The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Operators

  • Operators fault proposed national carrier modalities

    Domestic carriers under the aegis of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) yesterday faulted the modalities being adopted by government to set up the proposed national carrier.

    The group said using tax payers money to set up the national carrier scheduled to commence operations on December 24, 2018 is not only counterproductive, but inimical to the overall interest of private entrepreneurs who have invested money, time and effort to float their airlines.

    Rising from a meeting of airline chief executives in Lagos, they said the proposed national carrier will distort  the current market and further create an uneven playing field to the detriment of the industry.

    Speaking with reporters, AON Chairman, Capt Nogie Meggison said its members have resolved to stop Value Added Tax (VAT) remittances collected from passengers to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

    He said the VAT collection is unfair and debilitating to  domestic passengers and the industry.

     

  • Operators promote safety at ports

    TO celebrate the Global Safety Day, APM Terminals Apapa Limited has embarked on initiatives that will promote safety at Lagos ports

    The Global Safety Day is an annual international awareness-raising campaign to promote safe and secure working environment for workers.

    APM Terminal Apapa Managing Director Martin Jacob, who spoke with The Nation, said safety has been the company’s watchword over the years, assuring that the company will continue to focus on enhancing safety standards.

    “For APM Terminals, safety is the licence to operate and we have kept that as our watchword and we will continue in that focus. This year, we have decided to hold the safety day in conjunction with our other brands to portray our new theme, which is: “Stronger and Safer Together”. With that we can help each other support our safety journey going forward,”he said.

    He assured that his firm will continue to train and educate its workers,  the public and clients, on the need for safety, especially truck drivers because of their strategic role in the business.

    Maersk Nigeria Managing Director Gildas Tohouo also reiterated his company’s commitment to employees’ safety, noting that everyone across the shipping and logistics value chain has vital roles in safety matters.

    “We are all responsible for the safety of ourselves and our colleagues whether at sea, shore, Inland Container Depot (ICD) and terminals. We all depend on each other. For us at Maersk, constant care is one of our core values and making sure that our colleagues are safe,”he said.

    On his part, Damco Country Manager, Sesan Ibitoye, said safety is a critical part of his firm’s engagement.

    ”We don’t joke with safety. It is at the centre of our operations. If you do not tell people about it, then you do not make them think about it. We hold ourselves accountable to it and every member of our staff goes through training on safety to highlight the importance of this and ensure as individuals that we keep safe,” he said.

    Clearing agents, truck owners and importers, who spoke with The Nation, commended APM Terminals for its high-level of safety and security in its operations.

    Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) Chairman Remi Ogungbemi said he was happy with the steps taken by the promoters of the APM Terminal in Lagos.

    ”Since inception, APM Terminals has been at the vanguard of promoting safety, which has helped reduce the rate of accidents at the port,” he said.

  • Waste: PSP Operators fault aggrieved members

    The Concerned Stakeholders of Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria (AWMN) yesterday condemned a statement credited to an aggrieved group within the association faulting the resolve to work with the Lagos State Government and an environmental utility group, Visionscape Sanitation Solutions to ensure cleaner and healthier environment.

    The aggrieved group, in a statement by its Chairman, Oladipo Egbeyemi, had distanced itself from the agreement to work with the government to rid the state of filth adorning major streets and highways, describing the resolution as misleading and untrue.

    Responding, the concerned stakeholders, in a statement signed on their behalf by Kasumu Afis Olasehinde of Gafista Concepts Limited, said the statement by the aggrieved stakeholders was not only in bad taste but had shown them to care less about the interest of Lagosians.

    The stakeholders comprising of 48 Private Sector Participant (PSP) operators in waste management, said their resolve to work with the government to ensure the success of the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) was borne out of the genuine desire to protect the environment and prevent outbreak of any epidemic in the state considering the resurgence of refuse in public places.

    According to the statement, “This kind gesture was warmly received and accepted by the Government, but to the surprise of many, a group believed to be aggrieved from AWMN, has come out to disown us for offering a helping hand, you must ask why? Are they angry with progress? Are they people-oriented at all? Is this challenge a thing of pride and ego to them or service to the people?

