The Nation Newspaper

Category: Maritime

  • Workers jittery as NPA retires seven GMs

    THE Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) has retired seven of its 11 general managers, raising fear of an impending mass retirement.

    Those affected are General Manager (GM), Servicom Abdullahi Bashir; Marine and Operation, Mallam Mohammed Bulangu; Human Resources, Abba Rufai; Eastern Operation, Sunny Nwobi; Western Port Adenike Sonaiki; Finance Mr Okonji and Stonye Etomi.

    It was gathered that they were retired last week having attained the mandatory retirement age or served for over 30 years.

    Many workers are said to be afraid that their names may appear on the next list because of their long years of service.

    Sources at the Federal Ministry of Transport said the Assistant General Managers (AGMs) may be asked to act as GMs pending their confirmation.

    Mr Buhari Shawaki, the Special Assistant to the Managing Director, Mallam Habib Abdullahi, it was gathered, has been posted to NPA’s London Office as GM.

    A source said the officers retirement followed an assessment by NPA’s Executive Management Board (EMB).

    An affected officer who craved anonymity, thanked God for helping him to end  his career successfully.

    “I thank God that I’ve done my time and my best and I am still alive after over 30 years in service. I’m gone,” he said, adding that he was happy leaving.

    “When I joined the agency, I knew it would be difficult for me to become its managing director because of the internal and external politics affecting promotion. It has been a long haul; it is time to go. I may not be ready but my age keeps telling me that I have to leave. I don’t feel I still have something left. But I can tell you that NPA’s job is one of the greatest jobs in this country because it exposes you to some of the things you need to know and you will not know if you belong to another agency.”

    He said he felt satisfied working in NPA, adding that he would take time to decide work to do next. “I’ll probably take a rest for about three months and figure out something good to do,” he said.

    The retiree said: “I have been working since I left the university. Not working for me is going to be a challenge. So, I must find something good to do.”

    Meanwhile, the Apapa Port Manager, Nasir Mohammed, has said the provision of more wagons and locomotives would boost the movement of cargoes.

    He said the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has a major task of providing more wagons and locomotives to evacuate cargoes from the ports.

    “The issue of intermodal has been of concern to the NPA management as a whole, but particularly Lagos Port Complex, because we already have a rail track which the Nigerian Ports Authority rehabilitated and started operating through the Nigerian Railways.

    “Sincerely, it has not been encouraging because the inland container depot that is responsible for moving these containers has continued to draw our attention, saying they have a lot of cargo that they want to take to the hinterlands; as far as Kaduna and Kano but they have always been challenged about the availability of wagons and locomotives.

    “Of course, that’s an area for the Nigerian Railways and we want to believe that the railway is looking into how they can improve their services from the ports, including the provision of more wagons or locomotives so that a lot more containers can be moved out.”

    Mohammed said the rehabilitated rail track in the port would improve the movement of cargo to the hinterlands, if there are enough wagons and locomotives to work with.

    He said key stakeholders using the port had expressed their willingness to diversify the movement of cargo and not to continue to rely on the already over-stretched roads.

    “We have earlier contacted some terminal operators who equally expressed interest that if the railway can be available and effective, they want to believe many of the importers will not mind moving the bulk cargo through the rails.

    “We have also gone a little further and we want to put it in the front burner to discuss with some of these terminals to look at the possibility of moving some cargoes, especially containers, through the waterways.

    “We have already agreed that the volumes far outweigh the physical facilities leading into and out of the port. The roads cannot continue to cope, no matter how good they are. The capacity of the road has been over stretched. So, we must continue to encourage our partners to explore these other options,” he he added.

  • Pay your yearly due, Freight Forwarders, others told

    Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), President Prince Olayiwola Shittu has urged the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) and other freight forwarding associations to pay their yearly subscription fees to the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) to boost the council’s work.

    Shittu urged the associations to join hands to resuscitate the Council and make it effective instead of sending petitions to the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar.

