The Nation Newspaper

Category: Maritime

  • 42 held as Customs seizes N527.8m goods

    42 held as Customs seizes N527.8m goods

    The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit, Zone ‘A’, Ikeja, has arrested 42 persons and seized N527,830,350 worth of goods between January and last month.

    Its Area Comptroller, Umar Dahiru said the unit impounded N428.66 million goods in the same period last year.

    The items included: rice, frozen poultry products, vegetable oil, 32 units of vehicles, 12 buses, general merchandise comprising new and used textile materials.

    Other seized goods were new and used foot wears, insecticides, spaghetti, noodles, various soaps and detergents, used tyres, narcotics, compressors, hard drugs and Indian hemp.

    The controller said the items were seized in line with Sections 46 and 47 of the Customs & Excise Management Act CAP C45 LFN 2004; on “Forfeiture of goods improperly imported and penalty for improper importation of goods”.

    “Despite the harsh economic realities, the unit was able to actualise the set objectives of the service, particularly in enforcing the fiscal policies of the Federal Government. It is instructive to note that the successes recorded came as a result of the painstaking effort of the operatives.

    “The unit has remained undeterred and unshaken in the face of aggressiveness on the part of the smugglers and their collaborators.

    “Smuggling is a global menace and countries all over the world are constantly strategising on how to suppress it in their domain, using various methods.

    “In view of this, the Federal Operations Unit, Zone ‘A’, have keyed into the various strategies, including the use of ICT in gathering intelligence,” Umar said.

    The Service, according to him, believes that the fight against smuggling cannot be undertaken by the Customs alone. “Hence our call on Nigerians to partner us in ensuring complete decimation and blocking of their supply chains. We do this principally because of our deep commitment towards ensuring the protection of the economy and enforcement of fiscal policies in terms of trade.

    “Our resolve is unshaken and our commitment is total. We will stop at nothing until we are satisfied that we have completely suppressed smuggling in our clime,” the Controller said.

     

  • Govt urged to invest in ports

    Govt urged to invest in ports

    How can Nigeria become a hub of maritime operations in West and Central Africa? It is by the Federal Government backing the initiative of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to develop new port facilities to compete with others in the sub-regions, say importers’ clearing agents.

    At a forum in Lagos, their spoke-person and Bolas Motors’ Managing Director Sesan Abolarinwa said it was imperative for the government to promote the  maritime industry to benefit from the increasing cargo traffic across the globe.

    New facilities, Abolarinwa said, should be designed by the Ministry of Transport to meet the logistics needs of the industry while anticipating the need for future development.

    He called on the government to help in funding maritime researches, saying the sector lacked in-depth investigation due to poor funding.

    ‘‘The maritime industry has experienced an appreciable development in recent years. That development is set to stay. World trade continues to shift global markets and production lines make new demands on transport systems and on ports in particular.

    ‘‘Ports serve the national interest, supporting the competitiveness of national and regional economies. It is in the nation’s interest that our ports remain able to handle cargo trade and its potential development efficiently and sustainably.”

    The maritime industry, Abola-rinwa said, was in dire need of a number of reforms.

    “New port facilities would help to bring the industry to international standards. The importers lamented that previous administrations, like most practitioners in the maritime industry, did not live by the rules guiding the profession, which they said has resulted in a number of problems in the sector.

    “The maritime industry requires reforms; reform by way of standardising, educating, informing, sanitising the practice and making it global because the mere mention of the words import and export trade means we are not doing it locally but across borders. Therefore, there are set rules, information and knowledge that operators must possess,” he said.

    Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) president Prince Olayiwola Shittu said the maritime industry has project for rapid and sustainable growth.

    “Based on this development and the strategic position Nigeria occupy in the industry and the sub-region, for the development of human capital for an enhanced economy, it is expected of the government to train our youths to develop interest in maritime education,” Shittu said.

    To meet the manpower requirement for the nation’s fleet, Shittu also canvassed for robust, consistent, versatile and dynamic maritime policies, which are in tandem with global issues to ensures efficiency.

