Nigeria last week marked the celebration of the nation’s 54th Independence anniversary. During his independence day anniversary message to Nigerians, the President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan used the occasion to reel out the achievements of his administration in the last three and half years. 54 years down the line, our correspondent, in this report takes a look at Nigeria’s progress with particular attention to the maritime sector of the economy.
The Maritime sector remains a key sector of the Nigerian economy whose enormous potentials deserves continuous harnessing in order to meet the expectation of the government. To demonstrate the government’s resolve in transforming the sector, a lot of giant steps have been taken by the government in last 54 years to reposition the sector into a viable contributor to the nation’s economy.
A lot of positive steps are currently being taken by both the government, its agencies and stakeholders alike to move the sector away from its notoriety in high cost of doing business occasioned by delays, poor infrastructures and lack of technical know-how to a sector that is viable and in consonance with the international best practices.
With the port reforms of 2006 that saw the nation’s seaport concessioned out to private operators also known as the terminal operators, the march to the nation’s dream land in the maritime world had begun with many expressing the hope that perhaps, Nigeria may have gotten it right this time around.
Notwithstanding the milestone achieved with the concessioning of the nation’s ports, critics had identified a major loophole in the concession exercise which was the absence of a commercial regulator to regulate the commercial activities in the nation’s maritime industry, an act which many saw as a deliberate attempt by the government and the proponents of the reform to rip off the sector.
They argued that the absence of a commercial regulator to regulate the economic and commercial aspect of the industry had made nonsense of the entire exercise which they contended would have launched the country on the world map.
Interestingly, the Federal government through a letter to the Federal Ministry of Transport early this year, conferred the Commercial regulator status on the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), a development which the entire stakeholders were unanimous in describing as a welcomed development.
The Minister of Transport, Sen. Idris Umar while commenting on the development informed that,” government have granted approval for the Nigerian Shippers’ Council to act as Economic Regulator at the ports, with the effective administrative backing of the Federal Ministry of Transport pending the passage into law of the National Transport Commission which shall among other functions serve as the economic regulator in the transport sector”.
With this development, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council had since swung into action to justify the confidence reposed on it by the Federal government. This it is doing by engaging all the stakeholders in the industry through consultation and dialogue.
It will be of interest to know that the Nigerian Shippers’ Council is currently focusing attention on the development of Truck Transit Park (TTPs) in collaboration with the private sector to ease road transport haulage business. The TTPs when constructed, will consist of gas/petrol stations, hotels, mechanic garages, shopping malls, restaurants, police posts, fire stations and so on. It is of interest to also note that the NSC has signed a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a private firm for the development of a Truck Transit Park at the International Trade Fair Complex to help eliminate the parking of trailers at the accesses to the Lagos port. Another TTP is also to be established in Lokoja, Kogi state where the state government is processing the land to be used for this purpose.
To further demonstrate government’s resolve in transforming the sector, a phased implementation of the recommendations of outcome of the Presidential Retreat on the Maritime Sector held in 2012 with the theme,” Harnessing the Potential of the Maritime Sector for Sustainable Economic Development” has commenced with the re-introduction of Bunkering services while recommendations of the Blue Print are being considered and approved for implementation on a case-by-case basis as considered expedient by the government.
A number of measures have been put in place over the last two years by the government aimed at enhancing the operational efficiency in the various ports. It is worthy to note here that 24 hours operation has been achieved in the Lagos Ports where more than 60% of the nation’s port activities take place. The Federal government is also making efforts towards ensuring the development of Deep Sea Ports in the country which is seen as the ultimate solution to the current port congestion as the cargo handling are presently beyond their designed capacities.
In this regard, the Federal Executive Council has recently approved the development of the Lekki Deep Sea Port which is expected to handle bigger vessels and also create employment under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement. It is expected that in no distant time, the ground breaking for the construction of the port will be performed. On the Ibaka Deep Sea port in Akwa Ibom state, the Steering and Project Delivery Committee that was constituted last year has submitted its report and the Transaction Adviser has produced initial Due Diligence Report as well as the Outline Business Case (OBC).
