Reverend Cole Chiori, the Chief Executive Officer, Oceanglory Commodities Limited; frontline player in the business of rice importation spoke recently with Roland Ekama. The focus of the interview was not only the all-important business of importing rice, he also spoke on sundry industry issues.
What is your reaction to the recent increase of duty on importation of rice into the country?
Reverend Cole Chiori, the Chief Executive Officer, Oceanglory Commodities Limited; frontline player in the business of rice importation spoke recently with Roland Ekama. The focus of the interview was not only the all-important business of importing rice, he also spoke on sundry industry issues.
What is your reaction to the recent increase of duty on importation of rice into the country?
Government’s policies are supported if it were to be good for the masses, like the new bench mark on importation of rice is 50 percent which has commenced since July this year and under the budget for 2013, it is going to be 100 percent. And if I was the president I wouldn’t handle it from that angle, I will go agricultural because as far as Nigerians are concerned, rice is a food that is consumed in every homes, there is no family that does not take rice and with the present situation of value in Nigeria today, Nigerian rice farmers cannot feed the population of the country, so in line with that if I am the president, I would have done something extra ordinary. And that is to go back to what former President Shehu Shagari intended doing and that is to have an agency called Nigeria Agricultural Land Development Authority which will be spread to every local government, in every local government the federal government will obtain land for farming. In the old Bendel state initially, we had vast land, cassava plantation, the youths were farming from there and at the same time, they were feeding from there and because it was not properly implemented because of the fact that Shagari was overthrown, it became everybody’s farm, but if I were the president I will go back to it. Every local government in Imo state has vast land, in each landed property there will be a farm estate, people graduating will go there. In farm settlements, there would be schools that will be taking care of those things, and you will find out that in five/six years, Nigeria would be different, Nigerians would be able to feed. So, talking about the importation or increasing the benchmark, is only putting sufferings on Nigerians. The government is now supporting smuggling because when you put a high benchmark on such commodities, you make us to pay 50percent or 100 percent of the import duty, while people will still go to the porous northern borders to bring in such items. Well, I thank God that security at the Seme border has been able to clip their wings and I think the northern border should be looked into, however people are getting wiser by bring in rice from that side, therefore government needs to look in the northern borders and that is why you see that our rice is more expensive than the ones smuggled to the country, because no customs duty was paid to that effect , at least you will see bags for N6,000, N7,000 ,so is the Government helping matters at all, they are only helping smuggling to thrive while those that are doing genuine businesses are suffering. The truth is that the Northern borders are porous and the smugglers are using that opportunity to bring in cheap rice that are not up to standard.
As a foremost importer of rice, don’t you think it will have an adverse effect on shipping companies that freight rice into the country?
Yes of course, the aftermath is that people will import but would not sell, they will want to sell at a higher cost than those that are smuggling through Nigerian borders, so if the borders were not porous, there is nowhere to make money again, then the importers too cannot still make their money for the fact that those importers will sell at a loss, whereas there is no how we can stop people from eating rice, our farmers are not bracing up, so the after effect is that it is going to affect us in the sense that we are not meeting up while those who smuggle the product sell at a cheaper price,we are not selling, importers don’t sell because the Government makes the price to be very high for us.
If you were to be in the shoes of government, what would be the right step to take in this case?
The right step to take is what I have said earlier on, go back to the land, make people to farm, soldiers who are in the barracks doing nothing, let them go back to the farm, policemen who are doing nothing, send them to the farm, people on the streets who have nothing doing, send them to the farm, you will see that everybody will become comfortable, we wouldn’t be talking about importation, that is the only way to curb it , you can say okay for five years let’s give a free hand, you can import, but after five years, there will be rice everywhere, there will be food everywhere; not only rice, if Kano says for instance, that they are known for planting wheat, you will massively produce, in Adamawa rice, in Abaliki rice, in whatever state or whatever food to be produced it would be massively produced, by then Nigeria would be serious because it is of no use to produce when you produce, you cannot preserve. So government should go back to the land, although I appreciate them for what they are doing but they need to still do more.
What are the challenges that are face in importing rice into the country?
