The Nation Newspaper

Category: Maritime

  • NIMASA donates relief materials to displaced persons

    The Nigerian Maritime and Safety Administration Agency (NIMASA), yesterday donated relief materials to displaced persons in Lagos state.

    The donation held at the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) Relief and Resettlement Camp, Igando, Lagos.

    At the presentation, NIMASA’S Director, Special Duties, Hajia Lami Tumaka, expressed the Agency’s sympathy to the displaced persons.

    “We are here to commiserate with you and to let you know that we are with you at this trying period of your life. God will settle you. You shall not experience this in your lives again. Only God and good government, which this present administration is providing, can help present hardship and disaster. Be assured that this present government is taking us to the next level,” she said.

    Tumaka explained that her Agency, as a socially responsible organisation, and following the directive of the federal government to all her Agencies and Parastatals to raise a hand to all displaced persons in the country, is by the gesture, complying to ensure some form of comfort get to the affected people.

    “This is our Corporate social responsibility (CSR). We are doing this in 20 States of the federation beginning with Lagos state today. We started last year and our concentration was mainly in IDP camps in the northeast. Nigerian organisations are caring but nobody beats NIMASA and we are spurred to do more,” Tumaka assured.

    Responding to the gesture, the General Manager, LASEMA, Adesina Tiamiyu, thanks the NIMASA delegation for the donation. He described the maritime agency as “a wonderful partner.”

    “NIMASA has been a wonderful partner. Last year, they donated to disaster victims and here they are again, helping to bring succour to our people in this camp. We cannot thank you enough,” he said.

    One of the displaced persons, Risikat Olorunosebi, on behalf of other members of the camp, thanked NIMASA and government for not forgetting them at this period. “God will continue to guide and direct government. Your organisation will continue to grow and disaster will not be your portion,” Olorunosebi prayed.

    Items donated relief include food stuff, toiletries, beddings, among others.

    It will be recalled that the Lagos state government immediately relocated victims affected by the collapsed school building in Epetedo area of the state, last month.

    Tiamiyu explained that the relocation is for an initial period of three months until the victims are resettled.

     

  • Truck owners threaten shutdown over planned auction

    The Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO)  has threatened to withdraw its services from the port over plans by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to auction trucks seized for conveying contraband items.

    Its Chairman, Remi Ogungbemi, who spoke shortly after a meeting with the Service’s Zonal Coordinator in charge of Zone ‘A’, Assistant Comptroller-General (ACG) Kaycee Ekekezie, in Lagos, urged  the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) to prevail on the Customs to stop the planned auction.

    Accusing importers and clearing agents of making false declaration in their documentation, Ogungbemi said he was surprised that Customs decided to re-introduce the auctioning of seized trucks despite that truckers were not privy to the content of the containers they carry on behalf of importers and agents.

    “I am surprised that instead of Customs just seizing the contraband goods and give us our trucks, they have started auctioning our trucks. They were doing this before about 20 years ago but later  stopped and issued us a circular that henceforth, they would be releasing our trucks to us. So we truckers are warming up for strike and we want the authorities to intervene, otherwise we will withdraw our services in protest against the illicit activities of importers, exporters and their agents who will not tell the Customs exactly what is inside the container and that form the reason why Customs is impounding and auctioning our trucks,” he said.

    Though he agreed that the law was clear that “any contraband seized should be seized together with the means of conveyance,” he argued that some of the containers were examined by Customs at the port before they were released, while truckers were not part of the examiners, neither were they privy to the document used in clearing the containers.

    He, however, said the Customs Zonal Coordinator had promised to table the matter before the Comptroller-General and convene a meeting between the truckers, clearing agents, importers and exporters.

  • ‘Nigeria’s maritime space porous’

    The Chairman, Port Consultative Council (PCC), Otunba Kunle Folarin, has said inadequate surveillance of Nigeria’s maritime space is the bane of the economy.

    He spoke at the quarterly roundtable organised by Kings Communication Limited in Lagos.

    Folarin said surveillance of maritime space was a serious issue that required the government’s urgent consideration.

    The failure to do this, he further said, is responsible for infiltration of Nigeria’s territorial waters by foreigners who come to fish without necessary certification. This development, the maritime expert noted, has led to investment in the fishing subsector dropping drastically from 125 fishing companies about 10 years ago to 25 presently.

    “For diplomatic reasons, I will not mention names of the countries but we know that surveillance is low and it is not a matter of blame game to ask why is it low. Policing Nigerian maritime space is a serious issue that the government should address. We should be in charge or held responsible for issues that have been raised by the inadequate surveillance of the maritime space which has brought a lot of problems to the nation’s economy,” he said.

