Bello: FG Committed to Resolving Apapa Gridlock Permanently

uncomfortably longer and that is not good with our competitors. Don’t forgot, we are competing with other ports, and we need to make our ports efficient, but the way the government is going now, I think thing will be a thing of the past. That is what we have been able to do, to address the government and government has taken that responsibility. We have review with the Vice-President, who is the chairman of the taskforce, don’t forgot about two or three days, and the solutions are coming because all of us are united that this issue is resolved.

Last year, you announced that you were working with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to get shipping companies to open Disbursement Account (DA). Can you give us an update on that?

We are working with the CBN on so many things. The NSC has saved a lot of money on confirmation of chartered party charges and reasonableness of freights. What we are doing now is to see that the shipping companies have accounts operated and sent to them by their principals in Overseas instead of them using what is usually a local thing to operate, but in any case whatever we do we have to talk with the shipping companies, terminal operators. The terminal operators are going to make sacrifice on that. For the three days free periods, they are extending it to eight days that is also what you call sacrifice. The shipping companies they are extending their free demurrage period from 5 to 12 days. We are also talking with the NPA to also relax and give 30 per cent waiver of certain charges within the period contemplated. This is a temporary measure. But this is what I call general average sacrifice in order to save the situation. When the ship is going to capsize, you have general average where the heavy cargos are jettisoned and thrown overboard for the ship to survive. This is what we are doing, so everybody is coming along. Why the usually taskforce failed at time was because there was no congruity, it was just touching one thing and the problem of the port is a two headed monster, you catch one and three will spring, but now everybody is seeing and we think time has come for us to solve this problem and we have the political backing of this government.

Recently you launched some manuals to encourage people who do business in that area. What is the latest as it relates facilitation and what you are doing to promote that in the West Africa subregion?

Trade in the West Africa sub-region is abysmal. It is terrible; you cannot be compared to Asia or Europe. We need to trade among ourselves. Can imagine now that if I want to take a product to Ethiopia, it has been shipped Spain and transshipped to Ethiopia because there is no direct link in Africa countries, so this is also lack of infrastructure and Nigeria Shippers’ Council has seen this problem and have worked assiduously with NEXIM Bank to establish sea link project. Now this sea link project especially with the Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), is a regional cabotage and it is backed by Afrexim Bank to encourage the trade between them. So we are doing that. But Shippers Council is always looking at the barriers to trade. The checkpoints for example, the issue of common currency, and the issue of divergence of trade systems, we have the border information centres in Seme border where we want to formalise the informal trade. We have similar one in Gibia, Katsina. The idea of smuggling could be reduced when establish a formal office, so Shippers’ Council has established these BICs and we have many people coming for enquiries. We established access to markets so that these things could be done formally, people going through bribing and all sorts can do it formally through Nigeria shipper council. Very soon, we will have a meeting with Benin Shippers’ Council to look at an MOU we have signed for a very long time, so that we fine-tune the whole architecture of cross-border trade and see that our trade facilitation mandate is harnessed towards good direction.

Last year, the national transport commission bill was passed by the National Assembly and people are looking in the direction of the shipper council as the most relevant agency to transform it to commission. How prepared is the shippers’ council for that?

The national transport commission bill is not a shipper council bill. It is an industry bill. It is a comprehensive issue to tackle economic regulations as opposed to technical regulations. So shippers’ council will have a say into it, but there is also NPA and aviation, railway and others. So there have been some issues that were not well addressed and the latest we have is that it is been reviewed again. The government is in the best position to know which the best to assent is or not. Government cannot assent to laws unless they align with the effect on other laws, that is why we have the federal ministry of justice, the moment a law comes for instance if you have environmental impact assessment, the ministry of justice will have legal impact assessment to see how it aligns. It is a very good law and I am sure when government is satisfied this will be done. But Shipper council is just one of the many agencies involved.

As port economic regulator, your effort to get shipping companies to fall into line is well document but these companies behave as if they are above the law, why is that so?

