Category: Maritime

Dry ports globally are to stimulate business, especially where there are no seaports. But the reverse seems to be the case in Nigeria as facilities designated as dry ports exist only in name. MUYIWA LUCAS writes.

 

Nurudeen Ismaila, a freight forwarder, is not  happy. This is because of his inability to deliver consignments to his client in Kaduna with ease and cheaply. For him, if the Kaduna Dry Port, the country’s pioneer dry port, inaugurated almost two years with fanfare, was efficient, the  story of cargo movement would have been different.

Like Ismaila, several others have continued to lament the state of the dry ports, especially the facility in Kaduna, as it is yet to deliver the much-expected gains in terms of generating business, jobs and other benefits expected  from such facility.

A dry port, according to experts,  is an inland intermodal terminal connected by road or rail to a seaport; and operating as a centre for the trans-shipment of cargo to inland destinations.

The concept of dry ports in Nigeria was muted during President Olusegun Obasanjo-led administration. Around 2003, the administration approved the creation of Inland Container Depots (ICDs) in various parts of the country, with emphasis on areas lacking seaports.

Toeing this path, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi,  in November 2017, said the Federal Government had approved six ICDs,  one in each of the geo-political zones.

The ICDs are located at Erunmu, Ibadan for Southwest; Isi -Ala Ngwa, Abia, in the Southeast; Funtua, Katshina; Zawachiki, Kano for the Northwest; Heipang, Jos, for Nortcentral and Jauri, Maiduguri  for  the Northeast.

Notwithstanding the laudable initiative, nothing has been gained from its establishment. Several factors are said to be responsible for this.

 

Legal framework

The Federal Government has not put a legal framework in place for the establishment or creation of dry ports. Whereas the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) allows the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to issue licences to bonded terminals which can offer dry port services at micro levels, dry ports require legal backings to come into existence.

The Ports Act number 38 of 1999 (as amended) establishing Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) is silent on dry ports and may very well require legislative amendment by the National Assembly. This  has not been done before Nigeria went ahead declaring the Kaduna Dry Port a port for use.

In Part VI, Section 30, the Act talked about declaration of ports but did not accomodate dry port as part of the maritime, import, export or free trade area. The Act in Part VI, Section 30, under the headline “Declaration of ports” was explicit on the Power to declare places, etc., as ports, their limits and approaches: (1) The Minister may, by order, ‘’(a)declare any place in Nigeria and any navigable channel leading into that place, to be a port within the meaning of this Act; (b) specify the limits of any place declared, as a port in accordance with paragraph (a)of this subsection; (c)declare any navigable channel leading into a port to be an approach to that port, within the meaning of this Act.

‘’(2) The places specified in the Second Schedule to this Act, shall be deemed to be ports, and the limits of those ports shall, until other provision is made in accordance with paragraph (b)of subsection (1) of this section, be the limits declared and in force immediately before the commencement of this Act, including-[Second Schedule.](a) all ocean beaches within 100 metres of the high- water level; (b) the waterways, creeks and swamp and below the highest astronomical tide level and all beacons, moles, piers, jetties, slipways, quays and other works extending beyond natural line of the high water level.’’

National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA) President Mr. Lucky Amiwero said there was no legal framework. According to him, dry ports don’t exist in Nigeria, by law, as it has to be legally provided for and recognised as either port of destination for imported cargoes or port of origin for export cargoes.

 

Support infrastructure

The basic infrastructure that should support any port are lacking. At present, there are no good roads leading to the dry port in Kaduna from Lagos, Port Harcourt, Warri,  Onne or Calabar.

Cargo laden trucks are forced to stay longer on transit causing delays and increasing the already high cost of doing business. The rail system is not fully ready. Dry ports are supposed to be supported by inter-modal transport components such as rail system that will move cargoes from and to the facility.

This is why stakeholders are of the view that, in this instance, the country has put the cart before the horse by establishing and hurrying to celebrate the creation of a dry port when rail infrastructure is still being worked on. This remains a  factor in promoting business for a dry port.

