Revenue Increase through Efficient Channel Management
In 2011 Nigeria opened her doors to the largest container vessel ever to call on any West African port called West African Max (WAFMAX) which has 4,500 twenty equivalent units (TEUs) capacity on a single voyage. The vessel which requires a minimum of 13.5 meters draught was brought into Apapa port by Maersk Nigeria Limited.
This development turned Nigerian seaports to a destination hub for both local and transhipment goods. This was attained by capital and maintenance dredging, including the provision of navigational aids and removal of wrecks from the water channels. This has deepened the Lagos and Bonny channels making them accessible to bigger vessels.
In 2004, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) entered into a public private partnership with the Channel Management Company (TCMC) under a joint venture (JV) partnership arrangement of 60 percent and 40 percent for the NPA and TCMC respectively.
The JV gave birth to the Bonny Channel Company (BCC) with the responsibility of dredging and securing access through the Bonny River to the NLNG Oil and Gas Terminal in Bonny Island as well as ensuring safe vessel navigation to the ports in Port Harcourt and Onne.
The JV arrangement also gave birth to the Lagos Channel Management Limited (LCM) which has the responsibility of carrying out capital and maintenance dredging along the Lagos channel to ensure vessel access into the Apapa, Tin Can Island seaports and the surrounding private jetties.
The partnership was to ensure capital and maintenance dredging of the Lagos and Bonny channels, provision of navigational aids and removal of wrecks along the channels.
LCM started rendering dredging services in Nigeria in 2005 when seaports in Lagos had a minimum of 8.2 to 9.7 meters depth. Few years down the line, the firm has been able to widen the channels to a
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has unveiled the importer involved in the importation of 470 riffles discovered las Thursday in Tin Can Island Port Complex (TCIP), Apapa, Lagos.
Besides the ship owner, the service also revealed the name of the vessel that conveyed the lethal weapons into the country.
According to the bill of lading of the container indicated elbow plumbing plastics and noted that the importer of the cargo is Great Oil and Gas Limited with the vessel named MV Arkas Africa owned by Hull Blyth.
This is coming on the heels of the meeting of the Comptroller General of Customs (CGC), Colonel Ibrahim Hameed Ali (retired) with the Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria.
The NCS boss who revealed this in Lagos while addressing journalists on the latest discovery of the dangerous goods stated that NCS has so far intercepted 2,671 rifles illegally imported into Nigeria in the last eight months.
The guns were alleged to have been imported from Turkey through profiling approach ordered by the Customs Area Controller (CAC) of TCIP Area Command, Comptroller Bashir Yusuf in the wake of the earlier discoveries in the port.
His words: “Following the increase in the number of arms seizures in recent times, the Customs Area Controller of Tin-Can Port, Comptroller, Yusuf Bashir, ordered a detailed profile of all imports, especially those coming from Turkey. Customs decided to follow profiling approach of 100 percent examination on containers, especially those containers coming from Turkey.
“Tin Can Customs Command intercepted another 20ft container number CMAUI817/8 containing 470 pump action rifles, immediately the container landed from the port of origin to Nigerian ports. The terminal operators have been consequently directed to quarantine the container for analysis. The container was later transferred to the Enforcement Unit of the command where 100 per cent examination revealed 470 pump action rifles.”
Following the development, Ali said NCS would continue to subject all containers to 100 per cent examination until 80 per cent of the licensed customs agents abide with global standards and practices.
“We are going to subject all areas of Customs operations to 100 per cent examination to safeguard life of the citizens”, he said. minimum of 13.8 meters.
It was averred that these developments have yielded good results as Maersk Line and MSC took advantage of the wideness of the channel to bring in WAFMAX with 250 metres long, 13.5 meters draught and 4,500 TEUs of container carrying capacity into Apapa and Tin Can ports.
The LCM and BCC have aided vessel navigation along the two channels where they operate due to their continuous dredging activities.
The LCM carried out visual and side scan wreck survey of Lagos ports which identified the existence of over 70 submerged wrecks that required urgent removal. As a result of this survey, it commenced work and removed about 48 critical submerged wrecks.
According to LCM, the company built a culture of refurbishing all buoys every two years while the damaged ones are repaired within 24 hours. This is in addition to the reinstatement of shore beacons and upgrading of entrance channel buoys with active AIS transponders. The East and West moles beacons were also refurbished.
Statistics made available by LCM shows that within
The immediate past General Manager, Public Affairs, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Chief Michael Kayode Ajayi has taken over Agura Hotels, Abuja as its General Manager.
Ajayi’s appointment followed the taking over of the ownership of the hotel by the management of the NPA.
This was sequel to a legal judgement given in favour of the NPA against Fasel Services Limited, Omeire Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Industry Limited, Chief M.O. Kanu and Daniel Kanu.
Agura Hotels which was commissioned in 1986 as a five star hotel has 156 guest rooms and conference halls of different capacities. Over the years, however, its fortunes has nosedive with room occupancy rate at less than 20 percent in spite of its location in heart of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Ajayi who is renowned for his intelligence and excellent human relations in his hey days as the General Manager, Public Affairs in the NPA, is expected to bring his wealth of experience to bear on his new assignment in Agura Hotels.
