Bello proposes fresh measures to improve seaport governance
Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has proposed fresh economic measures that is aimed at improving seaport governance and augment capacity, which according to him,would free the nation from total dependent on sale of crude oil.
Presently, over 80 percent of the nation’s annual budget is dependent on the sale of crude oil. Economists have argued that this can no longer be sustained with the rising in the cost of importation of refined Petroleum product and the colossal amount spent annual on subsidy.
Bello at the second GYB annual training for journalists on the crime and politics desk said when elected as President in the 2023 general elections he would take concrete steps to improve port governance, augment capacity utilization that would enhance the efficiency of the nation’s seaports.
Reports indicates that the Nigerian ports are currently experiencing dwindling fortunes, and recorded about 8.6 percent increase in cargo throughput, while ship traffic slides 2.3 per cent and container traffic decreased by 7.1 per cent in the first quarter(Q1) of 2018 against the fourth quarter 2017.
According to a first quarter 2018 performance report released by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), through the Nigerian Port Consultative Council (PCC) at a meeting in Lagos, the ports recorded 18,729,889 metric tonnes of goods in the first quarter of 2018 against the 17,250,334 metric tonnes of cargo the seaports received previous quarter.
The inward traffic stood at 10,617,318 metric tonnes, representing 56.7 per cent of cargo throughput at the ports in 2018 while the outward cargo traffic was 8,112,671 metric tonnes representing 46.3 per cent of the total cargo traffic. However, container traffic dropped in the period under review, as it stood at 387,016 Total Equivlent Unit (TEUs) indicating a decrease of 7.1 per cent from 416,806 TEUs handled by the same ports in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Ship traffic was also affected with a downward slide on the volume with 985 ships showing a decrease of 2.3 per cent from 1,008 that called in fourth quarter of 2017.
This shows a gross tonnage of ship 31,693,650 against 32,598,477 recorded in the 4th quarter of 2017, showing a decline of 2.8 per cent. The turnaround time of vessels stood at 3.8 days when compared with 4.1 day in 4th quarter of 2017. Statistics also showed that berth occupancy rate was 32.8 per cent as against 33.8 per cent in 2017.
On the other hand, there was an improvement in the berthing time of vessels coming to make port calls at the nation’s seaports, especially for those making port calls at the Lagos ports has now been reduced from five hours to 90 minutes.
This new fit is achieved as a result of the recent instruction of the Nigerian Ports Process Manual (NPPM).
The Federal Ministry of Transportation, who made this disclosure last Thursday, said the intro of NPPM has greatly reduces vessel berthing time at the seaports from Five hours to 90 minutes.
But Bello noted that port performance in an economy is crucial for trade competitiveness, and that the expansion of port capacity would be accorded the highest priority by his government through implementation of well-conceived infrastructure development projects.
He however said that the current management team headed by Mohammed Bello-koko, has done creditably well.
According to him, port performance in an economy is crucial for trade competitiveness of that economy, adding that conscious initiatives would be taken by his government to improve port governance, augment capacity utilization, which would at the long run enhance port efficiency and competitiveness.
“This conscious steps would propelling the nation’s to the forefront of the Global Maritime Sector. It would be a blueprint that would ensure coordinated and accelerated growth of the maritime sector in the next decade” he added.
He said the lack of automation among other ills, made the International Monetary Fund (IMF) issue a damning report on Nigeria in its 2020 reports after visiting the country’s port.
According to him,this can be improve on if conscious effort is made at addressing some of the ills in the sector.
“Vessels are spending 21-days at our anchorage while at Tema Port, they are spending just 24hours. Shipmasters move around other ports and they would tell you that Nigeria is the only place where they have these harrowing experiences.
“Government agencies must comply with the executive order on ease of doing business. They should not be the ones flouting it. The agencies are the major problem because they are not speaking to one another” he added.
He further stated that shipping liners operating in Nigeria are now spending close to 50 days waiting time before having access into the nation’s seaports in Lagos to discharge laden goods due to the escalating congestion in the port terminals.
He said checks shows that it use to costs about $2,000 per day for ships to stay at the Lagos Safe Anchorage, and the heightening port congestion could be attributable to the worsening Ease of Doing Business at Nigerian ports.
According to him, the ports are yet to achieve a 24hour operation as mandated by Executive Order on Ease of Doing Business signed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, three years ago.
Je said there is serious congestion in the port as majority of the terminals are recording 95 percent yard occupancy due to failure of cargo owners to take delivery of their consignments.
“Right now, there is congestion at the ports and shipping companies are paying thousands of dollars every day. The waiting days for vessels on Nigerian waters have gone up to 50 days and this is impacting on the cost of doing business,” said Bello.
He said that Nigerian seaport is congested, and one of the reasons, is that the ports operate only from Monday to Friday.
According to him, there is need for all the parties involved in cargo clearing at the port to begin to operate 24 hours just like the airport, if the nation’s port system must move forward.
“We need electronic bill of laden which would make it compulsory for people to transact online. Another important thing is to ensure the port has inter-modal cargo evacuation system. We have the train in some terminals, the barges and also the road. We cannot have one mode of transportation because it means chaos,” he said.