Wale Oni the editor-in-chief of the Portsnews Magazine.
Story by Dili Utomi.
The journey into the eventual concessioning of the Nigerian Ports started around 2005 when the Olusegun Obasanjo administration felt the need to increase capacity and efficiency in all Port activities as well as creating more jobs thereby hauling in more revenue.
There have been many arguments for and against the concessioning since the eventual action happened in 2006, but the management of the Portsnews Magazine, a fiercely competitive tabloid that was one of the pioneer Maritime Magazines decided to probe further by getting experienced persons in the industry to take critical looks into the journey so far. Neni hall of the Rockview Hotel, Apapa was the venue of the event which happened on Wednesday and the hall had a lot many stakeholders in attendance.
Wale Oni is the editor-in-chief of the Magazine and he opened the event with these words “By the 1990s, and the early 2000, Nigerian maritime industry stakeholders including customs clearing and forwarding agents, flourished, and many Nigerian practitioners became wealthy and this impacted positively on the society”
“As a fall out of Port congestion of this era, occasioned by increasing population and rising volumes, the federal government, through the Nigerian Shippers Council, encouraged Nigerians to build off dock terminals to help decongest the Ports. Many bonded terminals sprang up around Lagos which helped decongest the ports. Many Inland Container Depots were also built in many parts of Nigeria after the inspection by Nigerian Shippers Council. But, today that glorious past is gone, Nigerians do not know how to do it again”.
Chief Haruna Omolajomo in his contribution noted that “To be candid, there is no indication or signs that our Ports reforms have any positive relationship with the local content because no local content operation is accommodated in the reforms. Even if yes, it is on paper; not in practice. The reforms were hastily done not considering how local shipping would have future growth. Therefore, my submission is that the local content did not fare well for Nigeria or Nigerians. The port reforms never translate into the growth of local content as it is obtainable in Ghana, for example. Rather, it is a case of re-colonisation.”.
In his presentation Captain Emmanuel Iheanacho who was the chairman of the occasion opined that “In terms of local content, Nigeria has made significant progress. The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has been specifically established to promote local content development more specifically in the oil and gas sector; this initiative has had a positive impact on the maritime industry However, despite these efforts, challenges persist. For example, the process of getting clearance for vessels and cargo in the international trade and container sector can still be cumbersome, requiring multiple signatures from government agencies and other officials”
“To address these challenges, the government has been working to implement further reforms, including the introduction of a single-pwindow system to simplify clearance processes in the country’s international trade”.
“Overall, while Nigeria could be said to have made progress in its port reforms and local content development, there appears to be, still a bit of work to be done to fully realise the potential in the maritime sector as a whole”.
Ahmad Rabiu of the Dala Inland Container Terminal opined that “On matters regarding shipping, there has been the Cabotage act initiative which regrettably has not been actualised. The Chairman of the occasion was the first beneficiary of the Cabotage vessel financing funds and can attest to the fact that the FGN has not established appropriate architecture for its implementation”.
“On Port reforms, it is important for Nigeria to create, promote and protect indigenous operators and also importantly set anti-trust policy to protect the Nigerian economy”.
Members of the high table, at the extreme end is Captain Emmanuel Iheanacho.
Dr. Muda Yusuf’s contribution in part says that “There should be a deliberate policy action to elevate the level of indigenous participation in the maritime sector ecosystem. Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I am not calling for a displacement of foreign investors in the sector, what I am calling for is a deliberate policy by government to bring indigenous players into the mainstream of maritime sector activities. We cannot afford to be spectators in the sector. We have local capacity in clearing and forwarding, cargo handling, terminal operations, haulage, warehousing and many more. The unfolding scenario is that most of these jobs are being taking away from indigenous players in the sector. Indigenous investors need policy support to curb their growing exclusion in the sector”.
“The NPC act was enacted in 2005 and gives foreign investors unlimited access to all sectors of the economy. This policy needs to be urgently revisited to protect domestic indigenous investors in sectors where we have capacity especially in the maritime sector, besides, capacity grows with opportunity. We need to give indigenous players more opportunities to grow”.
Dr. Boniface Okechukwu Aniebonam, the founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) opined that indigenous players in the Maritime industry suffer so much because of petty squabbles and lack of collective action to ward against complete take over of all businesses in the Maritime space. He admonished Nigerians to do what is legally possible to take their places in the scheme of things.
The was a general consensus was that though there have been pockets of good developments since the concessions, but that largely, the indigenous players in the Maritime sector have been pushed aside. They also noted that the projected jobs are no where to be found and the expected infrastructural development has not really happened . Some of the experts complained that what is really happening in the Maritime sector is akin to economic slavery against Nigerians. They generally proposed a review of all concessionary agreements and the strengthening of all enabling laws to give Nigerians a bigger playing space in the sector.
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