Eromosele Abiodun posits that the embarrassing International Maritime Organisation council election loss, the Apapa traffic gridlock, Nigeria Customs Service Customs anti-smuggling success and INTELS’ resilience make 2017 a bittersweet year for stakeholders in the sector
Like other sectors in the Nigerian economy, the maritime struggled in 2017. The year began with no hope for the future of the sector. A sector struggling to stand on its feet was further disrupted by the foreign exchange(FX) crisis that sent most players in the industry out of business.
Following the inability of importers and exporters to get the needed foreign exchange to transact their business as well as insecurity in Nigeria’s coastal waters, activities at the nation’s seaports reached an all time low. But the intervention by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) with the introduction of the Investors and Export (I & E) window brought some respite. The intervention helped terminal operators to get the needed FX to not only run their business but pay fees and charges to regulators.
The total amount of dollars sold directly to banks on the interbank as well as Bureau De Change (BDCS) segments by the CBN from February when the regulator commenced its aggressive foray into the foreign exchange (forex) market was $7.136 billion as at June.
As a result, there was significant improvement in the number of vessels traffic between the first quarter of 2017 as against the last quarter of 2016.
Vessels traffic in Apapa port grew from 268 in the last quarter of 2016 to 279 in the first three months of 2017, an increase of 11 vessels or 3.9 per cent.
Also, vessels traffic at the Rivers port grew from 71 to 90 while vessels traffic at Delta port increased from111 to 116.
NIMASA IMO Failure
Perhaps the most disappointing and embarrassing news in the sector in the year was the inexcusable failure by Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to get Nigeria elected into the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) council after a massive campaign.
Nigeria, for the third consecutive time lost its bid to get re-elected into category ‘C’ of the International Maritime Organisation.
At Nigeria’s expense smaller countries such as Jamaica, Kenya and Liberia were elected into the IMO council.
The last time Nigeria won its IMO Council bid was in 2007 under Dr. Ade Dosunmu, who was then the Director-General (DG) of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and every attempt made since 2011 to return to the council has failed.
Forty countries were elected into the IMO Council in three categories for the 2017/2018 biennial.
The successful countries are: China, Greece, Italy, Japan, Norway, Panama, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and United States in Category A.
Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and United Arab Emirates were elected in Category B while Bahamas, Belgium, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Liberia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and Turkey were elected in Category C.
Category A council members are countries with the largest interest in providing international shipping services, while Category B are countries with the largest interest in international seaborne trade.
Category C, which has 20 countries are those with special interests in maritime transport or navigation†and whose election to the Council will ensure the representation of all major geographic areas of the world,†according to IMO.
The election, which took place in London, had Nigeria as one of the countries seeking re-election by scoring 98 points in an election that saw five African countries of Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, Kenya and Liberia joining the group at the expense of Nigeria.
A breakdown of the votes showed that Morocco scored 134 votes; Egypt – 133; South Africa -121; Kenya – 120 and Liberia – 116.
It was gathered that Singapore came tops with 142 votes to beat 20 countries
Category C is the executive organ of the IMO that takes decisions in the absence of the Assembly and coordinates all activities of the organs of the organisation. It has 20 member countries with special interest in maritime transport or navigation.
Nigeria Customs of Controversy
In a year that nobody expected anything from the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), it took the anti smuggling task force of the service to save its face after its successful campaign which saw it raked in billion of naira in seizures.
The year started for the NCS on a very poor note with battles on all fronts. It started on a rather bizarre note when the Comptroller-General of the NCS, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd), approved a grace period of one month for owners of all vehicles in the country whose customs duties have not been paid, to do so.
The grace period was between Monday, March 13 and Wednesday, April 12, 2017.
The service advised all motor dealers and private owners of such vehicles to visit the nearest Customs zonal office to pay the appropriate duty on them. The announcement was trailed by a huge outcry forcing Ali to back down. Not done yet, it announced plan to auction seized and contrabands goods by e-auction. A move the Nigeria Association of Auctioneers (NAA) declared illegal, threatening an all out war. Although the NCS eventually continued with the auction, no one can point to any Nigerian who was able to participate. The NCS, however, ended the year on a stellar note.
Last week, the Service Public Relations Officer, Mr Joseph Attah, while addressing newsmen announced that the service recorded its highest revenue collection ever of over N1 trillion as against N770 billion target set for 2017.
“This spectacular performance in revenue collection shows N241,685,276,289.74 over the N770,573,730,490 target for the year and well above the N898,673,857,431.07 collected in 2016. This is despite the economic recession experienced earlier in the year, with low volume of imports and restriction placed on 41 items from accessing Forex,†he said.