Furthermore, talk is ongoing between the Federal Ministry of Transport, the Nigerian Ports Authority on one side, the Lagos state government and some investors to develop the Badagry Deep Sea Port as efforts are also being made to initiate similar arrangements with the Ogun and ondo state governments and some investors to develop the Olokola Deep Sea port.
Investigations by Primetime Reporters revealed that contract for the Consultancy Services for the establishment of a port at Ogidigbe, near Escravos, as part of the Gas Industrial Park with Free Trade Zone status which is expected to be the Hub for Gas Revolution initiative of the Federal government is awaiting Federal Executive Council’s consideration and approval.
According to Senator Umar,” it is worthy to mention that a preliminary joint inspection has been carried out by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Bayelsa state government for the development of Agge Deep Sea port in the state. Already, the state government has commissioned a reputable consultant who has carried out extensive studies for the development of the port”.
Rendering the account of his stewardship in the last two year, the Managing Director of NPA, Mallam Habib Abdullahi noted that in the area of marine and operations, efforts were geared towards the need to deliver an efficient ports service in a safe, secured and customer friendly environment in accordance with the international best practices.
According to him,” to achieve this, the management has continued to pay attention to first and foremost, improving existing port infrastructures in the areas of rehabilitation of port quay walls and aprons, deepening of our channels, upgrading of our common user facilities and wreck removals”.
This efforts manifested in the biggest vessel to call at any port in West Africa by the name West Africa Maximum (WAFMAX) with a length overall 232.33 metres and capacity of 4,500 TEUs requiring draught of 13.5 metres calling on the Nigerian ports owing to the consistent dredging campaign of the authority.
Generally, stakeholders and shipping companies have confirmed that the channel management and conservancy function of the authority had continued to improve.
Analysis had also confirmed that most of the ports recorded increase in Gross Registered Tonnage (GRT) of vessels mainly due to the capital and maintenance dredging of the channels by the authority’s Joint Venture (JV) Companies, namely, Lagos Channel Management (LCM) Company, for the management of Lagos Channel and the Bonny Channel Management (BCM) company for the management of the Bonny Channel.
These strategic developments had reflected in increasing Cargo Throughput to 77 Million metric tons in 2013 from 44,953, 073 metric tons in 2005 excluding oil and gas.
Also, in providing efficient towage service, the government had approved the outsourcing of these services in Port Harcourt, Onne, Warri and Calabar ports. With this development, there will be no more complaints in delays in ship movement in and out of the ports.
Worthy of mention here is the completion of phase 4 and only recently, the Federal government performed the ground breaking ceremony of phase 4B at the Onne port Complex to further boost the existing port infrastructures.
With regards to the Inland Waterways Development and in order to sustain the dredged Lower River Niger channel, the contract for the dredging of River Benue is currently being processed to the Federal Executive Council for consideration and approval which will further guarantee the sustainability of the Lower River Niger channel and expand the nation’s Inland Waterways.
In the same vein, a number of River Ports are being developed with the Port at Onitsha completed and commissioned. The processes for the concessionning of the Port is in progress with a Transaction Adviser appointed to midwife the process that will lead to inviting Expression of Interest from investors.
Towards this end, the Federal Ministry of Transport and the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) held a stakeholders conference with the theme,” Putting Onitsha River Port into Economic Use before Concessioning’ in order to produce a robust road map on how to maximize the use of the port for the entire region.
It is also pertinent to note that the development of River port at Baro, Oguta and Lokoja have respectively attained 90%, 73%, and 50% completion while the procurement process for the construction of a River Port at Makurdi is at final stage. It is expected that upon completion, all the River Ports will be concessioned to the private sector for optimization.
In the area of maritime safety and security, the partnership between the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the private sector is yielding positive result. NIMASA has also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Air Force to enhance water patrol and aerial surveillance of the Nigerian maritime domain.
