57 YEARS OF POLICY INCONSISTENCIES IN MARITIME SECTOR

“Before the port concession exercise undertaken by the Obasanjo administration, trucks coming to Apapa and Tin Can Ports had holding bays inside of these ports for parking and queuing. During the port concession exercise, the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) and the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) went on to concession every available space inside these ports to private concessionaires.

“With the concession of their holding bays inside Apapa Port and Tin Can Port, the NPA designated the Lilypond Terminal in Ijora which is outside the ports, as the new holding bay for trucks,” he said.

Dominance of Foreign Companies

It is important to point out that after years of going back and forth, the dominance of Nigerian maritime sector by foreigners does not look like abating soon.

Although some stakeholders are happy with the various reforms in the sector, they, however, want the implementing agencies to enforce the provisions of the law.

Recently, the Indigenous Ship owners Association of Nigeria (ISAN) decried the dominance of their foreign counterpart, stating that while their foreign counterparts are in business, their members are going through difficult times.

The Chairman of ISAN, Chief Isaac Jolapamo, said that while indigenous ship owners could only move cargoes within the nation’s waters once in a month, the foreign ship owners could move cargoes up to three times in a week.

According to Jolapamo, indigenous vessels are idle and huge costs are being incurred as the engines keep running.

Besides, he said that foreign ships were entering the nation’s waters at will despite the Cabotage law, while the relevant agencies watch the ships helplessly.

However, recently, ISAN had obtained court orders and arrested six foreign ships alleged to be trading in Nigerian waters in defiance of the Coastal and Inland Shipping Act, otherwise known as the Cabotage Act, which was enacted in 2003. Jolapamo blamed the development on the inability of the implementing agency to enforce the provisions of the law.

According to the ship owner, six years after the Cabotage law came into effect, the law has not achieved its intended objectives.

The former President of the Nigerian Association of Master Mariners (NAMM), Capt Adewale Ishola, said that the nation’s indigenous ship owners should be able to transport more of Nigeria’s crude oil than the foreign ship owners, but the reverse had been the case.

A member of ISAN, Capt. Olaniyi Labinjo, urged the federal government to reverse this trend because in some oil producing countries, the indigenous ship owners dominate the trade.

Labinjo said that this was the only way to build a good future for all Nigerians and generations yet unborn.

On his part, the Deputy National President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Mr Eugene Nweke, said that it was unfortunate that 57 years after independence, Nigeria was yet to be ranked among the big maritime nations.

Nweke faulted the concession exercise, adding that the Nigerian Ports Authority Act 1990 ought to have been amended before the concession and not after.

He said that it was a shame that the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA); the NPA Act; Nigerian Shippers’ Council Act; were undergoing review now 57 years after the country gained independence.

Bad Govt Policies Another major setback for the maritime sector, according to top players in the sector, has been policy inconsistencies of the federal government.

Chairman of Seaports Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN), Vicky Haastrup believes inconsistent government policies have held the maritime industry down.

‘‘Government needs to ensure that consistency in policy is applied to the economy because there are lot of inconsistencies in policies that they keep changing from time to time and these does not augur well for business owners. The maritime industry has a huge potential if right policies are made.

“The port industry doesn’t need inconsistent policies. We don’t need policy summersault. The manufacturers are bleeding right now because they cannot plan, it may be N400 to a dollar today and in another one week, it is N450. That makes it very difficult for business owners to plan. That is quite scary and that is why investors are moving out of the country, investors do not have confidence in injecting finances into business in Nigeria and the reason was due to inconsistent government policies,” she said.

Haastrup, who is also the Executive Vice Chairman of ENL Consortium, operator of terminal C&D, Apapa Port, Lagos further stated that private investors need government’s confidence which can only be achieved through consistent policies. According to her, the maritime industry is second to oil with huge potentials only if the right policies are made.

She said: “Businesses owners need consistent government policies before they can open letter of credit or source for foreign exchange from the black market to bring goods into the country. For instance, Customs tariff keeps changing from time to time and before it changes for instance an importer of goods will have shipped his cargo from wherever it is and before the cargo lands, Customs has increased the tariff on such cargo then that business owner is already messed up and got into trouble financially so this are all the fortunes we need to sync. The port industry has a huge potential but like i said only if the right policies are applied.”