Author: Saint Augustine

Defending champions, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) today opened the defense of their Maritime Cup title on a bright note as they defeated hard fighting Dominion Divine Freight Forwarders (DDFF) 2-1 in the opening match of the 2014 Ships & Ports Soccer Challenge, also known as the Maritime Cup competition. Dominion Divine had scored the first goal of the match through Obinna Nwankwo via penalty kick in the 19th minute of the first half. But Customs equalized in the 37th minute through Abubakar Mikail. Customs scored its second goal in the 82nd minute of the match through Tenyon Yenne thereby snatching…

A Maritime Lawyer, Barrister Osuala Emmanuel Nwagbara has called on entrepreneurs in the country to invest in Maritime institutions saying that establishment of more maritime schools will help increase the number of professionals in the industry. Nwagbara who made the appeal at an event held in Lagos last week, when he won the best Maritime Lawyer of the year organized by National Evergreen Merit Award observed that there was the need for investors to participate in the creation of marine colleges that will help to build capacity in the sector. He also urged maritime schools without website to do so…

During the just concluded Nigerian Maritime Expo (NIMAREX) 2014, the Nigerian Navy was the envy of all at the Expo as it displayed its ship NNS Andoni which was said to be built locally by the Service. The participants especially the Nigerian Indigenous Ship-owners Association (NISA) was filled with pride at such a “can do spirit” of Nigerians which had been demonstrated by the Nigerian Navy. But not up to one week after the much celebrated achievement, the Nigerian Media was awashed with the news that the Nigerian Ports authority (NPA) has donated three patrol boats to boost its surveillance…

As the chapter elections of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) continues, the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal chapter in Lagos, Wednesday, got a new set of executives. The chapter which has been under the leadership of Engr. Fabian Okafor for the past ten years, first, as Sole Administrator and later as the elected chairman of the chapter now has Otunba Micheal Adekoya as its Chairman Elect. Adekoya who is the Vice Chairman of the chapter in the outgoing dispensation beat his only opponent in the contest, Prince Jerry Nwokedi with a total of 122 votes as against Nwokedi’s…

Apparently satisfied with the successes recorded by the Lagos Channel Management and the Bonny Channel Management in Lagos and Calabar respectively, the Federal Government has given nod for the establishment of Calabar Channel Management (CCM) to guarantee the sustainability of the Channel. The Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar who made this known while declaring open the 12th Inter-modal Africa 2014 Exhibition and Conference in Lagos Thursday reiterated the federal government’s commitment towards the resuscitation of the Calabar Access Channel which he said was a joint venture between the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Messrs Niger Global Limited. According to…

By Eugene Nweke-RFF, Mpta, Mnis,Fffa   Web Fontaine as an old Service Provider appears to be basking under the euphoria of industry monopoly, having enjoyed over 8 years of non competitive operations as structured by the Ministry of Finance, hence, being the only Service Provider with speciality in Information Technology development, stakeholders are yet to come to appreciable terms with the level of self developed innovations injected into the system so far.   Alternatively, can Web Fontaine proudly point to what it considers to be its records and achievement over the years and the cost thereof for public assessment or else it…

By Joy Enamuna Today, Standing from an emergency meeting held at the seat of the Caliphate and convened by sensible and sober Nigerians drawn from all walks of life with different religious and political affiliation and associations, with yours truly as one of the distinguished drunkards representing DWB (Drunkards Without Borders) in response to the senseless butchering of Nigerians by UKO (unidentified killing objects) allegedly premeditated by Al Qaeda and master minded by Boko Haram, it was agreed that one of the many permanent solutions to the recalcitrant problems of insurgency is to transfer the Capital or what we call…

Pastor Nlekwauwa Pastor Owen Nlekwauwa is the Senior Pastor, Olivet Bible Church, Festac Town, Lagos. He spoke with some selected journalists recently in Lagos where he bared his mind on a number of issues ranging from church development to the Youths, the nation Nigeria, the World and many more. Our correspondent was at the briefing and filed in the report. Excerpts; The journey so far For Olivet Bible Church, the year 2013 has been a year of consolidation. So much spiritual strength has been built into the church and that is a prerequisite for whatever God wants to do with…

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Marine Transport, Senator Zaynab Kure on Monday commended the Rector, Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, Akwa-Ibom State, Mr. Joshua Okpo for the pace of development that has taken place between 2012 when they last visited the Academy and now. Kure who made the commendation during an oversight visit to the Academy according to disclosed that the committee was at the Academy to see the level of progress the Academy has made with its on-going projects as well as to see the facility up-grade. Senator Kure who was conducted round the three phases of the academy…

MAAG recalls that about 7 Months ago the service providers reluctantly and hurriedly handed over the destination inspection scheme to the Nigeria Customs Service with inadequate preparation. As was the practice then for the service provider to achieve a daily cargo handling performance indicator operated on an internal MOU with the NCS and APMT for a daily loading of 400 containers on top of trucks designated for scanning operation at the Apapa scanning site so as to mitigate congestion, but the set target never worked, as the operators/service providers operated below 220 container loaded for scanning operations per day. This singular…