While bidding you merry Christmas and Happy New Year in our Monday December 17, 2012 edition, we had recalled that Nigerians and of course the maritime industry in particular, started 2012 with the shock of a hike in the pump price of petrol. Little did we know that 2013 would also start with another surprise.
While bidding you merry Christmas and Happy New Year in our Monday December 17, 2012 edition, we had recalled that Nigerians and of course the maritime industry in particular, started 2012 with the shock of a hike in the pump price of petrol. Little did we know that 2013 would also start with another surprise.
While everyone, and particularly the Nigeria Customs Service and importers as well as licensed customs agents were almost sure that government would respect the terms in the contract of the three service providers, the industry was awaken to the shock of an extension by six months in the contract of SGS, Cotecna and Globalscan.
That was the opener for 2013, and that has put spanners in the wheels of Customs and put a temporary halt to the ambition of the Comptroller General of Customs, Alhaji Dikko Abdulahi Inde to an ‘omnibus’, which apart from being autonomous , will also be the ‘lord of the manor ‘ in the nation’s cargo importation, clearing and delivery. The Customs boss dogged determination to single-handedly push the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) through is currently portraying him as an ‘over ambitious’ man.
Some of the issues that were in the front burners in 2012 are still hunting us in 2013. A few of them will suffice.
The crisis which engulfed the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) was about the most embarrassing feature of 2012. The face-off which pitched some freight forwarding associations against the regulator defied the intervention of the minister, leading to the avoidable dissolution of the governing council.
From our informed perspective, the high profile Presidential Committee on Port Reform was one of the creations of 2012, but the committee ended 2012 worse than it started it; with empty promises, scheduled meetings that never yielded any tangible fruits. The much-talked about ‘Five Steps for Clearing’ remains a mere academic postulation and a reference point for discussants on 24-hour cargo clearance.
The committee’s chairman; Professor Sylvester Monye, perhaps for want of any further excuse for failure, invited the EFCC to begin undercover operations at the ports. We ask: Does he or his committee, with all the often- touted presidential backing need an EFCC to ensure that undesirable are swept off the port system?
As we move into 2013, we are optimistic that Nigerian ports will continue to witness high vessel traffic and that the nation’s port system will witness sanity in line with the aspirations of the government which had gone ahead to constitute the committee.
It is also our hope that the level of safety that was recorded on the nation’s waters will be sustained by NIMASA in 2013.
One issue that is becoming a regular feature every year (at least in the last three years) is the delay in the passage of maritime sector bills at the National Assembly. It is taking the legislators too long a time to pass the Ports and Harbour Bill and the Chartered Institute of Shipping of Nigeria Bill.
We are hopefully awaiting the passage of the much-expected Port and Harbour Bill which incorporates the Independent Port Regulatory Commission (IPRC). The Bill enjoys an unenviable record of being one of the most delayed and the most controversial legislation since the return to democratic rule in 1999.
As a maritime media outfit, we are apprehensive that the furore over the controversial Customs Servicer Bill may further heighten existing tension in the ports and among government agencies, which now see Customs
The maritime industry is already sharing in the anxiety of what the proposed law portends for all.
All said, we can only hope that 2013 will indeed be better for all and that the industry does better.
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