As far back as mid-2005, the Nigerian Ports Authority had raised alarm over the activities of some of these private jetties, alleging that oil and gas cargo are being discharged from main ports to these jetties.
The management of the agency had raised alarm that owners of some of the jetties are claiming “spuriously” that their jetties have been declared free zone areas to handle oil and gas cargo and equipment.
As far back as mid-2005, the Nigerian Ports Authority had raised alarm over the activities of some of these private jetties, alleging that oil and gas cargo are being discharged from main ports to these jetties.
The management of the agency had raised alarm that owners of some of the jetties are claiming “spuriously” that their jetties have been declared free zone areas to handle oil and gas cargo and equipment.
And last week, the minister of transport; Senator Idris Umar led senior officials of the ministry, including the permanent secretary; Engr Nebolisa Emordi to a meeting with jetty operators, on/offshore oil companies and stevedoring companies, where he stressed the determination of government to achieve the desired result in private jetties operations.
He had told his audience of government’s desire to streamline the operations of private jetties within the nation’s maritime sector activities.
The minister was reported to have also emphasised the role of his ministry and agencies like Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and Nigerian Maritime Administration & Safety Agency (NIMASA) in the enforcement of rules pertaining to the activities of operations of jetties, onshore/offshore oil companies and stevedore services.
According to him, the ministry is in custody of reports of security breaches at private jetties, especially now that the nation is facing security challenges.
The recent intervention was not the first of such. Senator Umar’s predecessor; Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman, had previously created a committee headed by Deputy Director, Coastal and Ports Administration in Federal Ministry of Transport; Mrs. Chinwe O. Ezenwa, as chairman.
Prior to this, and precisely on September 4, 2008, a top-level meeting was held between the leadership of the House of Representatives including the then- Speaker, Dimeji Bankole and Service Chiefs as well as the then-minister of state for transportation, Mr Felix Hyat.
The meeting which was called at the instance of the Speaker had only one agenda, that is the alleged abuses of private jetties and the security reports that have been pouring in on account of their activities.
In attendance at the meeting were the then- Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Paul Dike; Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Abdurrahman Danbazzau; Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Oluseyi Petirin and Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Ishah Iko Ibrahim.
Also present at the meeting which held behind closed doors were: thethen- Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro; the Comptroller-General of Customs, Hamman Bello; Director-General, State Security Services (SSS), Joe Gazama, and Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ogbonnaya Onovo.
Suffice it to state that private jetties have been a part of the nation’s maritime activities for as long as we can remember and in spite of the security implications of their operations, government still finds them indispensable.
Having passed the era when the in-thing was the existence of illegal jetties, attention has now shifted to the nitty-gritty of activities of the licensed private jetties.
We recall that at some time in the past, members of the National Assembly and security chiefs had accused Nigerdock of being a security risk by virtue of the jetties it operates.
It is shocking that years after the allegations, Nigerdock is still in business. We are also surprised that years after NPA alerted that some of the jetties were laying claim to what they were not, no action has been taken against them. Equally worrisome is the disclosure that some of the jetties are operating illegally.
We are of the opinion that rather than pay the usual lip service to the issue of private jetties, government needs to take inventory of the facilities so as to ascertain their strength and what they are being used for.
Since it was the agencies under the transport ministry that issued the licenses in the first place, there shouldn’t be problem regulating them.
Since it has become obvious that the nation’s economy can not do without these jetties it has become imperative that Government will need to take more than a cursory interest in the goings on at these facilities.
It is not so much about whether dockworkers are engaged there or not, it is about the nation’s security, it is also about due process. The first thing is to ascertain there legality of the existence of these jetties, thereafter government should put machineries in place to ensure that they are not used for untoward activities, like arms and ammunitions smuggling and oil theft.
Shutting private jetties as is being advocated in some quarters will certainly cause more problems for the nation’s economy. Rather than shutting them, we advocate a more thorough monitoring of their activities, even as we urge government to look at how qualified dockworkers would be engaged there.
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