Having understood that to effectively cover the countries under the Regional Search and Rescue Centre of eight countries, a robust maritime domain awareness and response system was required; NIMASA sought and got the approval of the relevant government authority to put in place a robust maritime domain awareness thus leading to the birth of the NIMASA Satellite Surveillance centre.
With the NIMASA Satellite Surveillance Centre, the agency is now able to respond to any distress call on the Nigerian waters and even beyond as the 24 hour Satellite surveillance equipment according to the Director General of NIMASA, Mr.Ziakede Patrick Akpoolokemi has the capacity to detect boats, ships and objects of predefined cross-section floating on water including aircraft that ditches and remains on the surface during satellite over-flight.
In his word, “ the Agency’s upgrading of its Global Maritime Distress Safety System (GMDSS) in Lagos, Bonny and Oron and the Radar installation in Escravous Bonny and Takwa Bay in Lagos will complement the satellite facility and further boost our domain awareness response capability when fully operational”.
In further pursuit of guaranteeing safety within and outside the nation’s sea shore, NIMASA has vigorously pursued compliance with the International Ship and Ports Facility Security (ISPS) Code leading to twenty-two (22) port facilities in Nigeria confirmed as being in compliance with the ISPS Code by the United State government. This is a remarkable improvement from nine certified port facilities since the last visit of the United State Coast Guard.
In the same vein, the Federal government has granted approval to NIMASA for the removal wrecks and derelicts on a “no-cure-no-pay basis in order to provide for safe navigation within the nation’s waterways.
On Cabotage implementation, Primetime Reporters gathered that efforts are underway to ensure the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) to assist in building indigenous capacity after concluding all the required Due Diligence and approval processes. It will be recalled that in February this year, a stakeholders’ forum was held to consider the draft policy Guideline for Granting of Ministerial Waivers on Cabotage.
The forum robustly examined holistically, the Draft Policy Guidelines with a view to producing an acceptable document that will facilitate more effective implementation of the Cabotage regime in Nigeria so as to effectively discourage the granting of the Ministerial waivers.
In the area of capacity building, the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) anchored by NIMASA is making a steady progress as over 2,500 cadets have been sent for various trainings in schools in the United Kingdom, Egypt, Romania, India and Philippines.
To further enhance manpower development for the industry, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan performed the ground breaking ceremony of the Nigerian Maritime University (NMU) at Okerenkoko and also flagged off activities at the University’s temporary site in Kurutie, both in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State. It is also worthy of note that there is an on-going effort to source for technical collaboration with foreign maritime institutions which is aimed at assisting the NMU to develop structural academic programme which is essential to strengthening the quality of the university’s training programmes.
Furthermore, His Excellency, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan also performed the ground breaking ceremonies for the NIMASA ship yard and Dockyard also located in Okerenkoko with a vision to transform the maritime sector into an industry that will generate capable local manpower which will contribute significantly to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product.
Also, arrangements have been concluded by NIMASA through the Public Private Partnership to actualize the establishment of a National Carrier Line which will re-establish the presence of Nigerian flag in international waters, provide training and retraining of the Nigerian Seafarers while also serving as a catalyst for shipping development in the country with a resultant positive effects on the nation’s economy.
In the effort to sanitize the ports, the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) has produced the Maiden Register of individual and corporate Freight Forwarders as well as the accredited associations of Freight Forwarders. It has also accredited courses of study in Freight Forwarding at Regular Certificate and Executive Diploma levels and established the Freight Forwarding Investigation Panel and Disciplinary Tribunal as well as Enforcement unit to benchmark freight forwarding to international standards and impose sanctions where applicable.
From the foregoing, one will not be wrong to say that the Maritime sector in the last 54 years of its existence has made tremendous progress and will continue to thread in that direction if the right policies and plans are put in place.
There is no doubt that the maritime sector, if well harnessed, is capable of contributing immensely to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), generate employment for the teeming unemployed Nigerians and redefine the economic outlook of this nation. All that is required is the political will to do the right thing and sustain the gains so far made in the sector in the past 54 years.
