The Nation Newspaper

Category: Maritime

  • Firm seeks roadmap for local content

    The Managing Director, Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL), operators of the Lagos Free Zone behind Tin Can Port, Dr Amy Jadesimi, has challenged the government to chart a definite roadmap for Local Content Law administration in the maritime industry.

    She said this became imperative following the delay in the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF) by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

    The LADOL boss, who spoke with The Nation at the Logistics West Africa Conference and exhibition in Lagos, said the call became necessary in view of some challenges faced by local operators.

    She bemoaned the foreign domination of the shipping business in the country and urged the Federal Government to make the fund available to Nigerians.

    The LADOL boss also called on some private sector operators, who still operate as appendages to foreign interests, to have a change of focus. Mrs Jadesimi noted: “We need to see more private sector indigenous operators in the industry being on their own. We need to stop being mere agents. This agency model of classifying ourselves with one or two percentages of large contracts is not sustainable and will not help us.”

    Mrs Jadesimi said with the passage of the local content law, many indigenous operators were coming into the business with a measure of confidence, noting that it is the right way to go.

    She said the impact of free zones to the maritime and oil and gas industry, and how they are facilitating logistical efficiencies, specifically called for a sustained synergy between the Ministry, relevant government agencies and notable private sector operators in taking another look at some of the areas of the law, which constitute significant challenges that still impede the success of the law.

    According to her, one of such areas is the issue of tender process, which, she says, actually works against Nigerian players, in favour of foreign interests.

    “So, they now have to work together with qualified private sector and look at how we can encourage such investors who are seen to be doing something realistic so that they can continue to invest with a measure of confidence,” she added.

    Harping on challenges facing operators in the industry, Jadesimi said from LADOL’s experience, financing was still a huge problem because of bank’s lending rate compared to what obtains elsewhere.

    She, however, berated some of the top players who she accused of festering what ‘zero sum game: I win you lose, and I lose, you lose’ syndrome, which she described as “very damaging and anti-development.”

  • Customs denies attempt to bribe lawmakers

    The Customs Service has denied buying 200 cars for members of the National Assembly to pass the amended Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA).

    Its Customs National Public Relations Officer, Deputy Comptroller Wale Adeniyi, said the claims by the Managing Director of Maritime Media Limited, Elder Asu Beks, that Customs acquired the cars to influence the lawmakers to free the Service from the control of the Presidency and the Federal Ministry of Finance were not true.

    “It is good and easy for us to address the issue raised by Mr Asu Beks. First, he raised the allegation that Customs bribed the distinguished Senators with 200 cars to pass the CEMA Bill. Well, we find this allegation curious and unfounded and these are allegations that Mr Asu Beks cannot back up with any evidence. This is not a substantive issue, but, for me as a concerned Nigerian and as a Customs officer, the onus of proof lies with MrAsu Beks to tell Nigerians how Customs actually bribed the distinguished Senators with 200 vehicles. “Beks needs to come out with more facts. What type of vehicles are they? What model? Where were the vehicles bought? Were they imported into Nigeria? He needs to let Nigerians know that this is the evidence he has. He cannot just come and make this type of allegation and we allow him to go like that. It is also in the interest of distinguished members of the House, because it is a credibility issue, and throwing this kind of allegation wildly at them like this is not good for our democracy.”

    The Customs image-maker said the attempt to pass the new Customs bill is noble, because the existing CEMA is old and obsolete.

    “The exercise is to bring the law in tandem with the challenges of modern Customs administration. It is obvious that people like Beks, who are condemning this bill, have not read it. It is so obvious. What this bill sought to repeal is the old 1958 Act. There is a new Act, which was enacted in 2004, which is the Customs Excise Consolidated Act 2004 CAP C49. All the powers of Mr President in terms of granting waivers and concession are intact in Section 12 of this particular Act. Section 12 talks, particularly, about the powers to impose, to vary or remove any import duty and to amend the schedule of the tariff.

    “These are powers that are vested in Mr President and these powers are intact. So, Mr Beks and the like have not read the bill. CAP 49 of 2004 is not among the provisions that the new bill seeks to repeal. All the other powers of the Minister; the power to appoint the Board and members of the Board; to chair the Board of the Nigeria Customs Service and all the powers of the Board are all enshrined in the new bill. They are there and the new bill is not taking away any power that was vested in the under the former Act,” Adeniyi stated.

    He told The Nation that Customs might take legal action against Beks to compel him to proof his unfounded allegation.