We are not trying to get them fall line. We are not their headmaster. In port management in Nigeria, everybody is a culprit. Of course there are some shipping lines that are recalcitrant and we have had to go and shut their premises. But you see the issues of charges is no more there because we have understanding, one cannot increase charges without coming to Nigeria Shippers’ council, so we have stability of charges for now which is very important. But they are partners; we need to talk with them. They are investors and they have the option of going to another country, and so we really have to come and stop the arbitrariness of only shipping companies, but many operators. It is not a uniform thing, there have been some shipping companies that have some tremendous contributions, there are some terminals that have automated their terminals, and there are those who have not, so it is for us to say please fall in line. It is important that they make profit or return on their investment so that they will employ our people, increase wealth and other things. Shippers’ Council is not having a stick and whipping anybody, this is our partners. The trucking system for example, the council must work to ensure that the trucking system is reformed. Unless you reform the trucking system, you will companies owning fleets, whatever you want to do, will not be possible I mean this owner-driver thing. I mean everybody has one trailer; you will drive from Benin to Lagos. No, it cannot happen, you need to have about 10 companies operating fleets, and they must be structured. The same thing with what I have said about freight forwarding, there must be reform on freight forwarding. So unless you have these reforms, our efforts will just be a drop in the ocean.

There were controversies about the freight forward issue, where you were misquoted in the media that some freight forwarders didn’t accept your idea of getting them to be registered?

That is given, but reforms must be carried out. Freight forwarding profession is a very important profession; it cannot be left to the whims and caprices of touts. They must be really trained and they have to expand it and be entrenched in the logistic architecture that we have. They must be freight forwarders rather than customer clearing agents. Of course it is a function of the economy, but I want a freight forwarder to also, but I want freight forward to also hire or charter a vessel. We want them to have warehouses, fleeting companies where they deliver goods to the doorstep of the shipper or factory. We want them to be involved in the whole transaction. We want them to negotiate with the carriers about the fees, the surcharges, and charges. We want them to be strong. But what we have now is proliferation of one person. You see a container with five freight forwarders; we don’t need that in our economy now.

But the rising trend of foreigners dominating the industry is a concern among freight forwarding professionals?

If you don’t reform, the foreigners will do that. I know it is the concern of NAGAF and ANALCA. We have discussed this idea that we really need to reform the freight forwarding profession. How it will come, it will be left to the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarders (CRFFN), which is the ultimate moderator as far as the business is concerned. We need to work with the association. The associations have contributed much with us opposing policies that are not good. They have been outspoken, but the idea is to have professionalism in the freight forwarding. It is a weak link and it is everywhere and we need to reform in this direction. The reform I am saying is that there must be consolidation. There must be minimum share capital for them to operate. If there were structured, there will be this container deposit. Who do the shipping companies trust with their containers when you don’t have address, email or anything to identify you. That is why we are saying that all operators should register with the NSC.

Back to the Apapa taskforce put together to restore sanity in the area, do you by chance discuss with the VicePresident, the need to have importers clear cargo in another ports across the country because everybody seems to be clearing goods in Lagos?

The idea is that a port is as good as its connectivity inland. We have ports in the eastern part of the country; we have port in Calabar, Port Harcourt and Warri. There is need for those ports to be patronised to decongest Lagos. Recently, the NPA offered 10 per cent reduction that is what is needed. I know there may be problems with insecurity and draft level, but they are not much. I think government should make deliberate policy on that. It is the same thing with the dry port. We are taking containers now to Kaduna and they will be cleared there. When Ibadan port many containers will be taken there too. Port is not storage; it is just the transit to evacuate the cargo. But the federal government, NPA and Lagos State government are building the NPA deep water port which has more capacity, depth and will have bigger ships coming in and tremendous TEUs to come and that is also very important. But these are long-term solutions, but the government is very serious about it.

Lastly, what is your message and advice to truckers, stakeholders and everybody that have business at the port?

We should have discipline. Most of the issues are as a result of indiscipline. We are working with the truckers’ union which is very important. The Chairman of Apapa Local Government is always with us, which is very important. We are working with the media because they are also a critic of the situation. What I will call is for everybody to fall in and be disciplined, so that this modern traffic management and the effort of the government about rehabilitating the infrastructure in Apapa and the sacrifice are made by NPA, the Shipping companies, the terminal operators, and truckers should all come together so that we have a decent traffic situation.

Bello