A statement issued by the Assistant General Manager, Corporate and Strategic the first 10 years of its operation, it expanded the depth around the harbour entrance from 12.3 m in 2005 to 15.5 m in 2015; Commodore-Bullnose from 11.9m in 2005 to 14.3m in 2015; Bullnose-Apapa from 10.6m in 2005 to 14.1m in 2015; Bullnose-Dangote from 9.4m in 2005 to 13.6m in 2015; Dangote-Tin Can 10 from 8.5m in 2005 to 13.4m in 2015 while Tin Can 10 was expanded from 8m in 2005 to 12.8m depth in 2015.
Already, the number of ships calling at Nigerian seaports with draught above 11 meters increased from 21 in 2008 to 440 in 2015. While the number of ship calls with an average length of 200 meters increased from 404 in 2008 to 930 in 2015. Also, the number of vessels calling Lagos ports with length greater than 245 meters also grew from zero in 2008 to 300 in 2015 while the gross registered tonnage of vessels grew from 54,613,521 in 2008 to 79,861,913 in 2015.
The PPP has ensured the smooth navigation of oceangoing vessels by making it possible for bigger vessels with deeper draught requirements to call on Nigerian ports in an efficient and effective way. This has increased cargo throughput in the port Communications, Mr. Ibahim Nasiru and obtained by THISDAY explained that in 2003, an Abuja Federal High Court upheld the NPA as the majority shareholders of Fasel Services Limited, a judgement which was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in 2017.
Arising from a board meeting of the hotel held on September 20, 2017, the NPA management explained that “it has assumed full control of the establishment with its Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Usman as Chairman while Chief Michael Kayode Ajayi has been appointed as the interim General Manager of the hotel”.
The new board of the hotel pointed out that an approved forensic audit of the hotel be carried out immediately while its Head of Finance steps down handing over all relevant financial instruments of the company to the newly appointed General Manager.
In addition, the board directed that all bank accounts hitherto operated be frozen while new accounts should be opened to enable what it called “swift and continuous operation” of the hotel. and in turn helped to boost NPA revenue profile.
The BCC said it is focusing on increasing maritime activities by ensuring that the buoyed navigational routes are free of obstruction by focusing on continuous dredging, removal of wrecks, maintenance of aids to navigation and provision of towage services.
The dredging of the Bonny channel from fairway buoy to KP27.5 to a depth of 13.8m in 2009 enabled the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) to operate round the clock with no tidal restrictions. In 2011, the BCC deepened the channel even further to accommodate larger vessels. It removed 14,000,000m3 of materials by capital dredging, 61,000,000m3 of material by maintenance dredging, installed and monitored 83 buoys, removed 45 wrecks and invested over 6,000 hours in training and knowledge transfer. The Bonny channel is currently maintained at 14.3m draught.
WAFMAX also visited the Federal Ocean Terminal (FOT) successfully on a “trial run” in 2013. The BCC made this possible by expanding the Onne turning basin. In 2013, BCC did a towage trial run with WAFMAX at Onne port and it remains the biggest vessel to enter it till date. Since then WAFMAX has been entering the port.
Prior to its entry, studies showed that the approach channel and parts of Onne port need to be dredged. For instance, the Bonny channel access in 2005 was 12.5metres and by 2016 was14.3m; in 2005 Bonny to Onne junction was 7.5m and by 2016 was 11m ; in 2005 Onne junction to Okrika was 7.5m and by 2016 was 10m; in 2006 Okrika to PHC port was 7.0m and by 2016 was 9m.
The BCC says its dredgers are state of the art. These include the Atlantico Due, Orwel, and Rubens. It also said it has deployed the largest jumbo dredgers, Congo River and Pearl River said to have ever worked in Sub-Saharan Africa in its dredging operations.
In order to achieve greater economic growth and development in the region, the Director General, West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), Professor Akpan Ekpo has called on countries within the sub-region to embrace French Language as a tool needed to stimulate bilateral relations and international trade.
Ekpo who made this known while delivering a keynote address at the opening ceremony of the e-learning certificate course in French Language, organised by WAIFEM in collaboration with African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), in Lagos explained that Nigeria and other Anglophone countries are sounded by French speaking countries.
He argued that countries in the sub-region need to study French Language to enhance effective communication in international trade activities.
Continuing, he said: “WAIFEM introduced this course in order to bridge the gap in understanding and speaking of French in West African regional integration process. The first run, which was a resounding success was conducted between July and November last year, in collaboration with United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Bank of Ghana”.
“The French course is structured in a most effective and professional manner to meet the needs of the adult learners. It is designed to assist public and private sector officials in the Anglophone West Africa and beyond, to overcome the language barriers faced in commerce, banking, industry, tourism, journalism and other cross border activities, thereby promoting regional integration process. The course is also suitable for those who wish to compete favourably in the global economy, as the world has become a global village propelled by information and communication”.
It is on record that since its inception, WAIFEM has successfully executed over 600 courses, workshops, seminars and missions. No fewer than 6,000 participants from the sub-region and beyond have benefited from the programmes.
To attain its set goals and objectives, WAIFEM collaborates with a number of reputable institutions to ensure international standards in its programmes. These among others are International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, Commonwealth Secretariat, UNITAR, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).