Comrade Peter Ojelatan (Water transporter)
I don’t think there has been much improvement especially as far as this sector is concerned, if you look back over the years now it has been almost the same system and there are lots of things to be done. We are trying, but we are not there yet, there are lots of challenges in the industry and we have been carrying it over from year to year; our waterways are so dirty that it keeps spoiling our engines, though NIMASA recently promised to come and clear the waterways, but we are still expecting them. However as a developing nation, I want to say there is still room for improvement. If you look at some years ago, piracy was not too common like this, and if you look at those boys who are involved in these activities, you will discover that it is joblessness that causes it, it was not so rampant some years ago but with the effort of the government now maybe one day it will be totally eradicated or reduced to the barest minimum.
Prince Olusegun Ologbese (Stakeholder)
The Nigerian maritime sector has tremendously improved in the sense that so far so good it has been able to withstand the demand of the masses, this is the first thing to consider in the sector, it has been able to accommodate various stakeholders, ships are coming in with goods and there is immediate market for it, although there are still many challenges.
Right from the on set I was against the port concession because any policy that will take food from the table of the larger majority of the country, I don’t welcome it, we know that the number of staff working with NPA compared to what is left now is not up to one quarter of the number accommodated by NPA. All stakeholders must rise up and perform their duty so that their wont be complains and the sector can move forward.
Okooza Sunday (Oil worker)
There have been tremendous changes in the industry compared to how it was 50 years ago, now we have a link between the maritime and the oil and gas sector, without the sea the oil cannot be exported or imported and I think the maritime sector is doing well, at least the vandalization that use to exist then is no longer present. If we remain consistent, I think even the safety on the waters which is a very important factor will be improved, though I still believe that piracy does not exist in this country as such, but however we can still improve on the level of security on our waters.
Mr. Timi Bomodi (PRO, Apapa Area 1 command of NCS)
The industry have witnessed tremendous changes in terms of the quality of the service provided before the port concession and the present, when you bring in a private organization to run facilities that were once under the control of a public company, there is bound to be differences in their approach, the concessionaires have invested a lot of money, brought in some equipment and as such are working towards running a more efficient port system, the improvement are there visible in the ports though it might not be 100 percent, however now, operations in the ports go beyond the activities of one person, it involves everyone, its like the cords in a wheel and where one is not working efficiently no matter how effective all the other cords are, the inefficiency of the one cord can affect the rest.
Talking about operations in the port, it has improved tremendously especially during the regime of the present customs administration, SGD processing and other modes of making payment is now done online, declarations are made, examinations are conducted and goods are released, the system is a lot simplified now and made the clearance of goods lot safer.
The major challenge we have now is the issue of non compliance by the importers, people tend to put their attention on what they ought not to put their attention on, if for example an importer imports goods with intention of defrauding the government by making false declaration as to the nature of the goods he is importing, he has started complicating issues for himself because at every step of the way, he is going to run into obstacles and this will definitely set back the 48 hour cargo clearance goal of government.
Aare Sani Shittu (Vice Chair, BOT, ANLCA)
There have been ups and down, but thank God that we have been able to create a new avenue that has brought about a turn- around. We have had the concession regime which has been one of the major issues in the sector over the years, but however, there are still some teething problems such as high charges and the rest of it. There have also been acquisition of new equipment by the concessionaires and this has brought a turn- around. Again the service providers are being left on their own; the supervising agencies should not allow them to extort Nigerians in terms of all these high charges arbitrarily without any regulation. These are areas that government needs to look into and make it up.
Jude Maduka (Chair, NAGAFF Tin Can Chapter)
Over the years, the maritime industry have been bastardised and this time around within the period of about two to three years after the concessioning regime a new dawn is being brought into the maritime industry and we are still hoping to improve on what we have on ground now. Collaboration and partnership is the only way we can be able to impact and infuse new ideas that will move the industry forward to a greater height. There are still lapses and short comings but you know Rome was not built in a day, the industry has been bastardised for many years and the correction just started few years ago. In the concessioning, there are still lapses here and there, the idea of concessioning the port is to bring about efficiency and reduce cost of doing business in the ports, but now it has not been realized, government still needs to streamline the activities of the concessionaires and they should let us understand the agreement they had with the concessionaires so that we will know where to come in and assist them.
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