    He wondered why the freight forwarding associations were more interested in the sharing formula for the transaction fees collected at the port instead of finding ways to make the Council effective.

    “Let me tell you, the CRFFN cannot survive without the annual subscription fees. As an association, we have an amount we are supposed to pay per annum. ANLCA paid for the first and second year, and there are groups which did not pay at all and they are given more recognition than ANLCA, so we stopped payment.

    “Other associations refused to pay, yet they said we are all equal; we paid the first one, we paid for the renewal, we were to pay the third one when we asked for evidence of payment by other associations and we discovered there was none. If we see evidence of others paying that money, I will use my money to pay for ANLCA, Shittu said

    He continued: “CRFFN has a source of funding; everybody practising must pay membership fee and licensing fee, which is renewable every year, how come the CRFFN is not collecting them? This is a veritable source of revenue, because in the last data base of CRFFN, what we have was 6,000 members, imagine if you are paying N17,000 times 6000, they need to do more than what they are doing.

    “It is only ANLCA that still makes the CRFFN relevant, we have refused to join the band wagon of associations that want the CRFFN disbanded, people have written petitions, but ANLCA refused to write, the Minister has called, but we told him that CRFFN is still relevant and that he should allow them do their job,” Shittu said.

    The ANLCA chief said no fewer than eight freight forwarding associations were waiting to be registered and accredited by the CRFFN. This, he said, would bring the total  number of registered associations under the Council’s supervision to 13.

    Shittu said the problems confronting the CRFFN were self-inflicted because it had earlier registered associations and individuals who were not qualified and did not have offices. According to him, by doing this, “a precedence has been set already; the mistake the CRFFN made was lowering the standards for registering associations.”

    He however charged the leadership of the Council to look inwards and focus on its main objective of regulating freight forwarding, rather than bothering itself with collection of transaction fees and setting up a enforcement unit and employing  officers to man it.

  • Link ports with rail, govt urged

    The Federal Government has been urged to link the Lagos ports, six Inland Container Depots (ICDs) and Container Freight Stations (CFS) across the country by rail.

    An industrialist Mr Muyiwa Olabintan made the call in Lagos when he visited the port.

    He bemoaned a situation where importers used trucks to move their goods from the ports.

    The maritime expert told The Nation that the ICDs and CFS would be more effective if they were linked by rail.

    Olabintan, who is also the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the House of Representative in Oshodi/Isolo Local Government Area of the state, said an effective rail system would ease the movement of goods and persons from the Lagos ports to other parts of the country.

    He said the ports were connected by rail, they would help to decongest the Lagos ports, whose facilities and the adjourning roads, he said, had been overstretched.

    Olabintan said he was happy that the Federal Government was planning to build deep seaports in Badagry, urging the APC presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) to adopt the programme if elected.

    “Aside from creating more job opportunities for Nigerians, the  linkage will increase the cargo throughput (imports and exports) of the ports and make it attractive for business.

    “The seaports will be to the advantage of Nigerian importers and exporters if they receive bigger vessels, discharge more cargoes if the Badagry deep seaport is developed.

    “But another problem would be created if the government fails to link the deep seaport by rail,’’ Olabintan said.

    He claimed the non-engagement of indigenous shipowners in coastal and inland shipping, otherwise called cabotage, had rendered thousands of seafarers jobless.

    Olabintan said there was need to build the shipping industry with indigenous workers.

    He said policy makers should make adequate projections for the  the industry.

    The APC candidate said of the 4,000 seafarers in the country, only 2,500 were registered with the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

    “Of the 2,500 registered, over half of them are on the streets of our major cities such as Lagos doing nothing,’’ he added.

    He said the seafarers were unemployed because the indigenous shipowners who could have accommodated them were not engaged because of the poor implementation and enforcement of Cabotage law.

    Olabintan advised NIMASA to enforce the Cabotage Act to create jobs for both the seafarers and indigenous ship owners.

