. When you go to Apapa port or Tin Can Island port you find out that there have been a lot of infrastructural development, but then the aspect of cost is still a problem and definitely when we highlight the problems the government will come in to address them and see what they can do.
Barrister Osuala Nwagbara (Maritime Lawyer)
Definitely the maritime industry is marching forward since independence, there have been lots of development, institutions have been created, laws have been made in different areas in the sector and Nigeria is planning to be the country with the hub ports in West and Central Africa, we have the Cabotage regime in place which meant well for the sector and we also have national shipping policy which have transformed to NIMASA. Nigeria has complied with the international committee in ISPS frontier, she has continued to have a very strong voice in the IMO, so in a nutshell if you ask me, I will say that a lot of developments have taken place and we are happy to say that we see Nigeria moving forward on the frontiers of maritime issues.
Osita Patrick Chukwu (Coordinator SNFFIEC)
No doubt we have recorded tremendous improvement in port operations because all the mechanisms we have in the ports were not experienced before now. Formerly we are paying in cash but now we play through electronic means, then we go to pigeon hole to pay to customs before we can clear consignment, as at in the 1970 and 1980’s. But now we pay through the banks. The world is of computer age but then we don’t have anything like computer and that have bring about development since independence. Back then the level of frauds were unaccounted for but the present day, everybody is afraid of EFCC and ICPC. The customs has improved tremendously in their operations and formalities even though they need to do more but the truth remains that they are trying. They customs is well coordinated now unlike before when they intimidate, molest and the use of bad language on an agents. So a lot has been achieved since independence and it is a plus for the maritime sector and the economy of the nation.
Comrade Adele Matthew (Dockworker)
The maritime industry has recorded tremendous improvement since independence. Concessioning of the ports brought about massive improvement in port operations, death cases has reduced, safety measure are in place unlike before, security within the terminals has improved ,we hardly record vandalisation of vehicles and containers unlike in the past .There has been more ports and jetties created, more people are been engaged etc. So in my own view there have been massive growths in the maritime sector now than before 1960.
Mr. Anthony Ogadi ( Co- Ordinator, NIMASA Eastern Zone, Port Harcourt)
I think that the Nigerian maritime sector has fared better since independence. The industry has been on steady improvement and growth. It is a process that will continue to improve.
From NIMASA’s perspective, as a safety regulatory agency, I think the agency has been making positive contributions. We have seen the strides made in terms of human capacity development, and in terms of maritime security. The agency is impacting positively on the grassroots within the coastal areas.
Now we have lesser cases of piracy compared with before. There are more jobs in area of engagement of Nigerian seafarers. If the youths are engaged, crimes will be less and our economy will witness a boom. NIMASA as an agency is doing just that to progressively engage more Nigerian youths in the marine-related professions.
With all these, maritime industry will be attractive for local and for international investors. For me, Nigeria at 53, there are more opportunities in the maritime sector than before. In the Cabotage regime, there are more trade and more opportunities in the hydro-carbon sector. These put together makes shipping/maritime trade and industry to be more profitable.
Nigerian maritime industry is also playing a role for the landlocked Nigerian neighbors. Their patronage will additionally add to GDP of the economy.
Mrr Eucheria Okpu, (Public Affairs Dept, Rivers Port, Port Harcourt)
It is good that Nigeria is celebrating 53rd independence anniversary. I think that the maritime sector has been on the part of progress. In area of port operations, it is better today than before. For example, the concession arrangement struck by the government was able to bring investors which helped to improve port infrastructural development. I think there is need to improve on port access roads for Rivers Port. This will help to increase vessel traffic and encourage importers and exporters to patronize Rivers Port.
The bottom line will be that more importers will route their containers /cargo through Port Harcourt Ports. Also more investors will be attracted to invest on the ports.
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