    He lamented that the country, despite its huge population, has no standard maritime institute compared to countries such as the Philippines, which he said, has over 40 maritime academies with half of the population.

    The Philippines, Shittu said, supplies over 30 per cent of the world’s seafarers’ requirement.

    He noted that the Philippines earns over $1.6 billion from reparation from seafarers.

    Shittu emphasised the need for a training school to develop competent manpower for the sector. He added that the industry would  grow if the government co-opted the private sector into its manpower development strategy.

    A stakeholder, Mr Benson Adegboyega, called on the Federal Government to formulate a new policy that would promote business at the ports.

    This, according to him, requires  strengthening regional commitment to eradicating sub-standard shipping and ensure the rapid development of the industry.

     

  • Amaechi urged to work with professionals

    In his drive to develop a roadmap for the maritime sector, the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, has been urged by the National Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) to involve professionals in the sector.

    Its President, Prince Olayiwola Shittu, said the Minister needed the input of professionals to move the industry forward.

    According to him, the oldest member of the staff at the ministry has less than 10 years knowledge of the maritime sector. He expressed concern over the number of inexperienced workers at the transport ministry, many of whom lacked what it takes to reposition the sector.

    He urged Amaechi to implement the good recommendations from previous committees set up by the last administration

    Shittu charged the minister to set up a committee that will harmonise the recommendations of the past committees and come up with a summary that the ministry can implement.

    He said, “I always believe that when you get to a new place, you need to look back and see what has been done before your arrival, before you start charting a road map.

    “You will agree with me that the transport ministry today has the highest number of committees set up within three years more than committees set up in other ministries, what has happened to reports of those committees?

    “I would expect the minister to look into the private sector and gather egg heads as well as people who have made names in the ministry; set up a committee to look at all the past committee reports and give us a summary without being affected by the usual civil service bureaucracy.”

    “In the whole of the ministry today, the oldest staff is not up to 10 years, what experience are they going to bring forward for us in charting a new course and that is why we as are urging  the minister to involve the professionals in the private sector to move the industry forward,” he said.

     

  • NPA seeks ICRC’s support to review port agreement

    The Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mallam Habib Abdullahi, has sought the support of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) to review  its agreements with terminal operators.

    Abdullahi made the appeal during his meeting with the Director-General of the ICRC, Mr Aminu Dikko.

    He said the review of the agreements would boost activities at the ports, giving room for better ports operations and more investor participation.

    Abdullahi said the development of access roads to the Lekki Deep Seaport project would ease transactions.

    He said NPA intends to synergise with the ICRC and other stakeholders to develop fisheries at the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal 2, and turn it into a modern fishing terminal.

    He canvassed the dredging and maintenance of water channels at the Calabar and Warri ports through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) approach.

    The NPA boss said that agricultural exportation could be achieved with ease if there were rail lines to help in transporting agricultural produce to the port terminals.

    He suggested that the ports could be decongested of containers by using them to export solid minerals and agricultural produce to other parts of the world.

    In his speech, Dikko promised to fully support the NPA in its drive to achieve its set goals. He, however, said that for the agency to attract investors there must be a ports master plan to guide it. He noted that the master plan would also inform investors on the activities of the agency and the nation as a whole and guide them on what to invest in.

    He praised the NPA for setting up a PPP unit and assured that the ICRC would help build the capacity of staff in the department.

  • Dakuku to assist shipowners

    The President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is not happy over the foreign domination of crude oil lifting,  Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Director-General Dr Peterside Dakuku has said.

    At a workshop on “Local Content Implementation in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry: A Cost Reduction Strategy”, organised by the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), on the sidelines of the 2016 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) holding in Houston, Texas, Dakuku decried the monopoly that precludes indigenous shipowners from participating in the highly-lucrative enterprise.

    He promised to assist in building indigenous operators’ capacity to participate actively in the business.