    “We have been rendering unequalled outstanding waste management service to Lagosians for decades and it is the state of things that necessitated our group’s initiative to offer help and also collaborate with Visionscape. The Visionscape group sees us as partners who will learn a lot from each other and they are willing to collaborate with us to make Lagos clean.

    “We also state that the wellbeing of Lagosians is utmost in our mind, and as we approach the raining season, we cannot just watch but also intervene to avoid epidemic, which is what the aggrieved group does not care about.

    “We can’t afford to let the initiative fail, because if it does, we will also be considered as failure, hence a need to take responsibility to render service whether paid or unpaid; laudable to say the least and quite commendable and any progressive would agree with my group,” Olasehinde said.

    While describing change as inevitable, Olasehinde said it was surprising that some people who in the past had benefited from change were working against progressive change, and also attempting to discourage those who were genuinely willing to help government in the best interest of the people.

    “Change is inevitable, other aggrieved operators can collaborate to deliver service with Visionscape without making drama out of it. It should be a collective joy to see people of Lagos living in comfort; you don’t wish failure on a vendor because you feel you can do better, and finally, it is unruly to attempt to pour cold water on the bravery and courage of the noble men who tried to swallow hurts and offer help. If we all contribute something, Lagos will work for us all by default,” he said.

  • NPA’s trade facilitation excites operators, stakeholders, importers

    The Nigerian Ports Authority  (NPA) has embarked on trade facilitation programmes to boost trade at the ports, and the importers and clearing agents are happy for it, The Nation has learnt.

    Its Managing Director (MD) Ms Hadiza Bala Usman, it was gathered, has directed the agency’s officials to attend to every document on their table within 24 hours or be sanctioned.

    Some senior officers of the authority, it was gathered, had been queried for delaying customers’ papers.

    Sources at NPA said she had instructed every staff member to adopt the trade facilitation programme of the Federal Government by fast-tracking cargo clearance papers and implementing  government policies on quick cargo clearance to  to generate more revenue and boost the  economy.

    No paper, it was learnt, stays on her table for more than 24 hours without receiving attention.

    Sources said she had to go to some departments last week to ensure that customers’ papers were not delayed.

    This new approach, it was learnt, was responsible for the success the authority recorded at the ports and  in terms of the modernisation and transformation of NPA’s operations, a development, which importers and other operators said, contributed to the quick clearance of cargoes from the  ports

    The MD, stakeholders said, had no option than to embark on trade facilitation because she had received the support of President Muhammadu Buhari to re-organise and manage one of the highest revenue-yielding government agencies.

    Her zeal and patriotism for the development of  the economy, findings revealed, was responsible for why she was appointed to carry out the onerous task which, stakehold-ers said, she had  done diligently.

    TheAssociation of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) President, Prince Olayiwola Shittu, said Ms Usman does not joke with trade facilitation.

    “No paper stays on Ms Usman’s table for more than 12 hours before she releases them for quick cargo clearance.This is also because she has made the principle her watch word since her assumption of office as the Managing Director and in all the ports.

    “She believes that when any document experiences delay, the implications can be more. Thus, as far as she is concerned, prompt treatment of documents is a must in port operations.

    ‘’According to her, the documents represent money and the government needs the money to develop tpeople,“ he said.

    Shittu also described Ms Usman as a humble and listening leader who attend to every issue brought to her attention to attract business to the port.

    Besides, a senior officer of the authority, Mr Ibrahim Nosiru and others who do not want their names in print, said Ms Usman had inculcated her trade facilitation message in her officers and taught them why they must not delay documents.

    “The Managing Director has tutored us that when you delay import documents, you increase the cost of clearing such goods, because you make the importers to accumulate demurrage and you delay the purpose for which such goods would have been put to used for the proper development of  the economy, ” he said.

