The Vice President of the Oodua Maritime Forum, Mr. Ojo Peter Akintoye has said that even with the gradual easing of the lockdown recently imposed on the state by the federal government as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, activities are yet to resume fully at the Lagos ports.
Akintoye who disclosed this in an interview with our correspondent in Lagos yesterday said that banks and other public institutions were yet to resume fully as some of them resume at 9am and close between the hours of 2pm and 3pm as a result of curfew now in place in the satate.
He said that as a result of this development, port users were still facing the kind of scenario they faced during the lockdown as offices were providing skeletal services in the industry.
“Also don’t forget that as part of the measure to ease the lockdown, government also said that civil servants on grade levels 1 to 14 should still stay at home while those of them on grade level 15 and above should resume tomorrow (today). So, with that, the number of staff attending to people in the maritime industry is still not enough. It is as if we are still in the lockdown period.
“But the only area I think it affected us is that some of us that have jobs to do and some of us who don’t have jobs to do are now coming back to the port. Some believe that when they get to the port, they will get someone to push his car and from there get some money. Before now, there was no transport for them to get here but now, everybody is trooping out to come and look for their daily bread”, he said.
Recounting the challenges that the freight forwarders faced during the lockdown of Lagos state, Akintoye who is also the former Chairman of the International Freight Forwarders Association, Tincan Island Port chapter recalled that it was difficult for them to release cargoes from the ports as the banks initially did not work to enable them pay duty so as to enable them perfect their transaction with the Nigeria Customs Service noting that even if revenue was collected, cargo delivery cannot work without the terminal operators and the shipping companies’ collaboration.
“They need to synergize, it is a chain that work together, you now say one should work, the other one should stay at home and you are expecting the people that wants to go and do this work to get it done? The banks were not working all those period in question. After one or two weeks, you instruct the banks to go back to work and the banks’ management designated only one bank each to Apapa even when all the banks in Apapa were not enough to receive payment from declarants. We are talking about billions that are being generated within the system; Apapa, Tincan, KLT, Lillypond. And these banks are working between the hours of 9am and 2pm even when these banks have not been fully connected with the Nigeria Customs Service. It was during this lockdown that we forced some of the terminal operators and the shipping lines to make sure that they are online.
“It was after the associations stood up and had a meeting with the Nigerian Ports Authority and the Shippers’ Council that a statement was made by the Nigerian Ports Authority and the Shippers’ Council to the Inspector General of Police informing him that the seaport was part of the sectors exempted as providing essential service. Even with that, we still found it difficult in some parts of Lagos where they were not conversant with what seaport is; like Abule-Egba, Ikotun Egbe, Sango-Ota, the Police there will be asking you what are doing there, some will even ask you for what you don’t have”, he added.
On the positive sides, he informed that most cargoes that succeeded in leaving the port really enjoyed that opportunity to leave the port freely saying that it was only their coming back that was the problem because of the road blocks that were always there.
According to him, “They (truckers) really complained about that. There are these particular containers that were loaded about two to three weeks ago, that up till now, they have not been able to return the empties due to the challenge. I will not say that the port decongested to a large extent but those consignments that were lucky to be out of the port at that particular period of lockdown enjoyed free movement. I don’t believe that a good number of consignments left the port especially because of the challenge that I told you people were facing on the road; connectivity to the Nigeria Customs Service portal, the shipping and terminal operators.”
On whether the port operating during the lockdown period was a gain or a loss to the nation, he said noted that it was a gain as those monies eventually paid as duty to the government during the period would have helped the government in the ongoing fight against Coronavirus across the country.
“So, to some extent, it is not a loss to the Nigerian economy but my fear like I told some of the journalists during the lock down was that the issue of social distance was not really applicable in the ports during the lockdown. It was only that we enjoyed the grace of God that we have not recorded the expected number of Covid-19 cases. Even as I speak to you, it is still there. I still have this fear in me that if those that come into the vicinity of Apapa go for test for this Covid-19, you may be surprise what the outcome will be.
“A lot of measures were put in place especially in these offices like SSS, all those government agencies, if you want to enter their offices, they will make sure there is water for you to wash your hands, hand sanitizers and some of them maintained the social distance but some areas where you effect your payment like the terminals, the shipping companies, it was not like that”, he posited.
He however urged the port users to continue to maintain the distance, wash their hands regularly and where they can’t find water, they should make do with hand sanitizer always and make sure that they put on face masks regularly.
Photo: Vice President, Oodua Maritime Forum, Mr. Ojo Peter Akintoye.
Send your news, press releases/articles to augustinenwadinamuo@yahoo.com. Also, follow us on Twitter @ptreporters and on Facebook on facebook.com/primetimereporters or call the editor on 07030661526, 08053908817.