  • NHRC summons NAGAFF over invasion

    The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has appeared before the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) over an allegation that some military personnel invaded its office in Apapa, Lagos.

    Last week, investigations revealed that some NAGAFF members appeared before the NHRC to give information about the alleged invasion of it’s national headquarters at Apapa, Lagos.

    At the commission’s office, NAGAFF, sources said, alleged that some soldiers invaded its headquarters on the orders of a Deputy Comptroller of Customs, who was then in charge of the Customs Intelligence Unit (CIU) at the Tin Can Island Port.

    Sources at the Commission said NAGAFF through its solicitor, Larry Okonkwo, in a letter entitled: “Invasion of NAGAFF Headquarters Lagos by 13 Unknown Soldiers at Instance of a Deputy Comptroller of Customs, Customs Intelligence Unit (CIU) Tincan Island Port, Lagos and Threat of Life of Dr. Boniface and other Officers of NAGAFF,” had petitioned the senior Customs officer over her alleged role in the invasion and subsequent alleged threats to the lives of Aniebonam and other NAGAFF members.

    The Commission said in the invitation letter to NAGAFF, a copy of which was sighted by The Nation, that the request to appear of before the Commission was based on the human rights issue, raised by the NAGAFF’s lawyer.

  • NHRC summons NAGAFF over invasion

    The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has appeared before the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) over an allegation that some military personnel invaded its office in Apapa, Lagos.

    Last week, investigations revealed that some NAGAFF members appeared before the NHRC to give information about the alleged invasion of it’s national headquarters at Apapa, Lagos.

    At the commission’s office, NAGAFF, sources said, alleged that some soldiers invaded its headquarters on the orders of a Deputy Comptroller of Customs, who was then in charge of the Customs Intelligence Unit (CIU) at the Tin Can Island Port.

    Sources at the Commission said NAGAFF through its solicitor, Larry Okonkwo, in a letter entitled: “Invasion of NAGAFF Headquarters Lagos by 13 Unknown Soldiers at Instance of a Deputy Comptroller of Customs, Customs Intelligence Unit (CIU) Tincan Island Port, Lagos and Threat of Life of Dr. Boniface and other Officers of NAGAFF,” had petitioned the senior Customs officer over her alleged role in the invasion and subsequent alleged threats to the lives of Aniebonam and other NAGAFF members.

    The Commission said in the invitation letter to NAGAFF, a copy of which was sighted by The Nation, that the request to appear of before the Commission was based on the human rights issue, raised by the NAGAFF’s lawyer.

  • Firm seeks roadmap for local content

    The Managing Director, Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL), operators of the Lagos Free Zone behind Tin Can Port, Dr Amy Jadesimi, has challenged the government to chart a definite roadmap for Local Content Law administration in the maritime industry.

    She said this became imperative following the delay in the disbursement of the Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF) by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

    The LADOL boss, who spoke with The Nation at the Logistics West Africa Conference and exhibition in Lagos, said the call became necessary in view of some challenges faced by local operators.

    She bemoaned the foreign domination of the shipping business in the country and urged the Federal Government to make the fund available to Nigerians.

    The LADOL boss also called on some private sector operators, who still operate as appendages to foreign interests, to have a change of focus. Mrs Jadesimi noted: “We need to see more private sector indigenous operators in the industry being on their own. We need to stop being mere agents. This agency model of classifying ourselves with one or two percentages of large contracts is not sustainable and will not help us.”

    Mrs Jadesimi said with the passage of the local content law, many indigenous operators were coming into the business with a measure of confidence, noting that it is the right way to go.

    She said the impact of free zones to the maritime and oil and gas industry, and how they are facilitating logistical efficiencies, specifically called for a sustained synergy between the Ministry, relevant government agencies and notable private sector operators in taking another look at some of the areas of the law, which constitute significant challenges that still impede the success of the law.

    According to her, one of such areas is the issue of tender process, which, she says, actually works against Nigerian players, in favour of foreign interests.

    “So, they now have to work together with qualified private sector and look at how we can encourage such investors who are seen to be doing something realistic so that they can continue to invest with a measure of confidence,” she added.

    Harping on challenges facing operators in the industry, Jadesimi said from LADOL’s experience, financing was still a huge problem because of bank’s lending rate compared to what obtains elsewhere.

    She, however, berated some of the top players who she accused of festering what ‘zero sum game: I win you lose, and I lose, you lose’ syndrome, which she described as “very damaging and anti-development.”