    In his paper titled: “Local Content and Cabotage Regime Implementation in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry as a Cost Reduction Strategy,” Dakuku said the involvement of the indigenous shipowners in the trade would be in the national interest.

    Their participation, he noted, would provide gainful employment for many Nigerians, reduce crime, generate more revenue and ensure security at sea and around the ports.

    The DG called on International Oil Companies (IOCs) to engage eligible Nigerians in the lifting of the country’s hydrocarbons and promised to assist in building the capacity of indigenous operators to participate more actively in ferrying Nigeria’s oil and gas resources.

    He assured operators in the oil and gas sector that the apex regulatory agency is ready to enforce its statutory responsibilities especially in the area of preserving and protecting the marine environment from the adverse impact of oil exploration and other commercial activities, warning that the NIMASA will no longer tolerate a situation where IOCs renege on the payment of levies due to it as enshrined in its enabling instruments.

    Dakuku told participants at the conference that the maritime sector in Nigeria is the soul of the country’s economy.

    “Apart from the fact that most of the oil and gas exploration, which is the major revenue earner of the country is done in the maritime environment, vessels are needed to transport these products from one point to the other making the maritime sector integral to the whole economic process,” he said.

    Dakuku also expressed concern that NIMASA as a regulatory agency of government has been grossly misunderstood and assured stakeholders of the commitment of the Buhari Administration to not only engender the development of local content in the maritime industry but also push for the review of the Cabotage Act to make it more beneficial to Nigerians.

  • ‘Diversify economy with maritime funds’

    The Federal Government has been urged to use the money from the maritime sector to diversify the economy in the face of dwindling revenue from oil.

    Speaking with The Nation, after the signing of the 2016 budget by President Muhammadu Buhari at the weekend, a senior official of the Federal Ministry of Finance, who craved anonymity, said over N3 trillion can be generated from the sector, if adequately policed and structured.

    He said businesses have been affected by the reduction in cargo volume at the ports since the beginning of the year, adding that some policies of the government on importation have contributed to the low volume of cargo handled at the ports.

    “It might be recalled that in 2006, $1 exchanged for about N130, but today it is more than N300 to a dollar, which implies a significant decline of about 70 per cent in the value of the national currency since port concession and that is why the Minister of Transport needs to reposition the maritime sector,” he said.

    Customs alone, the official said, can generate about half of the money if loopholes are blocked and the Federal Government stopped the abuse of the waiver clause.

    According to the official, the President needs to review import policies, especially the forex restriction on 41 items.

    Investigation conducted by The Nation revealed low activities at the ports because of the forex policy.

    For instance, at the weekend,   RoRo Terminal at the Tin-Can Island port in Lagos was empty.

    The forex restriction and the auto-policy have impacted negatively on importers, freight forwarders and revenue generated by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and other government agencies at the ports.

    The official said in 2012, 11,380 vehicles were imported into the country through the Lagos port complex while, 251, 375 were shipped in through the Tin-Can Island port in the same year.

    “The figure increased to 14, 422 and 280,057 at the Lagos Port Complex and Tin-Can Island ports respectively, in 2013,” he said.

    The figure, investigation revealed, dropped to 6, 881 and 124,250 respectively at each or the ports last year.

    The senior official attributed the low import of vehicles at the port to the forex restriction and the auto-policy.

    “For a country to attain growth and development, its economy has to be diversified. As a matter of fact, there is an urgent need for the Federal Government to begin looking into diversification of various sectors of the economy so as to attain solid economic growth.

    “The Federal Government needs to diversify the economy by using the money generated from the ports to develop agriculture and other solid minerals to encourage exports, so that the economy does not rely on oil export but diversified into other areas.

    Government, the official said, must also encourage Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) so that new port projects will be coming up.

    “In short, the government must focused primarily on raising the revenue generating profile, expanding and diversifying the economic base.

    “Such diversification efforts should ensure that idle, empty containers at the ports are put into use to increase the volume of our business. Besides, there are must be adequate plan to improve on the facilities at the ports to facilitate trade and promote patronage. So, when export business goes up, it will automatically enhance business activities at the ports, in our factories and across the country,”

    The forex policy, findings revealed, has led to a significant drop in the number of containers coming to the ports.

