Obicee Okonkwo (National Publicity Sec. ANLCA)
Whoever that is in that committee must have known, seen or been a part of the concessioning programme as it were and we also realize that it is either the concessioning was hurriedly done or it was done not for the benefit of entire Nigerians, if this is the case then the committee should be prepared, let them tell us how the concessionaires actually came to take these areas they are operating today. They should tell us what actually transpired, who is supposed to be there and why are they not there. If we are talking about performances so far I cant score the terminal operators ten percent because the whole idea of concessioning is to ease trade and ease expenses incurred by Nigerians in moving cargo, but today what do we have, arbitrary charges coming from every one of them, there is no harmonized pricing. Another question I am asking now is which body is supposed to be the overseer of the terminal operators, are they doing what they are supposed to be doing, haven’t they been bought over? My advice to the committee is that if they want to be sincere to themselves then they should do a clean and thorough work because the job needs a sincere heart that will deliver a sincere judgment.
Barrister Chinedu Ognonna (PRO, PTML Custom command)
I am of the opinion that for them to achieve results they must get a comparative knowledge of what happens in other ports, for example in Ghana where they also operate on the same platform, so it is when they have a knowledge of how it is being done in Ghana and other places that they can be able to suggest a better change, because for you to audit, you must first have a knowledge of what you are auditing, what you have to do and so on, there must be a reference point.
Port concession naturally is designed to add value and efficiency in all areas of port operations. Unfortunately what we did was to concession the port to people without them adding value, the real port concession that I see is that of Grimaldi, reason is that they started from the scratch and built it, so they have added capacity to the Nigerian ports, we still have virgin areas where new ports can be built and what we had wanted are people who will come and add value and in the process compete with NPA.
Emmanuel Bradillo (Customs agent)
I support the concession exercise the government embarked on some years ago, it has created job opportunities, it has led to development in the ports and it has made our job easier because those days when NPA was in charge of the ports there were bureaucracies in the process but now it is straight to the business, I believe that as time goes, on we will develop, it is a matter of time. I must tell you for example that at TICT as well as Ports and Cargo, I have seen the equipment that they have been procuring, they are mounting them and the job is improving, I believe in the next two to three years they will attain perfection and we the stakeholders will enjoy the dividends. But the only area I think is left for the audit committee to look into is in the area of the charges, the charges are too outrageous, my advice is that they look into it critically to deliver the right judgments without bias.
Eugene Nweke (National President, NAGAFF)
They should approach that job dispassionately, because the issue at stake has to do with Nigerians and not foreign investors or indigenous investors, whatever happens in the ports has a multiplier effect on the masses, if the port is not efficient the masses will suffer and if it is efficient, they will benefit and so we want efficiency. When we are now talking about the re-evaluation of the concessioning for four years, we want to know how much have been repatriated from the Nigerian economy to foreign countries. In looking at this, we now ask to know how much have been invested, the purpose of concession is to attract foreign investment, so the audit committee must measure and distinguish for Nigerians to see whether investment is actually coming in or we are just recycling.
Ifeanyi Ogbudu (Customs agent)
It is good that government has decided to look into the track record of the concessionaires because honestly it is a night mare clearing jobs in our seaport, the problems are all manmade problems which are not obtainable else where, if you go to Cotonou you can clear a cargo in less that 48 hours, can’t we achieve that here in Nigeria? The concessionaires are one way or the other contributing to corruption in our port through their arbitrary charges, the committee should let us know whose duty it is to maintain the access roads which has led to containers falling every now and then, is it NPA or the concessionaires, let them turn a new leave and have attitudinal change because we don’t want illegality to thrive in this country, they have been operating in illegality and have been getting away with it. What most of them are doing in this country they can never try it in their own country, when you pay your storage charges by the time you bring back the empty container it takes them days before they return your money, it is really unfair.
Chief Achike Melokwu (Customs Agent)
I think the major area they will have to look into is trying to regulate charges of the concessionaires, this is what is paining us as stakeholders, their charges are too exorbitant, when you look into the real law itself if you ship a consignment into the country, the shippers have their own shipping agents here, it is assumed that the importer has paid everything, what is needed is for the shipping agent in this country to bring down the consignments and pay storage and some other administrative charges and you take your goods. But in Nigeria, this process does not work, the regulatory bodies like the Shippers’ Council and the rest are not looking into these things and as a result there is serious extortion of money going on, money is been milked over the years from importers and stakeholders. So if this committee will look into it, they should go abroad and see how they operate there and back here they must try and abolish these charges that are not realistic so that a regulatory body can now stand on it. When you go and get debit notes from the storage operators and the shipping agents, it is always outrageous, this is what discourages most of our importers from using the ports, they now prefer to use land borders.
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