    Folarin, who doubles as the Chairman, National Seafarers Welfare Board ( NSWB) lamented that investors are worried over the high level of insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea, adding that the maritime industry has key potentials to provide millions of jobs if well enhanced.

    “Nigeria has the longest coastline in the Gulf of Guinea. It has over 9,000 nautical miles of coastline which is largest in Africa when compared to any other country. The surveillance is low to the extent that its a field day for every country of the world to come fish in our waters freely,” he said, adding that “the country’s coastline within the bight of Benin around the Gulf of Guinea which records the highest number of piracy, also needs adequate policing.

  • Reprieve for freight forwarders over trapped containers

    Reprieve has come the way of freight forwarders over trapped third party containers at the Lagos ports. The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has agreed to resume the clearing of over 5,000 third party containers trapped in the wake of the suspension order placed on them.

    The reprieve, however, carries 25 per cent surcharge of the total payable duties.

    The Vice-President, Western Zone, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Tanko Ibrahim, who confirmed the development, lauded the NCS Comptroller-General, Col Hameed Ali (rtd) and DC-G, T&T, Issa Talatu, for what he described as their “timely intervention to bring succour to the freight forwarders.”

    Ibrahim, who also lauded the Customs chief for giving “listening ears” to the yearnings of the aggrieved freight forwarders, assured that the clearing agents would not abuse the privileges given to them.

    He said apart from the withdrawal of the Compliance Team from the ports,  the Customs chief had promised to withdraw other ad-hoc teams from  Customs clearance procedures at the ports.

    “On behalf of my appreciative colleagues, I thank the C-G and Deputy Comptroller-General in charge of Tariff and Trade, (DC-G T&T) DC-G Issa Talatu for this uncommon gesture and high sense of responsibility they displayed on this matter. We can only wish that other task force teams are withdrawn from the ports to ensure smooth cargo clearance procedures, “Ibrahim said.

    Some aggrieved Customs brokers, under the aegis of Concerned Freight Forwarders in the Western Zone, had threatened to go on strike if task forces such as C-G Strike Force, Compliance Team, Customs police, Surveillance Team, Information Team and other ad-hoc teams sent from the headquarters to the ports were not withdrawn.

    Some members of the Governing Board of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) waded into the situation to douse the tension, with a promise to interface with the Customs top hierarchy to resolve the matter.

    In January, the NCS, in a circular signed by the DC-G, T&T, Issa Talatu, had ordered the immediate stoppage of the clearance of goods that had discrepancies in the names of importers and other information provided in the clearing documents. In yet another circular, Ali had directed all Area Controllers to suspend the release, till further notice, any cargoes with discrepancies in their documentation. Over 5000 containers were said to have been trapped at the Lagos ports as a result of the directive.

  • Dockworkers urge govt to boost eastern ports

    The Nigerian Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has advised the Federal Government to boost operational activities at eastern ports.

    Its President, Shipping branch, Ekpeyong Etim Ekpeyong, told reporters in Lagos that Onne, Warri, Port Harcourt and Calabar ports should be made busy by the government through constant dredging of the channels to pave way for bigger vessels to call at the ports.

    Speaking on the advantages of the eastern ports, he said with the government’s support, several jobs would be created in the region.

    Besides, Ekpeyong said the resuscitation of the ports would further reduce youth unrest, noting that  pirate attacks on ships, kidnapping, unemployment and other social vices would also become a thing of the past.

    According to him, the fear of kidnappers and pirates are some of the factors responsible for importers’ low patronage of the eastern ports, hence, the government should rise to the occasion by providing adequate security along the corridors to foster confidence in importers that may want to use the ports.

    “The only thing is to make the ports busy, the more busy the ports are, the more activities will increase and when activities increase, there is prospect of more employment. There are no two ways about it because the advantages of those ports working outweigh the disadvantages,” he said, adding that there is also an urgent need to dredge the routes because the shallowness has made big vessels that have depth not to go there except the flat bottom vessels.

    Ekpeyong said the government has a responsibility to ensure that the ports are functioning well, because if ports in the East are doing well, Lagos ports would be decongested. For him, granting of tax rebate to importers who use the  ports just to encourage them should be considered because between  70 and 80 per cent of importers are from that axis.

    He maintained that good roads and railway lines should be constructed to link ports with cities, adding that by so doing, importers in Anambra, for instance, would not come to Lagos to clear their consignments.

    In a related development, MWUN said it was regrettable that five years after the expiration of the biometric identity cards for seafarers, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) was yet to renew same for its members.

