“WE HAVE COPIED NIGERIAN SHIPPERS’ COUNCIL’S ANNUAL SEMINAR”
One of the several attractions of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council’s annual seminar for judges is the high profile list of attendees. One man who has been regular at the seminar is the chief executive of the Ghana’s Shippers Authourity, Mr Kofi Mbiah. In this brief encounter with one of our ‘Diaspora’ correspondents the highly referred administrator bares his mind on issues of mutual interests between his country and Nigeria.
This is the 11th edition of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council seminar for judges and I do know that Ghana took a cue from to Nigeria to institute its own seminar for judges, how has it been?
I think it has gone so far very well. For the reason that Nigeria put in place the maritime law seminar for judges for those same very reasons, we instituted the Ghanaian maritime law seminar for judges in Ghana.
I think the underlining reason being that maritime law is a specialized area, although every one goes to law school, but the common practice is that we do not study maritime law and a lot of our judges therefore, even though they are very conversant in the dispensation of justice, when it comes to issues of maritime law, some times there is a need to ensure that they apply the rules and the conventions, as they have been developed internationally.
I am aware that the International Ship and Port Facility Security code (ISPS) has been passed into law in Ghana , how were you able to achieve this and how long has this been done?
I am sure that it has been passed into law in Nigeria
No, it has not been passed into law
As at yesterday I got that information. Well okay I do not know, you will know better then I do. Way back in June 2004, the ISPS code was supposed to be in place and countries were supposed to conform.
Consequently, we have passed our own legislation, this was in 2006 and at the same time we have done the processes of implementation as far as requirement of the ISPS code is concerned. The implementation by way of security requirements at the ports have been completed, we are also at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) white list which is an indication that we have complied with the very basic tenets of the ISPS code.
Has the Ghanaian version of the maritime seminar for judges added value to the operations of the maritime industry in Ghana in nay way?
Thank you. I think that if there is one landmark when it comes to the entire adjudication process of maritime cases, one can say that the judges seminar I believe not only Ghana but also in Nigeria has been very instrumental in assisting judges because apart from the fact that these lectures are held, there is a compilation of these lectures into books and the books have become ready reference materials for judges and lawyers alike. I know for example that in the case of Ghana, there are a number of judges who always keep copies of these books so that they can have ready reference materials. So on that score, it has been very good, it also brought about a lot of awareness that maritime law is a specialized area and consequently we have a lot of youths taking up courses in maritime law. At the Regional Maritime University, beginning from this year, they have started a maritime law programme; this is also as a result of the awakening and the consciousness that came as a result of the maritime law seminar for judges. The shippers themselves now have more confidence to bring their maritime matters court. Before now, because of the perception that judges were not very knowledgeable in maritime law and therefore when it came to the dispensation of justice, they were not likely to have justice from the court and they refrained from going to court at all. But now some confidence has been built, consequently a lot of shippers are also taking their maritime cases to court.
How has port concession fared in Ghana?
Ghana has also gone in the same direction like Nigeria, to a very large measure, a lot of port operation work is done by private companies. I would say that Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority which was mainly responsible for about 70% to75% of stevedoring has now given away stevedoring functions to the private sector, it now handles only about 30% of stevedoring and the 70% have been distributed among various private owners. Then, we also have a container terminal dedicated for handling of containers and that is also handled by the Meridian Ports Services, that a consortium of various companies. Apart from that there are other off-dock terminals that are also being handled by the private sector. So the level of private sector participation in the ports in Ghana has also increased. However, it must be mentioned that the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority is still in control of the facilities in the ports.
It is responsible for the maintenance of the channels, the turning basin, the dredging in the ports, other facilities in the ports, giving out areas for rent; all of these are still handled by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority.
The issue of Cargo Tracking Note has become very controversial in Nigeria and the Senate has condemned the process through the project was brought into the ports industry, what is it like in Ghana?
Ghana has not yet implemented the Cargo Tracking Note, but it came to us as a surprise that it is the Ports Authority (in Nigeria) that is implementing the Cargo Tracking Note. Cargo Tracking is essentially for owners of cargo and the interest of these cargo owners are invariable protected by the shippers’ organizations in their respective countries. So in almost all the countries, (as far as my knowledge goes) it is the shippers’ organizations that are implementing the Cargo Tracking Note.
The Cargo Tracking Note, in actually fact is meant to provide information that will be used for the benefit of importers and exporters who are shippers. In any case, it is their cargo which is being brought and information is needed on that cargo. So, basically it is a Shippers’ Council thing rather than a Port Authourity thing.
I am told that Nigerian Shippers Council turned down its involvement in the implementation of the Cargo Tracking Note project for reasons that I am yet to find out.
Well, I will be surprised if they turned it down because in almost all of West and Central Africa, it is the Shippers’ organizations that are handling the CTN project because it provides information; that information is also used to boost statistics, it also gives indication as to where cargo is at a particular point and any assistance provided to shippers is dependent on that information on that container, where it is located at that particular time, so that you can tell a cargo owner that his cargo is not lost, his cargo has been traced or his cargo is awaiting trans-shipment or it is being moved from point. That information invariably is what is supplied by shippers and those who protect the interest of shippers.
You said the Cargo Tracking Note project is yet to be passed into law?
Yes, we have done the draft law, it has gone to the Ministry and very soon, I am sure it will go to parliament and then the Ghana Shippers’ Authority will begin to implement it.
Beyond the maritime seminar for judges, what other areas of collaboration have Ghana and Nigeria exploited for mutual benefits?
Yes, on many fronts, we have collaborations with our counterparts at the Nigerian Shippers’ Council especially. I know also that there is collaboration among the Ports Authorities of Ghana and Nigeria but I can speak more about the collaboration between the Shippers’ Councils and basically at various for a, we exchange notes and it has been very useful in terms of information on how we can execute plans and programmes for the benefits of importers and exporters. When it also comes to international legislation, we agree at such meetings. For example, recently, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCILTRAL) developed a new convention for the carriage of goods by sea, Ghana and Nigeria played a very prominent role in terms of the enunciations of the rules for the carriage of goods by sea.
I thought Nigeria was the only country that spearheaded that move?
No, it was Ghana and Nigeria; we worked together, we had meetings here in Nigeria, we also had meetings in Ghana so there was a strong collaboration, we developed the document jointly which was sent to UNCILTRAL and which has reflected in the document which has been adopted. So on various fronts in terms of harmonization of legislation in terms of exchange of information, information flow, statistics and website development, we have collaborated.
Where do we see this collaboration taking Nigeria and Ghana say in the next five or ten years?
I have heard people talked about local content development in Nigeria in respect to oil and gas, but beyond oil and gas, there is still the need to develop local capacity and then also local content so that our own people can play significant roles when it comes to the carriage of these products by sea either by way of ownership of vessels, by way of freight forwarding, by way of provision of logistics. We want to see our people getting increasingly involved in this trade when it comes to the technology that ought to be applied in the clearance of cargo from the ports; we want more of these things to be handled by ourselves.
In the next five to 10 years as you said, I have no doubt in my mind that the collaboration would have led us to get our people to participate actively in this respect.
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