By Charles Okonji
The Non-Metallic Mining Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has called on the Federal Government to shutdown Lagos ports (Tincan and Apapa) to enable them carry out accelerated repairs on the roads, adding that this act would help reduce the woes of manufacturers and other importers at large.
Disclosing this to The Nation in an exclusive interview, the Chairman of the Non-Metallic Mining Group of MAN, Mr. Afam Mallinson Ukatu, who is also the CEO of NISPO, regretted that manufacturers loss a lot of money and man-hour due to traffic grid-lock and port congestion.
Ukatu said, “Solution to port congestion is to move all cargoes to other ports. If the government has created a way to take these goods to Calabar port, Warri port, Port Harcourt sea port and shut down Lagos ports for one month, all the bad portions of roads and the trucks that are on the roads will allow for speedy road maintenance. The government should, as a matter of urgency, do something before raining season comes.”
“It is heartbreaking that these shipping companies will charge you demurrage on the delay that is not caused by us, which also increase our production cost by over 1000 per cent of what it used to be.
“The cost of transportation of container from Tincan Island port for a distance that is not more than 10 to 15 10 kilometers is between N750,000 to N800,000, and it takes a truck within two to three weeks to get into the port to load these goods, but in the past, it used to be N70,000.”
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Lamenting the dwindling growth in the mining sub-sector and very low investment, he blamed it on the country’s poor policy regulation and the insecurity that have bedeviled the country in the recent time.
According to him, “The policy for manufacturing sector in this year’s budget gives hope to the manufacturers, but the question is; will it really work out the way it should be? The answer is no!
“The problem of insecurity in the country is affecting manufacturers so much, that there are some markets within the country that we no longer send our products to. Also, the problem of bad roads is a very big handicap to achieve our goals; the goods that come in from China, raw materials in particular cannot be cleared out of ports because of congestion and poor movement of vehicles at the sea ports.
“We thought by now, all these issues could have been addressed. We are in dry season and major repairs on the roads have not been done properly.
The construction companies in charge of repairs on the roads resumes on the site like workers in the morning and close when the workers are closing. They don’t do night shift to cover up for the traffic they have caused in the day, they lock up people for hours on the road.
“I remember vividly that in the past, when foreign construction companies like RCC, NCC and a host of others that they work throughout the night to achieve result.
You will see a road that is bad at night, but in the morning when you wake up the road has been completely fixed.” He stressed.
He urged the government to find a lasting solution to the issues affecting growth, urging them to give a time line.
The industrialist asked the government to mandate shipping companies to move cargoes to alternative ports to enable for urgent repairs on the Warf roads and dilapidated infrastructure at the Lagos sea ports.
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