 

Read Also: How maritime sector can optimise AfCFTA regime

 

Waking up

Perhaps Amaechi must have had this in mind when he placed orders for some wagons for the Lagos-Ibadan railway, which upon completion, is expected to bring the Ibadan dry port to life. When this is done, it will have a positive effect on the cost of patronising dry ports and by extension add value to the cost of doing business.

Further initiative to improve the situation of traffic along and around the seaport that will eventually feed the dry ports are on the horizon.

For instance, the Managing Director, Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), Fidet Okhiria, in May said the newly acquired 18 wagons were to boost the ICDs by moving cargoes from Apapa sea port to dry ports in Kaduna and other states.

 

Poor marketing/sensitisation

One of the factors affecting the effectiveness of the dry port, according to experts, is the failure of the government to do enough marketing and sensitisation about the Kaduna ICD before it was inaugurated.

Experts explained that neighbouring landlocked countries, which  require proximate port services should have been negotiated into patronising the project. It is more economical for Nigeria’s neighbouring landlocked country, Niger Republic to  transit her imports through the Kaduna ICD or Kano Inland Container Terminal, but the country has continued to patronise the Republic of Benin seaport which is over 1500 kilometres to Maradi, Niger’s southern commercial hub. Besides, the shipping community is yet to begin stemming cargoes to the dry port as a known port of destination. This has adversely affected patronage of the facility.

 

ANLCA reacts

Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) President Iju Nwabunike said this development is costing the country over 100,000TEUs loss (Twenty-foot equivalent unit of container traffic) yearly.

He said the revenue loss to Nigeria as a result of this is huge because Benin is paying high transport cost for moving her transit cargoes from the Cotonou Port to Maradi.

Nwabunike, who spoke in Lagos, said it would be cheaper for Niger to transit her cargoes from the Kaduna Dry Port (about 250 kilometers to Mardi) or Kano ICD (about 150 kilometers to Maradi); than from the Cotonu Seaport, which is over 1,500 kilometres to Maradi.

Nwabunike, also a Director of Inland Container Nigeria Limited (ICNL), operators of the Kaduna Dry Port, regretted that since the Dry Port was inaugurated with fanfare by President Muhammadu Buhari in January last year, it has been confronted with challenges, including ineffective rail transporting system and poor state of the roads from Lagos to Kaduna.

He, however, said the most daunting challenge is the failure of the shipping firms to fall in line with global standards by sending cargoes directly to the ICDs. He expressed fears that the action of the shipping firms might be aimed at sabotaging the success of the ICD initiative of the Federal Government.

Nwabunike further warned that unless the Kaduna Dry Port is up and running effectively, Nigeria would lose the over 100,000TEUs Niger’s transit cargoes. This is because Benin Republic has already started construction of 1500 kilometers standard gauge rail line from Cotonu Port to Maradi, Niger Republic. According to him, over 800 kilometres of the new Cotonou-Maradi rail line has been completed.

“When that rail line is completed, it will reduce the cost of transportation of cargoes from Cotonu to Maradi,” he warned, adding that the only advantage Nigeria has  over Benin to snatch the Niger transit cargo traffic from them is the low cost of transportation the country offer to Niger shippers.

The closed borders has also made the situation worse. Nwabunike said this development has turned neighbouring countries against Nigeria. “In fact, they almost mobbed us during our recent visit to that country to explain to them why they should use the Kaduna Dry Port. This is quite understandable given that this country, Niger, is more emotionally attached to Benin which is their fellow French-speaking nation, than to us,” he said.

 

 

The fishing sub-sector is facing a challenge of foreign domination that may increase job losses for indigenous investors and professionals, MUYIWA LUCAS writes.

Fish is an important item most  households’ diet, contributing about 40 per cent of the country’s protein intake. An estimated 13.3 kilogramme (kg) of fish is said to be consumed by an individual yearly.

According to the World Fish Centre,  yearly fish production  in the country is about one million metric tons (313,231 metric tons from aquaculture and 759,828 metric tons from fisheries). Most of the fish is consumed domestically, while about 10 per cent is exported.