    Acording to investigation,in 2014,  690, 690 containers and 891,638 containers were shipped to the Lagos Port Complex and Tin-Can Island ports. But in 2015,  554,739 and 751, 534 containers were dropped at each of the Lagos ports.

    The President, Shippers Association Lagos State, Mr Jonathan Nicol, also joined the senior official to advise  the Federal Government to review the import policies which impose 70 per cent levy on imported vehicles, pending the mass production of Made-in-Nigeria vehicles.

    The 70 per cent levy was introduced by the Jonathan administration to support the local industry.

    Speaking with The Nation, he said   that the forex restriction policy had rendered activities low at the ports and affecting their business.

    Nicol said that removing the forex restriction would enable many industries to produce at least 80 per cent installed capacity, revamp the local industries and generate employment.

    He also suggested that the auto policy should be simplified to improve port activities.

    “Otherwise, the Port and Terminal Multiservices Ltd. (PTML) renowned for vehicle imports would shut down’’. If this happens, Nigeria will be losing over N800 million yearly from this source,’’ the shipper said.

     

  • Customs seizes over N3b goods

    Customs seizes over N3b goods

    In a major operations, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), has seized goods worth over N3 billion, serving smuggles’ notice that it is no longer business-as-usual.

    The seized items include three new Toyota Prado Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs), 4,911 bags of 50kg rice, 15,048 cartons of frozen products, 1,884 kegs of vegetable oils and 17 trucks of unprocessed teak, among others.

    Also seized by the NCS, Federal Operations Unit, Zone ‘A’ Ikeja, were unprocessed teak meant for export. Only processed teak can be exported.

    The market value of the items, sources at the Ministry of Finance said, is over N3 billion.

    The zone’s Area Controller, Umar Mohammed Dahiru, said the latest followed ban on rice importation through the land borders.

    He gave the Duty Paid Value (DPV) of the rice, frozen products, vegetable oil and others apart from the teak wood as N572,100,700.

    Dahiru said that the agent had been asked to produce the SUVs’ papers to enable the Customs determine their status.

    The controller said most of the seized  frozen products were concealed with frozen fish to confuse his men. In other instances, cooling vans were used to conceal the products, he said.

    On the visit of the Customs Comptroller-General, Col. Hammed Ali (rtd) to the zone, Dahiru said it was to strengthen operational ties with the critical stakeholders.

    “The Comptroller-General of Customs (CGC) and his team are working tirelessly despite the present harsh economic challenges to re-position the Service for greater efficiency and functionality.

    “In area of logistic support, I would like to appreciate the CGC and his Management for providing necessary equipment which has enabled us to frontally deal with smuggling. Just recently we took delivery of new weapons – AK 47 rifles and ammunition to complement those in our armoury. It has really gone a long way in giving us a comparative advantage against these economic saboteurs.

    “The Unit is working in tandem with the change mantra and ideology of the present management to ensure that all areas of revenue leakages are blocked, using scientific methods. These smugglers can be very daring because most times you see them welding sophisticated weapons, but the cheering news is that we have superior fire power and are always steps ahead of them. We need the partnership of all Nigerians through credible intelligence to help the Unit in its campaign against smuggling,” he said.

    The controller promised that the Customs Community Relations (CCR) would be revived for the education and sensitisation of the populace, particularly those dwelling in the communities where smugglers operate.

    On trade facilitation, the Controller said Nigeria as a signatory to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) treaty on trade facilitation/liberalisation could not contravine the treaty.

    “The Service is a compliant organisation and we are determined to deliver services in line with World Customs Organisation (WCO) standards, because we are key elements of WCO.

     

     

  • Amaechi, others for lecture

    Amaechi, others for lecture

    The Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, and are to design a road-map for a responsive and accountable leadership in transport agencies and institutions.

