Bello: NTC Will Revolutionalise Nigeria’s Economy

Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Hassan Bello in this interview with Eromosele Abiodun speaks on how the National Transport Commission will enhance the country’s foreign exchange earnings as well as support its diversification drive, when

I will like to start by asking you to give a brief summary of your experience in your first term as the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council and your plans going forward.

My first term experience was quite exciting, but honestly, it was challenging. In the first four years, the NSC was grappling with both internal and external structural changes. We have been appointed as port economic regulator and this was thrown to the industry rather late. It should have been at the beginning, however, we struggled to get first recognition by the industry, which I think we got grudgingly. There were no rules and regulations and eight years after, the NSC appeared with the whistle in its hands and introduced rules and regulations.

Naturally, there would be the initial teething problems of recognition. It was a difficult journey, but overall, we superintended very well and, in the end, we did not only get recognition, but respect. But then the chaos at the port was also a daunting problem, everybody was doing what they wanted to do. There was nobody to supervise.

The port environment was not controlled, even though the port reforms were very good, there were threats of turning back the gains of the port reforms because there was nobody to look at first the efficiency of these ports, the competition amongst intra and inter terminals, the ease of doing business and the cost of doing business. The challenges first came when we rolled out our regulatory order to stop some arbitrary charges that was making Nigeria ports very costly. As a matter of fact, it was the most expensive port in the West African region, if not the world. We said there cannot be arbitrary charges, even if you want to charge, discuss with the NSC. This is what we did, but it resulted to court cases. Unfortunately, we negotiated with both the shipping companies and the terminal operators. The court has interpreted it recognising our regulatory power and declared the charges illegal.

So, we started negotiating and went to court, we are back at the table negotiating. So, we should not have gone through that journey of court, but that was challenging for us. But I think that inch by inch, we are making ourselves relevant. We are trying to bring a new port order, we have done so by prescribing the operating procedure for every agency at the port and we are trying to enforce that.

We have come out with the port complaint portal. It is electronic and when we started, we thought we could have an office at the port. This was approved by the landlords, but somehow it was not possible and we said we don’t need to be at the port just like any other agency to exercise our regulatory functions. We have a web-based complaint portal where every person can lodge a complaint, give a commentary or advice. The portal can also allow an individual track the progress of the complaint, and then escalate these complaints to the appropriate agency and we will have feedback. This has made our work easier and we have got cooperation. We are working very seriously with the shipping companies. We are about to come to an agreement and sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which will have tremendous impact on the way we do business in Nigeria especially in terms of cost and competition. We need our agencies to compete in healthy way against each other so that the customer becomes king. We want our ports to be efficient so that we capture goods from our competitors. We need efficient ports with linkages with the hinterland. We need deep sea ports instead of the river ports that we have in Apapa and Tincan. We need a new vista so that large ships can call to our ports. We need to have clearance procedures that are automated so that people can clear their goods within 48hours. We want our ports to work 24 hours daily like the airports. We want to attract cargo and bigger ships so that Nigeria can be a centre or a hub, that is the function of the NSC.

Determined to ensure that the Inland Dry Ports (IDP) and Truck Transit Parks (TTPs) flag-off operations as soon as possible, you approached investors and financial institutions to show interest in the modern transport infrastructure schemes. What has been the response so far?

Part of our regulatory function is to coordinate investment in the transport industry. We need to have more than infrastructure. We have a large deficit of infrastructure especially transport infrastructure. But I don’t see it as anything daunting, we need to upgrade our infrastructure and create new ones for efficiency. This is why we came up with the concept of dry ports or truck Transit Parks. These dry ports are located in five places and two are ongoing.

Unfortunately, we could not have all of them come up, because they have already been concessioned to the private sector. The misconception is that the NSC is building port, which is not correct. It is the private sector, because the NSC has recognised the potency of the private sector in driving the economy. Nigeria’s government has paucity of funds and budgetary constraints. But you align yourself and partner the private sector, then you see the sharing and apportionment of risks.

This has proved to be an international arrangement that will bring development. The first thing for the dry port is to bring shipping to the door steps of people in the hinterland. Nigeria is so blessed with vast hinterland.