The industry in Nigeria, however, is being undermined be the high number of foreign vessels which poach fish from the country’s waters. It so bad that Ghanaians, other African nationals and others dominate Ibaka, a fishing community in the Bakassi fishing axis at the maritime border between Nigeria and Cameroon.

According to the Nigerian Trawler Owners Association (NITOA) President, Mrs. Margaret Orakwusi, the industry loses billions of dollars in resources and jobs yearly to poachers whose activities she describes as irresponsible fishing.

Blood money

Mrs. Orakwusi, who spoke at the Global Maritime Security Conference (GMSC2019) in Abuja, said proceeds from unlawful fishing in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea should be denied access to markets and treated like “Blood Diamond”.

She added that denial of access to market would not only discourage unlawful fishing, but would reduce the operational stress of security forces saddled with protecting the Gulf of Guinea.

Going by international standards for profiling fishes and other marine resources, Orakwusi said it was easy to ascertain where stolen fishes were sourced from.

Aside fish, Orakwusi said very viable marine resources are swept off the belly of Nigerian waters by poachers who destroy the marine biodiversity leading to environmental degradation.

Basically, there are two types of fishing – brackishwater and coastal.

The brackishwater fisheries has to do with fishing in creeks and estuaries where the freshwater flowing down the rivers mixes with salt water moving up with high tide.

The brackishwater sector, consisting of estuaries, beach ridges, intertidal mangrove swamps, intersecting rivers and numerous winding saline creeks, is an important component of the artisanal fisheries. However, this sector appears to have adequate fishing intensity and its fish catches might not significantly increase with more fishing innovations. But the productivity of the brackishwater fisheries might slightly increase through proper aquaculture practices.

The coastal inshore artisanal fishery is mainly confined in waters of less than 40m depth. This fishery employs large motorised “Ghana-type” canoes which are more durable on surf-beaten coast.

The available data indicate that about 19 per cent of the total national coastal inshore canoes are motorised. During the dry season (October-May), the small dug-out canoes mainly operate inside the estuaries and creeks whereas the motorised canoes fish in the open sea.

The rainy season with storms extends from May to September and the rough sea conditions restrict fishing operations of canoe fishermen in the open sea.

Hence many motorised canoes resort to fishing in the coastal lagoons, creeks, and also in the bar-built and lagoon-like estuaries. In these circumstances, the coastal shallow waters have a high fishing effort during the rainy season.

Concerns

Stakeholders are concerned that the Nigerian waters are being fished mainly by foreigners. For instance, in Ibaka, Mbo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, a region that stretches into Cross River, fishing is foreign dominated.

It is believed that the industrial fishing fleets exploiting the demersal resources of Nigeria consist of the inshore ice trawlers, freezer trawlers and shrimpers. The industrial fleet has expanded rapidly since the early 1970s. The number of inshore trawlers increased from 13 in 1971 to 29 in 1976 and to 52 in 1983. The Polish ice trawlers with an average length of about 13 m make short trips of about six days. Yet, the industrial fleet includes several freezer trawlers of private companies with an average length of 24 m. These make longer fishing trips of up to 25 days.

The ice trawlers and freezer trawlers operate on the sector of the continental shelf between Benin and Cameroon. They frequent areas with muddy sand, sandy muds, muds and sands of depths of more than 20 m.

The Nigerian shrimpers mainly operate in the coastal sector extending from the mouth of Benin River, to the Cross River estuary. The shrimp trawlers appear to make higher catches around estuaries with greater flows.

For stakeholders, such as Orakwusi, this situation is unacceptable.

“To have foreigners invade our waters and feed on our natural resources.  When you consider the irresponsible manner with which this is done, then it becomes very unfortunate. There are regulations in fishing.

“For me to be able to effectively export products from my trawlers, my activities are highly regulated by Nigeria, by European Union, by American authorities.