  • Rice smuggling rises as river is left open

    Rice smuggling rises as river is left open

    Rice smugglers have stepped up operations along the Ogun State axis, fuelling speculations that Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) officials have gone into “slumber”.

    About 6,000 bags of rice worth over N50 million were said to have been imported into Lagos last week through Ere River in Ado-Odo Ota Local Government Area of the state.

    According to sources, the smugglers started moving their  consignment in the wee hours of Friday, last week.

    The river, which links Nigeria with Cotonou in Benin Republic to Owode-Apa and Ado-Odo/Ota, also links Gbaji and Badagry Lagoon with the Atlantic Ocean.

    During The Nation’s visit, locally made boats were seen offloading rice into about 20 buses, each carrying more than 100 bags enroute Lagos from Itupa in Owode-Idiroko, to Alapoti, Apena and Ketu-Adie-Owe. They stopped at Lusada before entering Lagos.

    The Nation spent about four hours trailing the buses.

    A source said the smugglers had made more than two uninterrupted trips to Lusada and Igbesa-Iteko.

    Ere River is a popular rice smuggling point, through which vehicles and vegetable oil are smuggled into the country.

    A commercial motorcyclist spoke of “powerful” people backing the smugglers.

    He blamed the high cost of rice for the booming illicit trade.

    The Okada  man said the number of youths who are into smuggling has grown because of unemployment.

    Goods smuggled through the area, he said, included second hand vehicles, textile materials, used cloths, bags, shoes, tyres, rice, frozen chicken, frozen turkey, vegetable oil, soap, furniture, sweets, cigarettes, apples, pineapple and palm oil.

    Said the man: “I hope you noticed that these buses are not registered anywhere in the country. Look at their number-plates and you will discover that they are carrying foreign number-plates.

    “If you counted the number of people in front of each of the vehicles, they are no fewer than three and if you relate it to the number of buses they used in transporting the rice, you will not count fewer than 60 people per trip.

    “Those people sitting with the drivers are carrying guns and they are ready to engage anybody who challenges them on the road.

    “A majority of them are also ex-security officers and the few serving ones who have access to arms and ammunition and that was why I told you that it would be dangerous for you to take the picture of the vehicles because if they know that you are trying to take their picture, they would be very brutal if they don’t kill us.”

    “The people you saw there are very deadly and they have wasted so many people that have threatened their business,” the cyclist said.

    But, a Customs officer denied the allegations that men of the  organisation were working with the smugglers.

    He said the Customs mounted surveillance in the area because it suspects smugglers have a hide-out there.

    Several bags of rice, he said, have been intercepted by some teams in the area.

    “Although I don’t know where the river you mentioned is, we cannot deny that smuggling is going on around this place and that is why many of our officers have been posted to curtail the illicit trade.

    “Those of us posted to curb the nefarious activities of smugglers in the border areas are not finding it easy.

    “It is a difficult task because a majority of those involved are youths from the area and they know the area very well. Don’t forget that we, security officials, are strangers and we are not expected to detect all the routes that smugglers use in a few days. So, if you have detected a new route, it is your duty as a journalist to inform us before telling the public,” the officer said.

    Last year, the country was said to have lost over N16.5 billion to smuggling.

  • Agbakoba seeks refund of N1tr ‘illegal’ charges by operators

    Former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) president Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) has threatened to sue the Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN) and the Association of Shipping Line Agencies (ASLA) to court over an alleged illegal N1 trillion collected from importers.

    The charges were said to have been collected before the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) was appointed as the ports economic regulator. Agbakoba is accusing STOAN and ASLA of refusing to return the cash.

    Answering questions from The Nation at his office in Apapa, Lagos, Agbakoba said the Federal High Court in Lagos recently upheld the NSC as the ports economic regulator and directed the terminal operators and shipping companies to cut down their charges and refund all the money they collected from importers.

    Agbakoba accused the terminal operators and shipping companies of driving away genuine investors and crippling the economy because of their illegal charges.