  • Customs denies attempt to bribe lawmakers

    The Customs Service has denied buying 200 cars for members of the National Assembly to pass the amended Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA).

    Its Customs National Public Relations Officer, Deputy Comptroller Wale Adeniyi, said the claims by the Managing Director of Maritime Media Limited, Elder Asu Beks, that Customs acquired the cars to influence the lawmakers to free the Service from the control of the Presidency and the Federal Ministry of Finance were not true.

    “It is good and easy for us to address the issue raised by Mr Asu Beks. First, he raised the allegation that Customs bribed the distinguished Senators with 200 cars to pass the CEMA Bill. Well, we find this allegation curious and unfounded and these are allegations that Mr Asu Beks cannot back up with any evidence. This is not a substantive issue, but, for me as a concerned Nigerian and as a Customs officer, the onus of proof lies with MrAsu Beks to tell Nigerians how Customs actually bribed the distinguished Senators with 200 vehicles. “Beks needs to come out with more facts. What type of vehicles are they? What model? Where were the vehicles bought? Were they imported into Nigeria? He needs to let Nigerians know that this is the evidence he has. He cannot just come and make this type of allegation and we allow him to go like that. It is also in the interest of distinguished members of the House, because it is a credibility issue, and throwing this kind of allegation wildly at them like this is not good for our democracy.”

    The Customs image-maker said the attempt to pass the new Customs bill is noble, because the existing CEMA is old and obsolete.

    “The exercise is to bring the law in tandem with the challenges of modern Customs administration. It is obvious that people like Beks, who are condemning this bill, have not read it. It is so obvious. What this bill sought to repeal is the old 1958 Act. There is a new Act, which was enacted in 2004, which is the Customs Excise Consolidated Act 2004 CAP C49. All the powers of Mr President in terms of granting waivers and concession are intact in Section 12 of this particular Act. Section 12 talks, particularly, about the powers to impose, to vary or remove any import duty and to amend the schedule of the tariff.

    “These are powers that are vested in Mr President and these powers are intact. So, Mr Beks and the like have not read the bill. CAP 49 of 2004 is not among the provisions that the new bill seeks to repeal. All the other powers of the Minister; the power to appoint the Board and members of the Board; to chair the Board of the Nigeria Customs Service and all the powers of the Board are all enshrined in the new bill. They are there and the new bill is not taking away any power that was vested in the under the former Act,” Adeniyi stated.

    He told The Nation that Customs might take legal action against Beks to compel him to proof his unfounded allegation.

  • NAGAFF, traders partner on employment

    The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) is partnering with the National Harmonised Traders Association of Nigeria to create jobs in freight forwarding for youths in the North.

    The Secretary-General of NAGAFF, Mr Increase Uche, disclosed this to The Nation.

    He said the youth are yet to take advantage of job opportunities in northern borders. NAGAFF, in a survey, he said, revealed that youths in the North are not conversant with the opportunities of self-reliance available in the business of freight forwarding and logistics services.

    Uche said the north has border stations approved by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), which has the potential to create jobs and boost commerce and trade.

    “There are indications that many Northern youths are not aware that the National Assembly has legislated over the regulation and control of freight forwarding business in Nigeria,’’ he said.

    Uche urged the customs service to assist the freight forwarding associations in their bid to open up trade transactions in the North.

  • Report on Ports Reform ready

    Report on Ports Reform ready

    The report of the Presidential Committee on Ports Reform is ready, The Nation has gathered.

    The committee was set up after a retreat summoned by President Goodluck Jonathan last July to find ways to boost economic development in the maritime sector.

    Disturbed by the slow space with which the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) were carrying out their responsibilities, the committee, according to information has given matching orders to the management of the two agencies to perform.

    The committee, investigation revealed, is not happy that despite the huge budgets approved for NPA and NIMASA in the last two years, the management of the two agencies did not do enough to improve the ports.

    Investigation also revealed that the committee, headed by the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar and assisted by the lawyer, Mr Olisa Agbakoba, also identified the key problems facing the sector.

    Sources close to the committee told The Nation last weekend that the report of the committee, which may be submitted soon, focused on safety and security of the nation’s waters, efficiency at ports, increasing local participation in shipping business and implementation of Cabotage Act. Other areas it dwelt on are completion of the reform of the ports, maximising revenue potential of the port industry and creation of jobs for the youth from the maritime sector among others.