Orakwusi may be right. Several indigenous operators in this field are concerned that before their vessel are even certified and qualified to export to Europe, EU has some regulations that must be complied, beginning from the type of trawlers. These also include testing crews, checking each part of vessels to ensure that it is good enough to get fishing products that their people will eat.

Yet, the product itself  has regulations to meet. For instance, when going to fish in the deep waters, the water must be analysed and certified to be free from all source of harmful substance. And all these are for good.

“We don’t have difficulties selling our products. Products from Nigeria happen to be the best all over the world. We comply to everything. For my products to be sold in Europe

“We have to analyse the water where they were caught. I have to make sure the freezing is perfect,  and it has to undergo both in-house testing and testing by the Nigerian fisheries lab. Then it’s certified fit. So far, all our products pass analysis anywhere in the world and am particularly happy about that,” Orakwusi said.

Losses

Stakehders say that in defiance to international or local laws, foreigners fish in irresponsible manner, which means they steal from bottom to top because they have nothing at stake in the local waters and they leave and find markets for those products. It runs into billions of dollars yearly. Such activities are said to be destroying the marine environment.

“Something is not adding up very well there. Maritime security is very  expensive and for piracy for instance, you are talking about international waters. If the pirates or poachers are winning the war out there in the sea, how do we go back to sea and know some other methods of not encouraging what they are doing; of not allowing them sell their products? Where are they selling the stolen products? Where are they finding market? What banking institution do they use that they are not being accused of money laundering or that accommodate proceeds of crime?

“If we are not able to face the poachers out there in the high sea, we should be able to force the financial institutions to be more prudent to at least ask questions. We have the law of money laundering all over the world. Its not just for the blacks that when you spot fifty thousand, you clamp on the account,” Orakwusi submitted.

Govt steps in

The Nigerian Navy and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) have stepped up efforts to protect seafarers and fishing trawler vessels on Nigerian waters.

Recent efforts, which includes mobilising other maritime organisations, naval forces, coast guards and multinational organisations to  secure the Gulf of Guinea will be navigated by a committee expected to come up with their action plan soon.

Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea have been topping global piracy index for many years. How can the country imbibe the lessons from the recent security conference in Abuja? MUYIWA LUCAS writes.

Several international organisations, including the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) and United Nations Office of Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) and Gulf of Guinea Commission (GoGC), have  accused Nigeria of having serious security issues on her waters.

The insecurity is believed to be fuelled by several unlawful economic activities, such as crude oil theft, illegal fishing, unlawful poaching of the country’s marine resources, unlawful drugs and arms smuggling and the much talked about piracy.

Sea robberies on brown waters have been distinctly defined as different from piracy on blue waters, and Nigeria is plagued by  these.

The Malaysia-based IMB in its record of piracy and sea robbery incidents in the third quarter (Q3) of this year listed Apapa port as having the highest piracy incidents.

The report also  declared as hot spot the Gulf of Guinea of which Nigerian coastal area shares a larger part. According to the report,  Lagos port was said to have the highest number of piracy incidents as at end of the Q3 with 11 cases.

But a consolation for the country, according to the report, was that piracy incidents dipped from 41 as at Q3 last year to 29 within same period this year. The IMB report was silent on figures from other ports but mentioned specific incidents’locations and how they were resolved.

“Lagos recorded 11 incidents in 2019 – the highest number of any port in the world. Despite reporting more attacks than any other country, Nigeria has reduced Q3 piracy attacks from 41 in 2018 to 29 in 2019,” the report stated.

The Gulf of Guinea, according to IMB, remained a high risk area  for piracy and armed robbery. It said the region accounts for 86 per cent of crew taken hostage and nearly 82 per cent of crew kidnappings globally. It describes the Gulf of Guinea  as a high-risk area  for piracy and armed robbery with 86 per cent of crew taken hostage and nearly 82 per cent of crew kidnappings globally.

The Bureau, an arm of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), reported in its quarterly anti-piracy statistics that 119 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships have been reported to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre in the year, compared to 156 incidents for the same period last year.