    He urged the government to overhaul its outdated policies, and embark on a visionary enterprise that will institutionalise growth in the maritime sector as alternative to oil.

    The last major review of Nigerian Shipping Policy was 28 years ago when the NSP act no 10 of 1987 was enacted, he said.

    He wondered why the terminal operators and the shipping companies have not refunded the N1 trillion to boost shipping and maritime.

    Agbakoba urged the government to create an enabling environment to encourage huge investment in the sector.

    The ports that are supposed to be the hub of shipping business in West and Central Africa, he added, were unattractive and uncompetitive because of arbitrary charges.

    “We went to court recently and there were two very important cases; the terminal operators and shipping companies hiked their prices and introduced one non-sense charge (Shipping Line Agency Charge) making billions of naira and the court has declared it to be illegal collections.

    “The next case we are pursuing is that we are going to go after the terminal operators and the shipping companies to refund at least the N1 trillion they have taken illegally”

    “The N1 trillion, had Nigerian companies had it,  would give them capital to do other things, and this is why the Shippers Council has insisted that nobody must be allowed to over-price the ports because they do,  many importers will not patronise them ,” he said.

    Agbakoba said he is not happy because the ports have been abandoned for those in Benin Republic and Togo.

    “Until recently, there is no clearly recognised economic regulator for the shipping sector. The Federal High Court has held that the Nigerian Shippers Council is an economic regulator. It is only when the Nigerian Shippers Council, is empowered to regulate that stakeholders in the sector can turn around their businesses and generate huge revenue for the nation as their counterparts in other countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and USA.

    “This is due to lack of regulation in the sector, which has led to a plethora of uncoordinated activities and exorbitant port charges which make Nigeria very unattractive for business.

    “Invariably, Nigeria due to paucity of its shipping regulations, is violating international trade facilitation laws. For instance, Nigeria as a coastal state is to provide port importation support and access to landlocked countries such as Niger and Burkina Faso. Cameroun and Ghana are now providing those services in spite of long distances between the countries,” he said.

    The spokesman of the terminal operators, Mr Bolaji Akinola could not be reached as at the time of filling in this report.

  • Customs agents accuse retired officers of doing ‘bad jobs’ at ports

    What are retired Customs officers and their serving counterparts posted out of Lagos still doing at the Apapa Ports? Importers and clearing agents are complaining about their activities, which they describe as illegal.

    The Customs men, they allege, are extorting money from them and inhibiting the Federal Government’s trade facilitation programme.

    No fewer than 15 of such former officers are said to be involved.

    The retired officers, it was gathered, connive with some of their colleagues at the command, to operate without the knowledge of the Area Controller, Mr Charles Edike.

    Some of the retired officers, it was learnt, enter the port under the pretext of clearing containers.

    When accosted, they usually claim that it is illegal for only serving officers to engage in Customs brokerage, adding that nobody can tell them the type of business to do after retirement.

    A source said: “They end up not facing most of the challenges the regular agent faces. Most of the importers that have something to hide pass through them to clear their cargoes.

    “It is a serious challenge to the country because they don’t have their name at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Abuja.  But officers themselves know those among them who have retired, posted and serving officers working as clearing agents.

    “And that is why we are wondering why the Customs Intelligence Unit (CIU) have not arrested them. The CIU officers know them but they cover them up, thinking that it is only the duty of the Comptroller-General, Alhaji Dikko Abdullahi, alone to bring sanity to the service.

    “But when it affects the regular agents, the CIU officers make their life miserable. And that is why people are always complaining about the activities of the CIU officers.”

    The source, who pleaded not to be named, went on: “An importer gives me a job, I look at the document and I tell him that he is not compliant. He says, ‘you agents are thieves’. He collects the job back from me and gives it to a Customs officer and the Customs officer will deliver. Do you think the importer will come back to me again?”