    Read also: ‘Nigeria’s maritime space porous’

    The union lamented that unregistered workers have been usurping jobs meant for legitimate dockworkers and that the union was no longer comfortable with such practice.

    Consequently, MWUN said it might have to address the issue through an operation codenamed “Option B” if the relevant government authority failed to yield to their demand.

    NIMASA, under its former Director-General Mr. Temi Omatseye, initiated the dock-workers biometric identity card project.

    MWUN President General Adewale Adeyanju, who disclosed this at the Dockworkers Branch Working Committee (BWC) of the union, in Lagos, said dockworkers were peace-loving people who always ensured industrial harmony; but they should not be taken for granted by any group of persons in the industry.

    Adeyanju accused some port concessionaires of engaging unregistered dockworkers, warning that the union would be forced to tour some of the culpable facilities to apply “Option B “. He described the engagement of unregistered workers as unprofessional, noting that the union will not hesitate to clampdown on such persons.

    “We want NIMASA to renew our biometric identity card because for over four years now, this has not been done. All dockworkers, including seafarers in Nigerian seaports were properly registered and we are appealing to them to renew the biometric card,”he said, adding that the union will further alert security agencies to ensure that the unregistered workers are apprehended.

  • More of Lagos ports congestion ahead, experts warn

    There seems to be no respite in sight to the lingering Lagos ports traffic congestion as experts project a worse scenario in the near future.

    The maritime and finance experts’ prediction is based on anticipated increase in volume of port activities in the near future, vis-a-vis the haphazard port management system.

    They said the Federal Government’s efforts to fix the Apapa and Tin Can port access roads to address port congestion might only see the problem reduce for about four or five years, but the menace would return worse than the current state.

    The practitioners, who spoke at the maiden quarterly business roundtable organised by MMS Plus Newspapers tagged: ‘Economic Outlook: Quarterly Verdict’, with the theme: Post-Election Economy: Exploring Strategies for Growth, stressed that the port corridor must be reserved and restricted as an exclusive economic zone.

    The Chairman, Nigerian Ports Consultative Council (PCC), Otunba Kunle Folarin, who made this known while delivering his speech at  the event which held at the MMS Plus International Image Centre , Festac, Lagos, regretted that having worked on port corridor problems and solutions for over 16 years, his predictions and findings on same have been left unattended to, thereby bringing the corridor to its present state.

    “The port corridor should be a restricted economic zone. It is a place that should be exclusive for port operations. However, in Nigeria we have several residential houses surrounding the ports. Some of them are 10 meters from the port, so it is no longer a port corridor. Another issue is that a port is a transit area, a holding bay, but not a storage area. It should be an area where ships discharge cargoes and the cargoes should leave the ports just as the ships also leave the ports. It is a transit area not supposed to hold onto a cargo or ship beyond a certain time,” he said.

    Speaking further on the issue, the veteran maritime analyst noted that the mechanism for port operations is multi-modal. He stressed that the transit nature of the ports explains why demurrage is placed on ships, just as the containers bringing in cargoes and the containers stored in the ports also pay ground rent.

    “Until we install a multi-modal concept and infrastructure at the ports, we would continue to have a recurring decimal of congestion at the ports. Within the port environment up to four kilometers should be only warehouses for cargoes, roads for movement of port cargoes by trucks or railway. There should also be a ring road exclusive for port operations,” he said.

    According to him, when the Oshodi-Apapa expressway was constructed, it was perceived that the road would only service Tin Can Island Port, but it has become a municipal transport area and not just for port traffic.

    “In a day, one million vehicles transit around Apapa, Oshodi and Ebute-Metta at the peak time. If the nation continues to prosper and the volume of cargo traffic increases, then Nigeria would discover that it is much difficult to manage prosperity than poverty,” he added.

    Meanwhile, Quiet Dimentions Limited Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Ime Udoma, admonished the Federal Government to strengthen the commercial banks by allowing some public sector funds to be domiciled in such banks.

    Although the introduction of the Treasury Single Accounts (TSA) has allegedly curbed reckless spending and corruption at most government parastatals, Udoma, who is an ex-banker, lamented that commercial banks have lost the capacity to disburse long term loans, which were necessarily to grow the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the nation’s economy in general.

    “Banks can’t give loans anymore because the bulk of the money they receive is short term deposits. They can’t lend such short term deposits because at any point in time the depositors could demand the money. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) creates money by printing it, but commercial banks create money by giving loans.

    “The government would have to return public sector funds to banks so that they could use it to expand the economy,” he said.

  • ‘Some Nigerian vessels fit only for museum’

    Nigerian Inland waterways Authority (NIWA) Managing Director, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, has decried outdated vessels plying the nation’s waters, saying that some of them are fit only for the museum.