The report added that thi syear’s incidents include 95 vessels boarded, 10 vessels fired upon, 10 attempted attacks, and four vessels hijacked. The number of crew taken hostage through the first nine months has declined from 112 last year to 49 in the year.

“While the overall number of incidents has dropped, incidents involving guns and knives remain consistent. There have been 24 knife-related and 35 gun-related incidents reported in 2019, compared to 25 and 37 for the first nine months of 2018. These statistics confirm IMB’s concerns over continued threats to the safety and security of seafarers,” the report said.

At the just-concluded Global Maritime Security Conference in Abuja, the Secretary-General of the Gulf of Guinea Commission, Ambassador Florentina Adenike Ukonga, blamed high rate of unemployment for criminality on the country’s waters.

Ukonga suggested ways to create legitimate sources of livelihoods for youths in coastal areas, who naturally have flair for marine activities and  could operate easily in the environment.

Similarly, Oliver Stolpe, a representative of the UNODC office in Abuja, listed illicit drug trade as part of the country’s maritime security challenge. He said there had been an increase in the volume of drug seizures recorded between 2014 and last year.

Stolpe, while mentioning tramadol and cocaine specifically, said the volume of seizures had risen within four years. He said while 80 tons of tramadol were seized in Nigeria in 2014 , it   rose to 150 tons last year. Sadly, these came through the waters.

 High rating

The Gulf of Guinea, according to IMB, remained a high-risk area  for piracy and armed robbery. It said the region accounts for 86 per cent of crew taken hostage and nearly 82 per cent of crew kidnappings globally.

For instance, in July, a general cargo vessel was hijacked approximately 120nm Southwest from Brass. Ten crew members were kidnapped from the vessel and released four weeks later. Also, in August, a bulk carrier and a general cargo vessel were boarded within hours of each other at Douala anchorage, Cameroon and a total of 17 crew were kidnapped from the vessels.

This incident demonstrates the range of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea and that all types of ships are vulnerable to attack. Lagos recorded 11 incidents this year – the highest number of any port in the world. Despite reporting more attacks than any other country, Nigeria has reduced Q3 piracy attacks from 41 last year to 29 in 2019.

“Although incidents are down, the Gulf of Guinea continues to be a concern for piracy and armed robbery-related activities with kidnappings of crew members increasing in both scale and frequency.

“It is important that shipmasters and owners continue to report all actual, attempted, and suspected incidents to ensure that an accurate picture of these attacks emerge and  action is taken against these criminals before the incidents further escalate,”  said Pottengal Mukundan, director, ICC IMB.

Need for cooperation

Determined to find a lasting solution to this menance, President Muhammadu Buhari, while declaring open the  Global Maritime Security Conference in Abuja, said the country could not do it alone. He called on the about 80 countries that participated in the event to join in the fight against criminal activities on the waters.

This call is understandable given that Nigeria has the largest population and holds the biggest single market for all forms of trade in the region but has over the  years shown poor commitment in addressing her maritime security challenges until recently.

Oil thieves have found the country’s waters as the most fertile ground despite previous international support. It is suspected that the perpetrators of these illegalities vacate the waters whenever they get wind of strong security presence only to return later.

Earlier in the year, the United States Navy had led the Nigerian Navy in a joint operations codenamed “Obongame Express.” The operations, which had Nigeria and 19 other countries participating, could not independently be sustained by the other African countries after the US Navy left.

The challenge, therefore, is how to emulate the feat of Indonesia in the fight against piracy.The country reported a decline in overall piracy related incidents with 20 actual and attempted attacks for the first nine months of the year. Over the past five years, Indonesia has gradually reduced its share of piracy related incidents.

As recent as 2015, Indonesia reported 86 actual and attempted piracy incidents through Q3. Indonesia’s impressive gains can be attributed to continued information sharing between the Indonesian Marine Police and the IMB PRC.

Habbas Multiventures Limited, operators of Habbas Vehicle Bonded Terminal, has been given approval for collection of duty payment on vehicles lacking customs papers within Kano and other nearby states of the north.