    At a stakeholders meeting organised by the command, the  Chairman, National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs, Agents (NCMDLCA), Apapa Chapter, Mr Tanko Ibrahim, claimed: “Some retired officers are here working, some that are not Apapa officers and maybe have been posted to Maidugiri or other places too are here working and most of them are the ones doing the bad jobs. Some of them are in the Valuation, CIU and Enforcement Unit.”

    The Area Controller has promised that  the illegal activities would be stopped.

    He directed the officer in charge of the CIU to work with the Deputy Controller in charge of Administration and the terminals heads to fish out the officers.

    “In November last year, we called on all officers working in this port to bring their staff orders and we took all of them one by one and identified them as officers working in this port before we placed their names on our nominal role that was sent to headquarters.

    “So CIU, you will help us here now. I am here and I am not Holy Spirit. So except you tell me that is when I will know. I know these officers are the ones giving us problems because they don’t have any stake here and turn here to their fishing pond, let’s see them, we will arrest them and send them to Abuja,” Edike said.

  • Customs raises anti-smuggling tempo in Imo

    The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone ‘C’ in Owerri, the Imo State capital, has raised its anti-smuggling tempo by deploying its officials to all its area of coverage.

    The Area Controller of the Command, David Dimka, findings revealed, has directed constant land patrols and fortified all check points to curb smuggling.

    Dimka ordered the officials to comb all the bush paths in their areas to get the smugglers of used cars, rice, vegetable oil, second hand clothing, bags, frozen chicken, shoes and used tyres, among others.

    The Intelligence officers deployed by the command, it was gathered, were instructed to also beam their searchlight on travellers who assist the smugglers.

    The officers, it was gathered, seized 363 items that were illegally imported into the country last year. The value of the items, its Public Relations Officer (PRO) Onuigbo Ifeoma said, was over N1.8 billion.

    The command, she said, also recovered some items from importers, who shortchanged the government. The value of the items, Onuigbo said, was over N71 million. The value of all seized items by the command last year, she said, was N1,877,605,093.

    Onuigbo confirmed that the command has also increased foot patrol along bush paths and raised its level of intelligence gathering for preventing smuggling.

    She said 104 arrests were made, with 134  cases pending in court in contrast to 31 arrests recorded in 2013 with 20 cases in court.

    According to her, the intensive and aggressive patrol embarked upon by the command would continue till the end of the year, in order to get the smugglers.

  • The world of a customs officer

    The woman in this picture (right) looks odd. Why? She is dressed in the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) uniform, but wearing a pair of slippers.

    She was seen at a Customs formation in Lagos, walking around, unmindful of the kind of Customs’ image she is portraying.

    It was learnt that many Customs officials dress in a similar manner.

    But, a top Customs officer, who does not want his name in print, said this should not be the case.  The Customs Headquarters, he said, gave free uniforms and shoes to officers last year.

    An investigation by The Nation in some of the Customs commands in Lagos and Ogun states revealed that some junior and senior Customs officers have stopped putting on the official black leather shoes in preference for slippers, despite the good welfare scheme for them, including incentives by the Comptroller-General.

    In most of these commands, some women dress like pupils.

    A young officer said: “Despite the efforts of the Comptroller-General to instil attitudinal change in our officers and men, some of the Area Controllers have no time to instil discipline in some of the officers and men that were posted to work with them.’’

    A visit by The Nation to some of the commands in Lagos and Ogun states revealed that there was no evidence that the affected officials were working under unfavourable condition.

    Despite this, most of them look casual in their dressings as if they were in their homes.

    Findings revealed that in Cotonou,  Togo and Ghana, Customs officials do not dress shabbily like their Nigerian counterparts.

    The poor dressing has become of serious concern to operators, stakeholders, importers and other port users. Some stakeholders have deplored the development

    An importer, who pleaded anonymity, said it would appear some senior and junior Customs officers, find it more comfortable to use bathroom slippers.

    Investigation by The Nation at most of the commands in Lagos and its environs revealed the bad habit is common.