    He said this while receiving the executives and members of the Association of Marine Engineers and Surveyors (AMES) who visited him at the NIWA Lagos office.

    Mamora said NIWA needed partnerships to ensure that the right vessels ply the waterways, stressing that there is a need for competence among waterways operators.

    “Some of these vessels are outdated, in fact, they should have relevance in the museum, they ought not to be on the waterways. We need that partnership in terms of ensuring that the right vessels ply our waterways and that the ones that should not be there are taken off the waterways,” he told AMES, adding that there is a need for vessels plying the nation’s waterways to meet at least the minimum standards.

    Read also: NIWA stops Apple Island project

    Although he also decried the high level of insufficient number of marine surveyors in the industry, he nonetheless contended that there is a need to itemise some of the things, starting from what he described as an insufficient number of competent marine surveyors and engineers in the maritime industry.

    “It is bad enough there is insufficiency or deficiency of the number of engineers required; but worse is that what is available is not being maximised; this makes it double jeopardy. You don’t have enough and even the few that are there are not being maximised to get the full value of what they can add to the system,” he said.

    In his speech the President of AMES, Adeyinka Okunade, attributed lack of professional input in the implementation and execution of maritime policies and initiatives as a major contributor to the decline of the industry.

    Okunde said that in recognition of the deficit in the sector, AMES organised a maritime technical summit in 2016 aimed at finding solutions to some of the issues bedevilling the industry.

    He assured the NIWA boss that his association is capable of helping in the development of human technical capacity as may be required by NIWA including mentoring of her staff. “We can work with you to ensure standard of vessels operating on the waters and the competence of the operators of these vessels,” Okunade assured.

  • Freight forwarders kick against stemming cargoes to Kirikiri

    The Kirikiri Lighter Terminal (KLT) chapter of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) has expressed worry over alleged stoppage of transpire by officials of Tin Can Island Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

    It said such action would militate against trade facilitation.

    A transpire is a Customs instrument for designating cargoes from one port to another.

    NAGAFF Chairman Emmanuel Umadi, an engineer, in a chat with newsmen in Lagos, accused the Tin Can Island Customs Area Comptroller, Mba Musa, of being selective in containers’ stemming to Kirikiri facilities.

    Umadi alleged that the practice by the Tin Can Island Customs’ boss has frustrated shippers from patronising neighbouring ports, adding that the act of not approving stemming of some consignments was unprofessional and negates World Trade Organisation (WTO) Conventions.

    According to him, the immediate past Area Controller, Bashir Yusuf, was instrumental to ensuring a seamless process of containers’ stemming to Kirikiri facilities. He alleged that the reverse has been the case with the current area controller, adding that revenue drive and trade facilitation cannot be sustained effectively.

    The NAGAFF boss reiterated that the alleged practice by the Customs is unacceptable because of transpires not being signed by the controller, noting that personal decision or interest by him (controller) poses serious danger to the nation’s economy.

    Umadi called on  the Area Controller to create an enabling environment for business at the port to thrive, noting that importers cannot be compelled to patronise his command in order to meet up with revenue collection.

    “Customs is Customs everywhere. So, I don’t understand how the process of transpire would affect revenue leakages. Duty payment is guaranteed if the containers are stemmed to KLT and even the KLT Command has little or nothing to do, so why frustrate importers and freight forwarders, who wish to do business at KLT.

    “It is totally unacceptable by freight forwarders. It is totally unacceptable by the constitution of Nigeria because as a remittal collector, you are supposed to sign the necessary transpire documents on boxes, which do not stop the customs from checkmating the containers wherever they are transferred to.

    “The Area Controller refused to give reasons why he chose not to sign transpire of some containers for reasons best known to him. There have been several meetings with him on these issues, but we cannot pinpoint why he declined to sign most of these containers and we are not comfortable with it. If transpire is being held by a customs Controller then the country will be affected with hardship and high cost of doing business in the ports as well as Nigerian economy,” he lamented.

    Reacting to the allegation, the NCS Public Relations Officer, Tin Can Island Command, Uche Ejesieme, agreed that shippers and agents have the right to determine where they want their consignments designated. He maintained that the command is yet to confirm applications on transfer of cargoes to other facilities, adding that there are procedures on consignments’ stemming.

    He further recalled that management had issued a circular on issues of transpires in 2018, stressing that the circular is extant and does not think the impressions that are given are actual facts.

    “Controller cannot take laws into his hands, he is somebody that understands the nitty-gritty of the job and he is somebody that would not want to do something contrary to the extent that it will become counter-productive,” Ejesieme explained, adding that the shipping companies cannot be isolated in the process of containers’ stemming to Kirikiri Lighter Terminal. He further explained that the gap might have emanated from documentations and not necessarily the command’s boss as being speculated.

