Oluyinka Onigbinde
Investigations by Shipping Position Daily have revealed real reasons the International Cargo Tracking Note (ICTN) is yet to fully take-off; that is, about 18 years after the Federal Government first mooted the idea which was meant to revolutionise tracking and monitoring of cargoes destined for Nigerian seaports.
Recall that the ICTN was first introduced in Nigeria under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2004. Since then, the scheme only worked for about two years before it was scuttled twice.
The ICTN was first initiated by the US Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, as a preventive security measure.
The UN Security Council later mandated the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to adopt it as a security framework for enhancing the protection of international shipping and prevention of movement of dangerous cargoes.
When implemented by countries, the ICTN will allow the governments to monitor incoming and outgoing ships through real time generation of advance information on ships involved in international voyages.
However, the move to put in place the tracking system in Nigeria has been thwarted at different times since the idea was first muted in 2004.
Apart from the billions of Naira that could accrue to the Nigerian government in revenue from cargo tracking on the country’s waters, experts and senior government official have also raised concerns over the effect of the monitoring system on national security and curtailing the menace of oil theft.
Stakeholders in the nation’s maritime industry have however blamed the delay in the implementation to official corruption, fight over control and quest for cornering what is described as a lucrative job among contractors and top government officials.
Check by our correspondent revealed that in May 2007, the Federal Ministry of Transportation directed the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to study a proposal prepared from a consortium, Ports Management System Company Limited (TPMS)-Antaser.
The TPMS, a company owned by a Beninese businessman, Jean Codo, had partnered a Belgian maritime firm, Antaser, to form the consortium.
With the change of government later that month, the initiative met some bureaucratic bottlenecks, which took more than two years before the Federal Executive Council (FEC) granted approval for the NPA to work with TPMS-Antaser for the implementation of the ICTN.
Two parties were later to sign a sharing formula of 60:40 in favour of the Federal Government.
Shipping Position Daily gathered that the ICTN attracted various sums, ranging from €150 to as much as €450, depending on the size and type of the cargo.
After much agitation and complaints by industry stakeholders, including allegations of massive corruption, the scheme was brought to an abrupt end by the then Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on November 9, 2011.
A reconciliation of the revenue collected from the scheme from the inception in March 2010 to the time it was halted in November 2011 revealed that the sum of €16,692,642.20 was realised.
However, while the NPA was paid €10,015,585.32 and the company got €6,388,415.15, a total of €3,627,170.12 was unaccounted for.
The EFCC report, submitted in 2018, indicted the TPMS and its managing director, Codo, for cornering parts of the proceeds of the scheme to the tune of €3,627,170.22.
After the cancellation in 2011 the TPMS got another approval in 2015, this time, the TPMS was to work with the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) for the implementation.
Shipping Position Daily however gathered that since 2015 when the new contract between Shippers Council and TPMS was contemplated, there has been no activity, this is even as one government document sighted by our correspondent claimed that up to $2.5billion may have been lost as revenue accruable to the government.
Were it not for a suit instituted by a Civil Rights Group; Citizens Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights (CASER), both the Shippers Council would have resumed cargo tracking.
The group had in 2021 initiated legal proceedings at the Federal High Court, Abuja against the Federal Government. Its grouse was with the process leading to the emergence of a new company to partner with the Shippers Council. CASER had questioned the procurement process.
The Federal High Court had granted an order of injunction, restraining the Minister of Transportation himself and the Ministry from appointing such companies to implement the ICTN pending the hearing and determination of the suit filed by CASER, seeking to set aside and nullify any such purported appointment of implementing companies on the ground of non-compliance with the applicable provisions of the Public Procurement Act which require transparent bidding where necessary, together with the capacity and competence in implementation of ICTN.
But, in a recent chat with our correspondent, the Executive Secretary of the NSC; Mr Emmanuel Jime had revealed that the council had got presidential approval for the implementation of the ICTN.
According to Jime, the presidential approval for the implementation of the ICTN has been obtained and the Ministry of Transportation has been given the responsibility of making sure the procurement processes are conducted in a manner that is consistent with international best practices.
He said: “We are waiting for the procurement practices to commence, but I want to assure that the directive given from the presidency is to make sure that anything and everything is fine with regards to this implementation of ICTN is done in a way that will answer to the demand of International best practices”. he said.But last week, Citizens Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights (CASER) again warned the Federal Government against any compromise with Public Procurement Laws in the implementation of the International Cargo Tracking Note.
In a statement on Thursday in Abuja by its Executive Director, Barrister Frank Tietie, CASER pleaded with Ministries of Transportation, Finance, Petroleum, Office of the National Security Advisers and that of Chief of Staff to the President to act in the national interest on the issue of Cargo Tracking policy.
Specifically, the rights group canvassed that the Ministries and the affected government agencies must resist opportunists by ensuring total compliance with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act in the matter.
According to CASER, “when recently, in 2021, the Federal Ministry of Transportation attempted to implement the ICTN without due process, by handpicking certain companies that neither possessed any capacity nor an iota of cognate experience in the implementation of ICTN, CASER raised an alarm to the President, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
However, in a chat with our correspondent, the Chief Executive Officer of Center for Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) Dr. Muda Yusuf said the ICTN, if put to work, will clean the system of every corrupt element and help block areas of revenue leakages, thereby ensuring seamless marine operations and as well help in trade facilitation.
“The Cargo Tracking Note is good to ensure seamless marine operations particularly with regards to issue of cargoes, integrity issues around cargo clearing, inspection, wrong declarations and some of these malpractices going on in the maritime sector, particularly with respect to cargo.
“The CTN is something that is universal; that is used in many countries, that is the best practice and there is nothing wrong in adopting it. But the government needs to let the people know that it is not about revenue generation venture.
“We need to clean the system, so that more decent people can do business, this is a sector where those who are cutting corners are making more money than those who are doing the right thing,” he said.
On his part, the National President Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria (APFFLON), Otunba Frank Ogunojemite, blamed inter-agency rivalry and policies among other things for the reason why the CTN has not been put to use.
Read Also: CRFFN Completes Investigation On ANLCA Crises, Takes Final Decision This Week
He noted that NPA was first mandated to put the CTN to work, before the federal government directed that NSC should handle it.
“NPA was given the mandate in 2010 to handle it at that time, there was a company in Belgium that came in partnership with NPA, they realized a huge sum of money that was shared on a percentage of 60-40. There was a perpetration of fraud and this was why it was stopped.
“The CTN was stopped by President Jonathan in 2015 before he left, Okonjo Iweala saw that N3 Billion was missing among these people”.
He however argued for re-introduction of ICTN. “Of course the ICTN should be brought back for two reasons; to protect our border and generate money for the government. But how do we monitor this when there are allegations of fraud against some people in certain quarters and the government has not done anything about it. For me, if they can stop inter-agency rivalry and clean up that area, they should bring it back”, he said.
Kindly like us on Facebook/twitter