Owners of detained vehicles and those who want to pay customs duties on their vehicles have been advised to take advantage of the offer.

According to the company’s Managing Director, Alhaji Hamisu Sumaila, the offer is part of its drive to achieve ease of doing business by reducing stress and bottlenecks for people willing to  pay duty on their vehicles.

Sumaila added that the Kano/ Jigawa Command of  Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is involved in the assessment, examination and valuation of vehicles before payment of duty to the Federal Government account through banks.

“Our terminal shall facilitate prompt assessment, examination and valuation of vehicles by officers of Nigeria Customs Service saddled with these responsibilities while payments will be made into dedicated Federal Government bank accounts for duty payment. Owners of vehicles paying duties under this scheme through our terminal shall use Habbas Multiventures Limited or Habbas Bonded Terminal as port of landing for the vehicles,” he said, adding that owners of vehicles willing to pay duty and persons wanting to buy or sell their automobiles through our terminal are put through a total compliance process to ensure accurate duty payment is done and other government rules abided with.

It may be recalled that Customs authorities had granted approval for duty payment for vehicles detained and others who wish to pay.

Meanwhile, the terminal has started the sale of vehicles and provision of ancillary services, such as clearing through port processes, cars and heavy duty truck heads.

How can the maritime sector benefit from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement? It is via strategic positioning and policies, experts have said. Others are, however, worried that with unreliable power supply, high interest rate and hostile investment climate, Nigeria’s capacity to take full advantage of the pact is suspect, MUYIWA LUCAS reports

Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Prof. Charles Soludo is an authority on economic issues. When he speaks, the world listens.

Presenting a paper at a forum titled: The Platform during the last Independence Day celebration, he said: “Economic restructuring of the future is about positioning Nigeria to compete and win in an increasingly complex world, thereby guaranteeing the security, prosperity and happiness of the 400 or 752 million Nigerians, in a world without oil.”

Soludo’s paper was titled: Re-designing the Nigerian Economy with New Ideas.

His submission was a reinforcement of the various positions of stakeholders in the sector.

At a two-day conference on Maximising the benefits of AfCFTA’, experts were united on the need for proper positioning of the industry to take advantage of the AfCFTA regime which entered into force on May 30, this year, with the first phase taking effect in 24 countries.

 

Leadership in shipping

For the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Director-General, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, the new trade regime offers symbiotic opportunities for African countries, especially in maritime.

At the conference, organised by The Journal of Freight and Energy, at the RockView Hotel, Apapa, Lagos, Petersided said as African continental free trade area grew trade among member nations, so would the shipping industry.

“In this new trade arrangement, any country that is able to dominate the shipping industry will reap more than its proportionate share of the benefit accruing from the new arrangement, any country with an efficient maritime infrastructure and tonnage capacity will eventually become the major gateway to Africa,” he said.

According to Peterside, with a single market and uniform tariff, the rest of the world will treat Africa as a single entity with a single-entry point.

“Most shipping companies will not be calling at multiple ports in Africa the way they do. They will only drop their cargoes through a single corridor from there it will be moved to respective African countries in small ships or by other modes of transport,” he explained.

He said the country, with great maritime potential, was a natural choice to lead in shipping when the free trade area takes off.

 

Break barriers, be cautious

For the Chairman of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), Abubakar Tsanni, there is a need, under the AfCFTA regime, for the removal of barriers in freighting. He assured that the Council would ensure that the barriers, which prevent Customs brokers and freight forwarders from practising in other countries are broken.

Besides, Tsanni said there was a need for greater attitudinal change and deployment of good vehicles on roads, to support logistics and supplies for freight forwarders in the country. With this, he said Nigeria would have been seen to be conforming with standard trading community expectations. This, he explained, is because, under the AfCFTA regime, more trucks and tankers would be coming from outside the country.

He charged operators to be prepared for the AfCFTA regime, warning that the act of looking for funds to clear consignments after they had arrived at the ports might no longer be tenable because of increased risks of port congestion and cost of demurrage.

