Chuks Okereafor (Terminal Operator)
Chuks Okereafor (Terminal Operator)
You will notice that a lot of things have improved in the port especially the port access roads, the port reform committee has really performed because now you can come to the port without any hitches or traffic, the tankers that usually block the roads are no longer there so now things are regulated, this means that if they don’t have bookings they cannot come and load at the tank farms, the committee taking care of this has done very well about everybody acknowledge them. As for the rest committees I cannot speak for them, but the one that affects everybody including myself is the one in charge of port reform and Apapa traffic, it was very terrible last year up to a certain period this year, what am saying is that if government set up a committee like that they have done very well, I will advocate that the committee should be a standing committee that will keep working to improve the port.
Eng. Mathew Alalade (Marine Surveyor)
First of all, government is overlooking the core professionals whenever they are constituting these committees, they are putting politicians to man committees, let government put professionals there, for example, government inaugurated a committee for security on the waters without the merchant navies and the proper mariners, let them put professionals they will be able to defend what they are doing instead of putting political office holders who don’t know about the job, 70% of the committees should be the professionals on the field so that things can work well, look at the other nations and check who is heading their maritime safety departments.
Chief Ndimkora Cosmas (NAGAFF Chairman, PTML)
The various government committees are good but most of the times, everything ends on the pages of the newspapers because there is no enabling environment for them to operate, sometimes they don’t get the exact thing they were asked to deliberate upon. Also, some of them are not disbanded before government will set up a similar committee to take up on same functions. What I will advise the government to do is to empower these committees and give them a time frame; an enabling environment should be created for them to do a thorough job that has been given to them. There are government committees that cannot get information easily on their particular field; this does not make the job easy for them. The necessary tools should be made available for them to work, we need to get results. The committees are not bad but their working conditions are what should be looked into. More so, the taskforces that are there should be well grounded in the subject in which they are called for, real practitioners should be called upon, a guy who read marketing cannot head a committee on maritime because he might not know the loopholes or the ups and downs involved, but if it were to be a person who is well grounded in the maritime sector, he would surely know.
Prince Bola Adeniran (ANLCA Chairman, PTML )
The committees set up by the government are working but what we expect from the government is for them to make laws and do the follow up of the committee recommendations. Government set up committees, but at the end of the whole exercise we don’t see the end results, the only thing we know is that they end up on the pages of the newspapers. If you go to other countries especially in Europe, you will find out that what happens there is totally different from what happens in Nigeria, they make laws and they enforce it, but in Nigeria, reverse is the case. There are some of the committees that are working very hard, one of them is the one we have the president of ANLCA Prince Olayiwola Shittu. The problem we have is that these committees are not financially backed up because if they were, there would have been more results and achievements.
Comrade Aleakhue John Okpono (Assistant Sec. Gen. Sec. Gen Nigeria Merchant Navy)
I support the setting up of committees because once a committee is set up, it is the responsibility of the committee to recommend or proffer solutions on how to meet the challenges of a current government, but in Nigeria the problem we have been having is that all the committees set up since from 1960 till date are ordinary paper committees, their recommendations are never implemented, if this continues we look at it as waste of resources and time and I will therefore suggest that the committees should not be formed again. Meanwhile, taskforces as it is done in other countries is to implement policies, administratively, if I am in my office and I pronounced that you should not take a bribe or that you should not stay beyond a particular place, there is no way I will know if anyone has gone beyond my instructions, this is why I need a committee to carry out the instructions or policies. In the same vein, I am in support of a taskforce that is free of corruption; taskforces are supposed to be field workers who brings feedback on what is in operation on the field.
Marcil Oke (Site Supervisor, Global Scansystems Limited)
When you talk of various committees, we have a lot of committees such as the central bank committee, and we have the stakeholders committees which commensurate on trade facilitation and 48 hour goods clearance from the port. If we look at the importance of these Federal Government committees, without them, a lot of things would have gone wrong, I was a members of a committee that visited the Togo/Benin Republic port sometimes in 2008, when we came back we proffered solutions. In some African countries in the Western region, they use 48hours cargo clearance in their ports so why not in Nigeria that is regarded as a big country? I think some of these committees have been trying their best so far on the mandate given to them by the federal government and I see things moving on smoothly, but when it comes to the stakeholders’ committees, I will appreciate it if the government can be involved by engaging NAGAFF, ANLCA, and other key stakeholders in the federal government sub-committees, I think they will have an input towards the realization of what the government is trying to do.
Chief Osita Chukwu Patrick [Coordinator SNFFIEC]
Setting committees and taskforces is not the solution to the problem we are having in the port system because you may set up fifty committee and at the end of the day nothing will be achieved and when committee are formed and no good result comes out of the committee it definitely sends a wrong signal to the president, the president is not there in the port and cannot judge what the common port users are experiencing. Committee appointment should be based on the technical ability of an individual not based on politics or nepotism because if those in a given committee are not technically sound definitely that purpose has been defeated. Though I am in support for committees to be formed by the government but the right people should be recognized and as a result of that if you get the right people in place, the committee will surely work.
Emmanuel Offiong [NCMDLCA Member]
The problem we have with the issue of committees in Nigeria is that the right people are not carried along, therefore it has not yielded results in all forms, when a committee is formed and the experts or the right people who knows about the industry or sector are fully involved in the committee then it is a welcome development, but I must say that even with the right people on ground corruption is another area that we should also address because it has eaten deep into the systems of Nigerian office holders.
Tico Osisi Philips [V. President Int’l Relations NAGAFF]
It’s not all about forming committees in the maritime industry, it should be about implementing the committee reports, and already the maritime industry has been bedeviled with a lot of committees. In my opinion, government on their part is not being sincere because if sincerity is there, then all the committees should be able to give good account of their performances. The idea of committee is very good in the industry but everything lies on implementation, if a committee is set up and at the end they come up with recommendations or solutions to a particular problem, its left for the government to implement it, but allowing it to lie fallow without implementation will further discourage the members from doing their job effectively.
Chris Sadoh [Stars Maritime Academy]
The problem we have in the country is that we always abandon what we are supposed to do and go after shadows. Setting up committees in the maritime industry again is a clear indication that those on ground are incompetent, if they are competent, government will not come up with another committee to look into the maritime sector. First of all, the ports has been concessioned and yet the port users today are still lamenting every day, since the port concession, various committees have been established without positive result, now another one is in place. Setting committee is a welcome idea but for that committee to perform is another thing. My take on the issue is that we should set a monitoring group to oversee the performance of the committees being formed by the government.
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