    The report, sources said, also noted the views of stakeholders who attended the retreat by identifying the key problems facing the maritime sector and proffering solutions.

    The role of the committee, the source said, was to come up with initiatives that can be implemented by the Federal Government over the next six to 18 months to allow Nigerians to harness the opportunities in the maritime sector.

    “The laws governing ports operations in the country are outdated and ineffective. You can imagine a situation where the Ports Act provides only a fine of about a N100 for anybody who encroached into the ports’ land.

    “For almost six years, the ports have been in the hands of private operators, but there is no law empowering any of the government agencies, such as the NPA, NIMASA, or the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), to regulate the activities of the conces-sionaires. These are some of the issues the report will look into,” he said.

    It was learnt that there are some aspects of the nation’s laws that impact on the maritime sector.

    “For instance, the reason the Cabotage Act was formulated is well known to those in the industry. But the truth is that successive governments have failed to implement the Act despite the fact that the country loses over N2 trillion annually in capital flights to foreign countries because of the inability of the indigenous ship owners to participate in the lifting of the over 150 million tonnes of cargo from the country, and that is one of the major areas which the report of the committee also focused on,” the source said.

    The source said the high level of insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea, which the country is a major stakeholder has steadily risen from 45 per cent in 2010 to over 65 per cent in 2012. This, the source said, is another area where the report looked into because sea piracy has created a major economic problem for the country and it is threatening the nation’s over $600 million fishing business.

    President Jonathan, the source further said, is passionate about the development and transformation of the nation’s seaports to make them viable and competitive. The source said that was why the port reform agenda was embarked on.

  • NPA scores self low on budget performance

    NPA scores self low on budget performance

    The Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mallam Habib Abdullahi, said he was not happy over the low level performance of their capital budget in the last few years.

    The issue, the NPA boss said, is giving the Federal Government and the new management of the authority concern.

    Speaking with The Nation in Lagos last week, Abdullahi said considering the vital role the ports play as a gateway to trade and commerce, it was necessary for them to carry out their responsibilities as the land lord at the ports and perform optimally.

    Some of their core functions, he said, include but not limited to infrastructure development, dredging of the channels, maintenance and acquisition of vital operational equipment, such as vessels, pilotage and towage, among others

    “Considering that the revenues of the authority under the present dispensation are derived from its core arrears of responsibility, being the provision of infrastructure, vessel support services, the viability of the ports more than ever linked to the level of its infrastructure, which are needed to enhance our capacity to sustain and foster growth in traffic throughput in response to the growth in economic activities,” he said.

    The NPA boss said the level of their operational performance and revenue are dictated by the standard of infrastructure, which makes it necessary for them to be efficient in their procurement processes.

    While noting that the operations of the various departments and units of the authority are interrelated, such that the input of one department determines the output of another in the overall duty of the authority, he called for synergy between departments, the ports, zonal offices and the management team to enhance port performance and revenue generation.

  • Free-on-Board policy is uneconomical, says ANLCA

    Free-on-Board policy is uneconomical, says ANLCA

    NIGERIA loses billions of naira from the continued use of Free-on-Board (FoB) policy, the President, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Alhaji Olayiwola Shittu, has said. FoB, the body said, is a trade policy that gives the buyer the opportunity to pay for the shipment and landing costs of the goods from the port of origin. Shittu said there was an urgent need for the President Goodluck Jonathan administration to adopt Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF) for the lifting of crude oil. CIF, he said, gives the seller the right to arrange for the ferrying of goods by sea to a port of destination, and provide the buyer with the documents necessary to collect them from the carrier. Shittu said a major part of the problems faced by indigenous owners was due to the failure to enforce the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety (NIMASA) Act, 2007, five years after its enactment. He said Nigeria is the only country that is still using the FoB policy. A member of the group, Mr Segun Ogunsanu said the indigenous shipping firms have over the years been grappling with lack of cargo support, which had made so many of them to close shop with the attendant unemployment problems years after the enactment of the act and other legislations, such as the Cabotage Act, 2003 and Nigerian Content Act 2010. “The policy is being used to the detriment of the economy,”he said. Ogunsanu said the adoption of either the CIF or FoB policy by the Federal Government should be based on how the policy is of advantage to the parties involved in the shipping. The intention of the Cabotage Act, he added, was to give indigenous shipping firms the support to enable them to compete with their foreign counterparts, who have usurped the cargoes on the international shipping route and the coastal and Inland region.