    Amaechi, it was gathered, will be leading the experts at the Transport Leadership Lecture being organised by the ministry in collaboration with Kings Communications Limited, publishers of MMS Plus Newspapers on April 28, at the Hotel Colonade in Ikoyi, Lagos.

    Amaechi will deliver the key note address; former University of Benin, Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof.  Adamu Baike, will be  the Guest Lecturer. A shipbuilder and President of Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN), Mr Greg. Ogbeifun, will chair the event.

    The event will feature maritime technocrats as discussants. The forum, it was learnt, will witness the decoration of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) as the best Maritime Agency of the Year 2015.

    Justifying the need for the Lecture at this time of the industry history, the leader of the organising team, Mr. Kingsley Anaroke, said, “The maritime industry and the transport sector at large have been under the attack of bad leadership, which has eroded the benefits of transportation to the economy. So, the lecture seeks to address the leadership content of the problems, which is the key to other problems. Simply put, the character or leadership qualities of a leader to a large extent determine the direction of an agency.

    “We are, therefore, calling on Nigerians and transport sector operators in particular to join the campaign for good leadership in the sector, especially against the prevailing practice of having square pegs on round holes with the concomitant consequences of vision derailment, looting of funds, human and material resources under-utilisation, among others.

     

  • Freight forwarders back NIMASA’s Anti-Piracy Bill

    Freight forwarders back NIMASA’s Anti-Piracy Bill

    Some freight forwarders on Monday urged the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to ensure that the Anti-Piracy Bill before the National Assembly becomes a reality.

     

    The freight forwarders made the plea in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

     

    They said that the bill, if passed would among other things, restore the nation’s maritime business-friendly status.

     

    A clearing agent, Mrs Jane Oparaeke, said that it would be a dream comes through to see the nation’s waterways regaining its safety status enjoyed in the early 80s.

     

    She said that with NIMASA at the forefront of the campaign, “there is every hope of the bill scaling the hurdle in the National Assembly’’.

     

    “It is now the duty of other stakeholders to encourage the drive that will make the nation’s ports the hub of maritime in West Africa sub-region,’’ she told NAN.

     

    The Logistics Manager, Red-Line Shipping, Mr Inuwa Omika, said that if the bill is passed, the apprehension by shippers bringing their goods to Nigeria, would be eliminated.

     

    “Passing the bill will go a long way in enabling high inflow of goods into the country,’’ Omika said.

     

    A freight forwarder, Mr Joseph Asika, urged the law enforcement agents in charge of the nation’s water ways to be more proactive.

     

    Asika suggested that the security agencies should be more vigilant to stop piracy and armed robbery at sea.

     

    A Client Services officer at Denca Services Ltd., Mr Stanley Momma, noted that shippers patronising Nigeria’s neighbouring seaports would come back to Nigerian ports “if the conditions become business friendly’’.

  • US’ ‘training support’ for NPA

    US’ ‘training support’ for NPA

    The United States Consular General to Nigeria, John Boay, has pledged to assist the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) with training and capacity building.

    Boay spoke when he visited NPA Managing Director Mallam Habib Abdullahi in his office.

    Abdullahi said NPA would create an enabling environment for achieving efficiency and capacity building within its hub.

    The develop ment of deep sea ports, he said, were geared towards achieving greater productivity at the ports.

    The proposed deep sea ports, Abdullahi said, include: Lekki, Akwa Ibom and Badagry, adding that specialised deep sea ports are being conceived for Ogun and Ondo states.

    He said the support being sought by the NPA from the United States was important because of the industry’s role in a nation’s development.

    Abdullahi said the authority was ready to partner with the US to achieve its targets.

    “Some of the achievements recorded by the present management of the NPA include the enforcement of its regulatory status to Terminal Operators, achieving standards and avoiding “porousness in the ports by making sure that things are done rightly’’

    He spoke of improvement in intermodal transport through the rail system where goods are moved from the city to the hinterland. At present, there is a rail line linking Lagos to Calabar, Lagos to Kano and Port Harcourt which is being expanded for efficiency.