The founder, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr Boniface Aniebonam, however, called for caution.

According to him, industry regulators like the Standards Organisation of Nigerian (SON) must raise the bar in manning the country’s borders, to ensure that the abuse seen in the Econonmic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS), which has made the scheme a failure, is not repeated under AfCFTA, given that this initiative involves larger African continental free trade area.

“The agency (SON) has a lot of questions to answer regarding ensuring that Nigeria does not become a dumping ground for substandard products from other African countries when the AfCFTA agreement becomes fully operational,” he warned.

 

Is Nigeria ready?

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), The Journal of Freight and Energy, Ismail Aniemu, noted that the conference was “as a first step at engendering interactions aimed at preparing the Nigerian business community in the maritime industry for the AfCFTA regime.”

Aniemu’s submission presented food for thought for stakeholders who have continued to charge governments to expedite action in preparing the country for the African continental free trade area.

One of such stakeholders is the National President of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Iju Nwabunike.

Decrying the poor production and export capacity of the country, Nwabunike said Nigeria was not ready to take advantage of the AfCFTA pact.

In justifying his position, he said there was an urgent need to address issues of corruption, power supply and insecurity, which, he said, could inhibit the flow and growth of businesses within the country and on the continent.

Besides, Nwabunike argued that aside oil, the country had not shown enough capacity and comparative advantage to produce things for export. He revealed that other African countries were moving at a faster pace in building their local manufacturing capacities by encouraging greater production, expanding chances for their local manufacturers and promoting entrepreneurship.

The ANLCA  chief said his position was based on his experience and interaction with countries, such as Niger, Ghana, Cameroon and others, especially, which he said confirmed that the country was lagging behind these countries in terms of preparation for a robust participation in intra-African trade.

“The agreement will benefit countries that are producing more than countries whose factories are struggling to survive and have little or nothing to export. For now, apart from oil, what do we have to give other African countries? There is urgent need to get our agricultural and manufacturing sectors running better than they are doing,” Nwabunike said.

 

What’s in AfCFTA?

The AfCFTA aims to establish a single market for goods, services, facilitated by movement of persons to deepen the economic integration on the African continent.

The agreement  states as an objective the “sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development, gender equality and structural transformation of the state parties”.

Other objectives include  developing a customs union spanning the continent’s countries, slashing tariffs and removing non-tariff barriers; and improving intra-country cooperation in investment, Intellectual Property Right, customs and trade facilitation, competition policy and other trade-related areas.

However, the regime does not yet include tariff schedules for goods, nor does it have complete schedules for services, as both are still under negotiation.

Experts argue that when the African continental free trade area finally commences, it will give Nigerian producers opportunity and access to a bigger market of over 1.3 billion people, create $3.4 trillion economic bloc and increase goods exchange inside the continent.

According to AFP, intra-African trade is only about 16 per cent of their goods and services, compared to 65 per cent among European countries.

Besides, the African Union (AU) believes that if African countries follow the African continental free trade area plan, it will lead to 60 per cent boost of trade among African countries by 2022. AU is convinced that AfCFTA will create the world’s largest free trade area when it comes on stream.

 

Time is now

A recent British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) analysis of Nigeria’s opportunities in the free trade area may have further caused worries for stakeholders in the sector, hence, the call for proper preparedness to benefit from the regime. The BBC had submitted that it seems the key product Nigeria has to give in the arrangement is her abundant crude and gas. This is even as they said that though Nigeria is oil rich, it however imports refined petroleum products as none of the country’s refineries can refine crude oil.

“With this free trade arrangement other African countries will sell their refined crude even to interested Nigerians,” the analysts said.

Also, the situation where the country, which is still struggling to maintain a meagre 4,000megawatts of electricity (Mw) for its about 200 million people, does not show readiness for businesses to boom under the AfCTA regime.

Aniemu  aligns with the BBC analysis, that these challenges must be part of the areas the Federal Government needs to address otherwise other African countries which have steady power supply will take better advantage of the continental free trade pact.