  • IMAN affirms decision on BoT member

    The Board of Trustees (BoT) of Importers Association of Nigeria (IMAN) has said Chief Emmanuel Osita Okereke remains expelled.

    It said with the judgment of the Appeal Court, Abuja, which affirmed its earlier decision on Okereke, the former BoT member remained expelled from the association and National Task Force (NATFORCE).

    In a statement, IMAN BoT Chairman Gilbert E. Obi said Okereke, who was expelled from the association in December 2015, over allegations of forgery and other unsavoury activities, challenged and obtained a judgment in an Abuja High Court to reverse his expulsion.

    IMAN, the statement said, contested this judgment at the Appeal Court, and got judgment upturning the decision of the lower court.

    “The Board of Trustees of Importers Association of Nigeria (IMAN) wishes to inform the public that Chief Emmanuel Osita Okereke, who was expelled from IMAN in December 2015, has further been confirmed by the Appeal Court Abuja Judicial Division.

    ‘’Chief Okereke with his criminal intent, however, took the association to the Abuja High Court and obtained a judgement in his favour on January 23rd 2017. On our part, the Board of Trustees of IMAN feeling dissatisfied with the High Court judgement appealed the case at the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja,” the statement said.

    The IMAN BoT had appealed the decision of the Abuja High Court in Suit No: FCT/HC/CV/710/2016, between the registered Trustees of IMAN: Chief Gilbert Bravo Obi, Chief Obong Patrick Udoh, Alhaji Bature Aldullaziz, Alhaji Aliyu Ahmed Yar’dua and Hon. Kingsley Chikezie, as appellants. Chief Okereke was listed as the respondent.

    IMAN, according to the statement, had in December 2015, expelled Okereke from the association over what the body viewed as “several illegal activities” perpetrated by him. For instance, Okereke was accused of going to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to forge another certificate of IMAN without the IMAN Board of Trustees’ approval.

    “In the IMAN appeal at the Appeal Court, Abuja Division, the Court upheld and affirmed the expulsion of Chief Emmanuel Osita Okereke from IMAN and NATFORCE. The judgment was delivered with a case number CA/A/177/2017 February 11th 2019. With this landmark judgment, Chief Emmanuel Osita Okereke stands expelled from IMAN and NATFORCE,” the statement read.

     

  • SON, NSC, others eye 30% clearing cost reduction

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Shippers Council and related agencies are partnering on trade facilitation.

    This will see operators  adhere to standards, ethics, integrity and quality in service delivery and ultimately reduce clearing cost by about 30 per cent.

    Speaking at a workshop titled: “Ethics and integrity”organised by SON, in collaboration with operators, SON Director-General Osita Aboloma said adhering to a code of ethics ensures that customers and stakeholders get quality services.

    SON, he explained, has put in place an electronic procedure for goods clearance, issuance of demand notes and receipts.

    These measures, he said were aimed at reducing human interaction with clearing, and ultimately, eliminate sharp practices.

    Aboloma warned importers against false declarations and substandard products import without the offshore conformity assessment (SONCAP). He said the organisation will engage stakeholders to ensure that operators adhere to principles.

    Read also: APGA: Buhari’s policies will stabilise economy

    The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Mr. Hassan Bello, said the Council was working for a 30 per cent reduction in the cost of clearing cargoes. This, he explained, followed an agreement with terminal operators and shipping firms.

    Hassan regretted that most of the charges being paid by importers were not tied to services. He said SON and NSC would not only facilitate the ease of doing business but also reduce the cost of doing business. He assured that by next month, when the agreement would have been signed, all the charges will be published for everybody to know what to pay to which agency.

    He said: “We have to take into consideration the cost of cargo; some costs are not justified. They are not tied to service and that is what we have been calling for. The shipping companies have been very understanding. We have gone through all the  costs, so that we can have a template. We are not going to control cost. But we will not allow arbitrary charges in the port in the course of clearing cargoes.”

    While urging stakeholders to adhere to international best practices, the NSC boss said the Council’s goal is to promote an efficient port system that will encourage healthy competition, enthrone transparency, facilitate trade, reduce cost of doing business and make players aware of their duties, obligations, responsibilities and liabilities. This, he said, would go a long way in actualising the Council’s drive for a new port order, reduce cost and improve efficiency.

    “With high ethical practice in place, vices, such as impunity, presumptuous behaviours and ignorance with respect to adherence to procedures, rules and regulations, will be minimised,” he said.