    Apart from the Federal Operation Unit (FOU) Zone ‘A’ Ikeja and Apapa, the situation is almost the same at Tin-Can, Agbara, Seme, Idiroko and Abeokuta.

    At FOU Ikeja, source said there is discipline section for any officer or men that violates the dress code and that is why its officers and men are well dressed.

    Importers complained that the  the badly dressed Customs officials are preventing them from recognising the fake ones at night.

    The refusal of some terminal operators to allow some Customs officials from entering their terminals was attributed to their bad dressing.

    The operators complained that apart from Mondays when they resume for work and Tuesdays when they go for parades, some old women officials find it difficult to dress properly.

    One of sthe clearing agents, who work in Lagos and does not want his name in print said: “One of the first things you notice when you visit some of the commands is the socially and officially unacceptable manner they turn their uniform.

    “The most annoying aspect of it is that what they put on are bathroom slippers. Bathroom slippers are what are; slippers are used in the bathroom and not in the office. These little plastic slippers are for people to change into when they go inside the bathroom. This is supposed to keep the bathroom mess; well, in the bathroom and not to be brought to the office.

    “Imagine this. When you enter a Customs command and you see some of them wearing a pair of their bathroom slippers and they started moving from one office to another and nobody, including their colleagues; seniors and the area controller can call them to order deserves public attention.’’

  • Fed Govt rakes in over N586b in Lagos, Imo

    The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) generated N586.8 billion in Lagos and Owerri last year, records have shown.

    According to the records, N585 billion was generated in Apapa and Tin-Can Island ports in Lagos; the balance was made by the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone ‘C’ Owerri.

    The Apapa command recorded N301,272,187,970, and Tin Can Island, N284,290,462,153.

    The (FOU) Zone ‘C’ made 363 seizures of illegally imported goods with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of N1,805,843,064 and generated N71,762,029 as under payment.

    Its Area Controller, David Dimka, said the seizures made last year were higher than 2013’s.

    The command, he said, arrested 104 suspects with over 100 cases in  court. The number of those arrested last year, the controller said, was higher than the 31 suspects arrested in the previous year – 20 cases of which are in court.

    Dimka said 237 smuggled vehicles topped the list of the seized items; 209 of them had fake Customs paper while 28 were abandoned by the smugglers.

    The highest numbers of seizures, he said, were recorded in April, September and December last year.

    Dimka praised the Comptroller-General of Customs, Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko, for the support  he gave to his officers, saying it motivated them in the discharge of their duties.

    He warned smugglers to desist from their nefarious activities, warning that he would deal with them.

    The Public Relation Officer (PRO) of the command, Ifeoma Onuigbo, said officers and men of the command would carry out intensive patrol this year, assuring that her colleagues would tackle smuggling.

    Also, the increased revenue in Apapa and Tin-Can Island ports was attributed  to the quality leadership of their Area Controllers.

    The introduction of the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) and quality leadership, it was gathered, also contributed to the increase.

    The crisis generated by the new auto policy introduced last year had no negative effect on their revenue, it was learnt.

     

  • ANLCA gives PAAR a pass mark

    The Association of Nigerian Li-censed Customs Agents (ANLCA) has given the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) a pass mark for the effective implementation of Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) at the seaports.

    Its National President, Prince Olayiwola Shittu, said the NCS management had demonstrated high level of competence in the handling of PAAR since it was introduced.

    He said the Federal Government lost a lot of revenue when the destination inspection was being done service providers, adding that PAAR has blocked all leakages.

    “We are in support of PAAR and we have given the scheme a pass mark because of the effective manner it was implemented by Customs. The scheme has no big problem and I can tell you that it has come to stay and it is better than RAR, which cannot in any way be compared to the PAAR as far as ANLCA is concerned. Make proper declaration and get your goods out of the port on time.

    “PAAR is our own; RAR is a foreign investment and that investment is not for the benefit of our people and economy and that is why we are in support of PAAR,” Shittu said.