Bala-Usman’s Reforms
Judging from the rot she inherited at the NPA, Hadiza Bala-Usman stood out in 2017. It is important to note that mid 2017 she was just one year in office. The news of her appointment in June 2016 rattled the maritime sector as many feared the radical change the co founder of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) would bring to the industry.
Some critics had argued that she did not have the experience to run such a huge enterprise having only worked at the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) before being appointed chief of staff to the Kaduna State governor.
Some critics were not convinced that Bala-Usman possesses the required skills and experience to pilot the affairs of such extensive and multifaceted organisation.
However, all the doubts have now been put to rest as the NPA boss has, in a few days in office, achieved what took her predecessors a longer time to achieve. Among her many achievements was the drive to ensure that operators are held accountable.
Also, she made giant stride in her effort to ensure that doing business is easier and cheaper across the nation’s ports. Another major achievement of the NPA boss was the redeployment of two southerners to head the London and Abuja liaison offices of the agency for the first time in recent history.
She also made effort to improve the standard of operation at the ports in order to increase cargo traffic in and out of the country.
She was quoted to have said at a forum during the year that the effort by her management to reform the ports is premised on the need to entrench efficiency, transparency and accountability in ports operations.
The Apapa Tragedy
However, one area Bala-Usman clearly failed was her inability to keep her promise to decongest the Apapa traffic gridlock. She had promised to do so on her first official visit to the ports. But few months down the line, two tragic incidents occurred that indicate the situation in Apapa has reached implosion point.
The incidents were the stoning to death of a LASTMA officer and the burning of banks.
Both incidents are directly related to the traffic gridlock in Apapa and are the products of the frustrations and stresses being faced by truck and tanker drivers.
The first was the murder of the LASTMA officer, allegedly by some tanker drivers protesting the death of one of their motor boys they blamed on LASTMA officers trying to seize a tanker for wrong parking.
The second and most disturbing was the burning of two banks and destruction of other business premises by some truck drivers protesting the killing of a truck driver by a policeman for wrong parking.
With numerous petroleum tank farms in Apapa, no one knows what will trigger the next altercation over the traffic gridlock that can cause a melt down and massive destruction in Apapa.
Apapa is home to Nigeria’s key ports (Apapa and Tin Can), numerous petroleum tank farms, national dailies (THISDAY Newspaper and BusinessDay), numerous manufacturing concerns, businesses and residents.
In the last few years, Apapa has been a no-go for visitors, hellish for those who reside and work there, and traumatic for business owners and those exporting or importing cargo.
The primary reason for the traffic gridlock has been the complete collapse of the 2km Wharf Road which leads from the base of Ijora Bridge entering into Apapa to the entrance of Apapa Port.
This has resulted in a backlog of trucks and tankers on the Ijora Bridge sometimes all the way to Western Avenue making it difficult for other road users going in and out of Apapa.
Likewise, the only other access road out of Apapa through the Liverpool Overhead Bridge and Apapa-Mile 2 Expressway is similarly in a state of complete disrepair and blocked by trucks and tankers.
INTELS Resilience
In a country where the interest of its nationals comes last, the threat to the means of livelihood of Nigerians working with INTELS Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s oil and gas logistics giant with operations in Onne, Rivers State, Warri, Delta State and Lagos, was most palpable. This was because of the threat to the company’s existence by agents of the federal government who, for reasons best known to them, did everything to disrupt the company’s activity. The most persecuted in 2017, INTELS, however, stood strong assuring Nigerians that its determination to create jobs for the teaming unemployed youths will not wane despite the barrage of missiles thrown at it.
The founder and majority shareholder of the company, Mr. Gabriele Volpi, on several occasions expressed his resolve to continue to invest in the maritime sector.
He had, while speaking with THISDAY during the year, resolved to ensure that INTELS undertakes a reconciliation process and continue to comply with policies of the federal government.
Volpi added that his company was committed to co-operating with the federal government and the NPA in the development of the country’s maritime sector, including the construction of the Badagry deep seaport in Lagos State.
“We are committed to co-operating with the government and NPA in the development of Nigeria’s maritime sector and this includes the Badagry deep seaport.
“The Badagry deep seaport is a massive undertaking which will cost billions of dollars and will be the biggest in Africa and would turn Nigeria into a regional hub for ships bringing goods to the continent.
“It will also help to move a lot of shipping activities at the Apapa and Tin-can Island ports and help to decongest Apapa, so we are serious about our investments in Nigeria,†he said.
As the year 2017 comes to a close one can only hope that 2018 will be the year the maritime sector will replace crude oil as Nigeria’s economic mainstay.
