•Firms accused of violating concession agreement •N10b realised yearly in demurrage, storage charges
PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has been urged to direct the Ministry of Transport, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to conduct performance audit of the concession of seaports to determine their progress and challenges since 2006.
The concessionaires, it was learnt, make huge amount from service charges and also rake-in over N10 billion annually, from storage and demurrage charges on importers and clearing agents without a corresponding improvement on their terminals.
In 2016, it will be 10 years since the ports concession agreement was signed by NPA and the operators.
A senior official at the Federal Ministry of Transport (FMoT), who asked not to be named, said some operators had not added value to their services and terminals since the ports were handed over to them.
Most of the terminals, he said, were stocked with old equipment inherited from the NPA, adding that most of the inherited buildings are dilapidated and serving no purpose apart from occupying space that would have been converted to cargo delivery and process procedure.
Huge demurrage and other sundry factors, he said, are making the ports uncompetitive and unattractive for business.He therefore urged Buhari to address the problem.
The uncompetitiveness of the ports, the official said, has made it difficult for them to attain world-class status.
More than nine years after the NPA surrendered its cargo handling functions to private terminal operators, the official said, things are not looking good.
The ports, according to him, are still burdened with bureaucratic glitches, periodic technical blackouts and duplication of processes by a plethora of government agencies at the port.
NPA, according to him, is well focused on its agenda to facilitate trade and reduce cost. The problems created by the concession, the official said, is hampering the robust injection made by the management of the authority into port operations.
President Buhari, the official said, should see the problem as one of the key issues to address while carrying out his reform programme for the maritime sector next year.
The Federal Government and the NPA, he said, need to carry out competence and performance audit on each of the terminals, see where they have erred in law and apply sanctions where applicable.
Investigation conducted by The Nation revealed that the terminal operators are collecting demurrage and storage charges both at weekends and public holidays, which is against the agreement signed with the NPA before the terminals were concessioned to them in 2006.
Article 1 of the concession agreement, exclusively obtained by The Nation, showed that importers are only expected to pay on “Business Days.”
Business days, according to the agreement “means a day on which commercial banks in Nigeria are not authorised or required to close.”
Efforts, the official disclosed, are on by the NPA, the Nigeria Shippers’ Council (NSC) and other critical stakeholders to reassess the gains of ports sector reform and make recommendations for refocusing and fast-tracking it in line with the Change Agenda of President Buhari’s administration.
“In spite of the reforms carried out by the Obasanjo administration, Nigerian seaports still lag behind world-class ports in Africa and elsewhere, with respect to speed of cargo clearance, demurrage charges and ease of evacuation of cargo from the ports.
“With a throughput of more than 90 million metric tonnes in cargo, there is something to cheer about this robust initiative of the NPA.
“But we make bold to say that it is not yet uhuru, because the system is burdened by bureaucratic glitches, periodic technical blackouts, and duplication of processes by a plethora of government agencies, which lead to rising demurrage charges and avoidable pains to many port users.
“Figures from the Nigeria Shippers’ Council show that importers and clearing agents pay between nine and N11 billion annually for storage and demurrage charges alone.
“Even after clearing their cargo from the Lagos ports, the poor state of roads leading to the ports make evacuation a nightmare for importers, other port users and residents of the areas,” he said.
The official expressed the need for various government agencies at the ports to work together, speed up the clearing process and eliminate duplications in their roles. This, he said, will radically reduce the cargo dwell time to between two and three days.
An importer, Mr Teslim Fatoki, urged the Federal Government to stop port concessionaires from charging demurrage during weekends and public holidays when banks are not opened for business.
Fatoki called for rapid and radical expansion of existing facilities at the Lagos ports and the need to build new seaport to halt cargo diversion to ports of neighboring countries
“The Buhari administration must ensure that port facilities of world class standard are provided to meet up with the demands of stakeholders in the maritime industry.
“Government and NPA must embark on performance audit of the concessioning programme of the sea ports with a view to examining progress recorded almost 10 years since its commencement.
“We need new investors that will add value and efficiency to our port system through the provision of modern cargo handling plants, equipment and technology, so as to make our seaports are competitive, user-friendly, efficient, cost-effective and attractive to stakeholders in the maritime industry,” Fatoki said.