We have 925 Square Kilometers with about 200 million people. Therefore, there must be inland connection. There must be integration. The Nigerian government is very much focused on the rail sector and the dry port is supported by the rail. Now, if we do that, we are making it easy for our people to import or export. We are di- congesting the sea port and transferring the economy of the sea port to the hinterlands.

Whatever happens in Lagos could happen in Kaduna. In Kaduna for example, some freight forwarders have already moved in there to get an office, so that is an example of inclusiveness. These ports are ports of destination and origin.

You can consign your cargo from any in the world to Kaduna, the bill of lading would be read, and the cargo will be examined. It is important that we have Truck Transit Parks, instead of delivery of goods by trucks, which delays and degrades the environment and causing much accident. It is good to have off the road facility which is modern so that we can house these trucks, they can have showers, hostels and hotels. They can also have conveniences and supermarkets. They would have garages for the repair of their spare parts and gas stations. Now, these have attracted a lot of investments in the transit park and we are about completing the issue of procurement. Soon we will go to work to have expression of interest and people can come and bid for it especially in Enugu and Lokoja. These are the two pioneers of truck transit parks.

We are working with ICRC and the Ministry of Work so that there will be some synergy between these organisations. An important element is the employment structure of these parks, we expect them to employ a lot of people because if you have restaurant, you will see a lot indirect employment, such as garages, clinics and others. This park is not only for trucks, it is also for the public. The luxury buses could have their terminals, and they could be warehouses. It is a modern way and it is going to be technology driven and payment is by chips. In the long run, we are adding value and making our infrastructure modern and the country modern too. The way trucks are parked in villages and towns is really not a good site. Therefore, we need to correct that.

President Buhari recently inaugurated one of your inland dry ports, can you tell us what is happening there right now and are you happy with the level of activity over there?

I am happy with what is happening, even though we have challenges. First, let me say that the Kaduna dry port is a custom port. Therefore, one can consign goods there and pay the cost of duty. Other agencies such as National Agency for Food Drugs Administration Control (NAFDAC) are also trying to get there. Freight forwarders have already started moving there. There are levels of operation of the dry port in Kaduna. First of all, customs have trained the operators of the dry port in Kaduna, which is ICNL Limited on their pricing system and also, they are trying to integrate it on the pricing system. Custom have issued station code to Kaduna, making it one of the ports of destinations and origin.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has provided a form ‘M’ that Kaduna is also a port which is also a significant achievement. The Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), the terminals operators and the shipping companies are aware and they are making arrangements to start issuing bill of lading. Now, the operators, ICNL is also going to open an office in China and United Kingdom. So that they can canvass for goods to come, our only snag is the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) and they are working very hard to see that this thing is done.

They have given us one locomotive and 20 wagon for exclusive usage of Kaduna dry port. But I think the NRC is having small snag with their manufacturers. But very soon the wagons will be allocated. So many things are going on with Kaduna. Cargo throughputs has increased, trucks are using the amenities. This is very good. The dry port has recorded increase in export of ginger, five to 10 containers weekly and that is by trucks from Kaduna. So, this is the diversification we are still talking about. Now, we are still talking with NEXIM so that this dry port will be centre of export, which means we are going to have more amenities such as refrigerated warehouses for pressure of top agricultural produce. We also intend to set up a cluster of industries for packaging and processing of agricultural produce. So that we can put value on these exports before they leave. So, you would see that around Kaduna and the port, many industries will spring up and spread. You would also see that a port economy has been transferred to Kaduna. We are almost completing Jos and it is 75 per cent ready. Duncan Enterprises are the ones it was concessioned to in Jos.

We are talking with the NRC so that the rail siding will go in. The importance of Jos is that it is situated very proximate to the airport and you could use this airport especially because of the vast potential of Plateau State especially in potatoes, bananas and others. If you go to Europe, you find a lot of bananas coming from South Africa, they are found in retail shops in Europe. They get these products from KwaZuluNatal mostly, which is 13 hours by air to Europe. I think from Jos it is six hours to central Europe so you see the competitive advantage that Jos has. When we do that, you will see that a lot of people will be employed, and you will see the impact. But in all what we do, the private sector is very important.