The former National President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Eugene Nweke has said that for the Executive Order on Ease of Doing Business in the nation’s maritime industry to work effectively, the is the need for all stakeholders to adhere and promote monetary and tariffs /charges regulatory discipline, collaborate with the commercial regulator to end arbitrariness in charges and stabilize foreign exchange fluctuations and control.
Nweke who made this known in his opening remarks at the Primetime Reporters’ 2nd Annual Lecture and Awards with the theme, “The Gains and Challenges of Presidential Order on Ease of Doing Business in the Maritime Sector One Year After”, held in Lagos yesterday also called for the re-ordering of the import policy, especially on the shipping documentary procedures into our country.
He further observed that support for the evolution of pricing systems would engender prudence in professional scales of charges and tariffs structures as well as sustain stakeholder engagements, negotiations and sensitization.
Nweke who also doubled as the Chairman of the event recalled that prior to the issuance of the executive order; many factors militated against efficient and effective business environment at the ports ranging from institutional overlapping functions to unstreamlined imports and exports procedures, inconsistency in trade policies of the government – lacking real stakeholders inputs – macroeconomic policies – monetary policies and fiscal policies, non-uniformity of trade valuation treatment and practices and preferential treatments, unequal playing field, haggling and highhandedness on the part of some operational officers, infrastructural challenges – dwell time of vessel/cargo at the quay and terminals, equipment and operational challenges – dwell time of vessel/cargo at the quay and terminals.
Others according to him included; arbitrariness with regards to industry practices and charges/tariff, non-standardization of professional practice and non-adherence to international best practices, incessant optic server break down, security challenges threatening the 48 hours cargo clearance, hyper revenue targets/generations serving as basis to measure critical agencies annual performance, absence of an effective national trade facilitation tool occasioned by different agencies establishing its own portals/trade nets, multiplicity of agencies in the ports, fraudulent practices and non-firm professional or weak regulatory institutions, non-predictable and non-competitive port environment, factors of inter-agencies collaborations exemplified in inherent self-centeredness, factors of uneven training and retraining of practitioners amounting to inadequate capacity building programs and factors of non-compliance to trade laws – weak supervisory / monitory roles.
He however pointed out that following the issuance of the order, consultations, negotiations and institutions buy-in is still on going, agencies in the port are being reduced, streamlining of procedures /processes on going, compliance to the practitioners operational standards, improving, works on infrastructure receiving attention – Apapa ports access road under construction, gridlock reducing by the day, stakeholders forums and meeting sustained , fraudulent practices gone sophisticated, port crowd control improving, institutions and practitioners operational sensitivity and awareness to ease of doing business on the increase, regulatory concerns on the increase, defaulting operators are being sanctioned, and consciousness of practice on the increase, legislative inputs strengthened – national transport commission underway, range of economic policies are subtly injected – company law – businesses and tax access and registration process are simplified and others as listed above, are gradually gaining attention progressively.
In a goodwill message, a representative of the Enabling Business Environment Secretariat which Houses the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), Mr. Jude Oboh disclosed that the secretariat on receipt of invitation from organizers of the event agreed that the event was right avenue for the Council to come and pick its story and let the people know what the Secretariat was doing adding,”We actually look for avenues like this to actually pick our feedback about what we have working and what we need to improve upon”.
He continued,” So, for me and for the Secretariat and for the council, it’s more about speaking to the reality on ground and getting feedback and using that as a basis for us to actually look forward as to where we really need to focus upon. So, please, let’s throw this engagement very open, let us make this interactive session as interactive as possible”.
On his part, the Principal Counsel of the Akabogu and Associates, Barr. Emeka Akabogu stated that the ease of doing business in the Nigerian maritime sector as well as the ease of doing business in Nigeria, arguably was the most important concept within the Nigerian context today adding that the ease of doing business at the port was prime as far as the relevant of the international trade value chain was concerned.
“So, I commend the organizers and I am also happy that we have a representative from the PEBEC because the PEBEC needs to engage with the industry in a very direct way, the PEBEC needs to feel the pulse and for the PEBEC to be effective, it has to deal with the realities which are on the ground. Many times, it is seen that PEBEC is dealing with a lot of theories and we are happy that you are here and we are looking forward to this engagement and I am looking forward to the presentation of the LCCI because at the end of the day, we want to solve a lot of problem”, he said.
Also speaking, the National President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Hon. Tony Iju Nwabunike state that the ease of doing business was a very important topic that he personally wanted to know more about as according to him, “when you talk about ease of doing business and we look at the procedures and the workability of ease of doing business, you find out that the two of them are going in parallel line.
“So, today, it’s going to be no holds bar and I am very sure and I am very happy that the Police is actually represented here, I would have loved to see customs too so that we can talk about the ease of doing business. We can’t be talking about ease of doing business in the port without these two major government agencies but let’s take it up from here”.
Speaking on behalf of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), the National Publicity Secretary of the association, Mr. Stanley Ezenga observed that the freight forwarders were always at the receiving end of any law that was prevalent in the industry saying that when the ease of doing business order came up, the freight forwarders embraced it whole-heartedly.
“Now the question is, one year after, this ease of doing business, is it working? We will not pre-empt the question until after the presentation by the panel here, from there we will now ask the question and look at whether this ease of doing business is working or not”, he said.
Contributing, the Director-General of the Nigerian Chamber of Shipping, Barr. Obiageli Obi noted that she was particularly happy about the theme of the lecture as it dwelt on something that affected her members.
She said,”We have had so many issues emanating from the ports and I think this particular topic is interesting because today, we are having an assessment of what is done since 2017 and an assessment reflecting how far we’ve gone on this project, is it worth it? Is it not worth it? What are the gains and what are the challenges? What should we improve on?
“And I think that today, I am all ears waiting for the main presentation and I am happy that freight forwarders are here because they are bounnd on this issue and I am happy that they are all well represented here and I hope that they will take it back as we have said it, no addition, no subtraction because the whole aim of this is to get the maritime sector working. We need our ports working, we need businesses coming in, we need ease of business so that we can improve our economy and get more money coming in, get investments in the industry”.
For the truckers, Mr. Godwin Ikeji of the Joint Council of Seaport Truckers (JCOST) said,” We of the truck operation, in fact, we are overwhelmed by this gathering, the topic is very essential and we want to commend our friend Saint Augustine Nwadinamuo for his being practical. In fact, we are overwhelmed that he could gather us here outside the point where the happenings are, the environment is quite different and we commend him for the effort.
“Like it has already been said, we want to hear Mr. Muda, let us see this miracle and we wish and expect that it will go down to our own level because most times, these discussions look theoretical but we are real practical men. We want to see how this will be put together especially as far as truckers are concerned otherwise; we may be forced to align with ANLCA that this ease of doing business remains on paper”.
Photo: L-R Director General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Mr. Muda Yusuf, DCP Mr. Adeyemi Gbola, and Miss Adaora Nwonu from Nigerian Shippers Council , during the 2nd Annual Lecture and awards theme ‘the Gains and Challenges of the Presidential order on ease of doing business in the Nigerian Maritime Sector one year after’ Organized by Primetime Reporters in Lagos yeserday. Photo by Chinyere Ikeanyi.
Send your news, press releases/articles to augustinenwadinamuo@yahoo.com. Also, follow us on Twitter @reportersinfo and on Facebook on facebook.com/primetimereporters or call the editor on 07030661526, 08053908817.