There have been lots of challenges, one of them is the climate change, the climate change is affecting producer, we are not supposed to be having rain but there is rain and flood, the farm is stained, it belittles the farm, to load becomes a problem because of rain, rain doesn’t allow them to grow. And here in Nigeria, we all know that the climate change too, people are not working because of rain, so there are a lot of challenges apart from the ones caused by the government. All over the world, this flood of a thing is affecting farms. In shipping and maritime angle, I must say that the charges by the terminal operators is the another big problem that government needs to look into because shipping companies pay demurrage as a result of congestion in the ports, therefore government need to construct more ports in the country. We also pay $10,000 a day as demurrage to the terminal operators; I think it is too high for a system like ours.
What is your appraisal of the maritime industry so far from the beginning of the year till date?
There has been a lot of improvement, because the volume of business that has come to Nigeria for this year, you cannot compare it with last year, there has been a lot of improvement.
Can you please throw more light into the improvements; is it in the area of Customs, shipping sector, or freight forwarding, etc?
From the shipping sector, more goods are coming in, as for the Customs, I think they are doing better now, but in the areas of containers being delayed, more than necessary, but it is better than the way it used to be. Nigeria Port Authority and other government agencies are trying to improve, but I will say that we are not there yet because of our roads. The roads to the sea ports are so bad, if you look at the Apapa express road two weeks ago, a container fell on a taxi, I don’t know the fate of the taxi driver, it is a daily occurrence on our routes especially the pot-holes, containers falling there and the governments are opening their eyes and seeing these things and saying the road is completed, whereas there is nothing done, so there are so many challenges in the maritime industry. I just came back from France and the roads leading to the seaports are in top shape, if you see the sea ports how they operate, smooth roads, you will see trucks going out and coming in, but here in Nigeria, the challenges are so many, there are transportation challenges, high cost of doing business in our port and I think if the government can look into them, things will be better.
What is the competitions like between the shipping companies that handle importation of rice in to the country?
It is very competitive, because some people want to monopolize the business of importing rice but we thank God it is a situation of survival of the fittest, no matter how competitive it is, you that want to survive must continue pulling your weight, so it is very competitive, I wouldn’t mention names. There are some companies who don’t want others to bring in rice; they are the only ones who only want to be bringing in rice. There are some that want to be bringing in sub- standard rice, but we believe in quality. Mama Gold, Mama Africa that is what we bring in, even you will be asking any consumer of rice, they will be telling you that is the best rice in the market. So people want to bring all kinds of things to make names, that is not it, we want to maintain quality so that when you buy our product, you will see that it is a quality one.
How can you ascertain standardized rice?
NAFDAC is there to check, SON is there, the quality control system from where it is being imported is very high, but because we are conscious of where we should bring in rice from, we don’t want our consumers to consume rubbish that is why we are making sure from where it is coming, it is of great quality. Here in Nigeria it is inspected to be of great quality, that is why we obtain permission from NAFDAC, and when they come in they are inspected. Like I said, I wouldn’t like to mention names of people who bring in all kinds of rice for people to consume.
It is obvious from our daily coverage of ships movement that Oceanglory Commodities Limited is a front line importer of rice, what is the secret behind it?
The secret behind it is being truthful, being hardworking, know what you are doing and we minimize pilfering short-landing, we give labourers good incentives so that they don’t tear the rice in bags and that is why many companies would want to come back and do business with us, because we assure them that we minimize short-landing, we don’t allow wharf rats to come into our vessels to work.
It is obvious that ENL terminal handles most of your consignments, what is the relationship and how is the relationship between your shipping company and the terminal operators?
The terminal operators that we have our vessels in their terminals, they know our works and that is why when they give us the number of days they expect us to work, we work to meet the target. And because of that they want to do more business with us because they know that what we say we will do, we will do it. We ask for five days, they give us five days and before the five days expire, our vessels are gone, then the job is completed and our relationship is so cordial that they want us to do more business with us. Oceanglory is the first shipping company that brought in bulk cargo in Onne port and after discharging, the management of that terminal gave us commendation letter that, we have done very well and that is why our vessels are still calling at Onne port to discharge. Therefore we have a very cordial relationship with terminal operators if not for the arbitrary charges that we pay in huge foreign currency.
If you are to score ENL in terms of cargo handling, how would you score them?
I will score them high, but I will want them to reduce their charges, not only ENL but all the terminal operators, the rate they charge is getting too high, especially when they tell you that you have overstayed in the berth.
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