     

     

  • Operators fault Sirika on N516b debts

    Operators fault Sirika on N516b debts

    Are airlines owing aviation agencies and some companies  N516 billion on fees,levies and navigational charges? This is the nut to be cracked as operators refuted the claim of Minister of State, Aviation, Hadi Sirika that they are owing that amount.

    They asked Sirika to prove the allegation with verifiable facts.

    In an interview, Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) Chairman Captain Nogie Meggison said Sirika’s labelling of Nigerian carriers as weak and unfit to take advantage of the Single Africa Air Transport Market (SAATM) was a  disservice to them.

    Meggison accused the minister of reeling out figures without proof, adding that the agencies lacked the ability to “transparently record their revenues and document accurately the debts owed them by the airlines”.

    He said: “We have always asked them to list the debts. It is easy to call numbers. Let those we owe bring their bills and explain the debts. Although government cannot be held responsible for the operation of privately owned airlines, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) is competing with airlines, running two airlines with tax payers’ funds.

    “ So, we don’t have a level playing ground because AMCON is a competitor, using the taxes we pay to compete with us. When are they going to leave the airline industry?

    “Airline business is not a cash business. You accrue the charges, you are presented a bill and you pay. So, there is no airline in this world that does not owe.”

    The AON chief he said for the SAATM to work, Africa Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) must provide a level playing field.

    Part of the conditions, he said, was the introduction of uniform airport and navigational charges by African countries.

    He said: “In Nigeria an airline borrows money at 24 per cent interest rate, pay five per cent to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), and also pays another five per cent value added tax but these are waived by government of other countries for their own airlines.”

    Former Vice-Chairman of Arik Air  Senator Anietie Okon  berated Sirika for labelling Nigerian airlines as debtors.

    He said the airlines were not owing N516 billion.

    If the airlines are not doing well as alleged by the minister, it is his responsibility and that of the government to ensure that airlines improve their operations,he said.

    Okon said the minister should evaluate the assets of an airline and calculate the percentage of debts to the airline before saying such an airline went under, when there was a preconceived plan to take over such an airline.

    He said: “If the total debts of an airline are just 10 per cent of its assets how can you say that the company is insolvent?”

    Okon said because of airlines’ critical role in the economy, governments should support them, whether they carriers are owned by government or private investors.

    He cited how airlines, such as  Jet Airways of India, Kenya Airways, South Africa Airways and Emirates, which had financial issues and were buoyed by their governments to sustain their operations.

    Okon said: “If all airlines in Nigeria are not doing well, what is the minister doing about it?

    “The minister is running down those that committed their huge resources to run the airline industry. You know the airlines are subjected to multiple taxation.

    “You know that airlines cannot fly to over 18 airports in the country after 6pm because there are not enough facilities and you are saying that the government is not responsible for most of the problems of the airlines.

    “We took the trouble to invest and you keep on throwing  figures, possibly to amuse youself because you don’t know that your management style is crumbling people’s investment.”

    On the liberalisation of Africa’s airspace, Okon said while other countries adopted policies to protect their airlines, even as signatories to SAATM, Nigeria allowed its own airspace for all comers.  Nigerian airlines, he noted, are shut out of other African countries with exorbitant charges and other restrictive policiies.

  • NSCDC confiscates 1,500 litres of PMS from black market operators

    The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Plateau State has confiscated 1500 litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from black market operators and impounded four vehicles  with improvised tanks in Jos.

    The Commandant of the corps in the state, Mr Solomon Olasupo, disclosed this while carrying out a raid yesterday in Jos, describing the black market operators as”economic saboteurs”.

    According to Olasupo,  the Command has declared war against illegal sale of  PMS, adding that the perpetrators would be  treated as saboteurs.

    The commandant said the racketeers were  carrying out their illegal business opposite the NNPC mega fuel station in Jos, adding that they were diverting and hoarding the product to create artificial scarcity.

    He impounded  two vehicles and  two tricycles that had improvised tanks awaiting their turns to get fuel at the NNPC Mega Station on  Yakubu Gowon way.

    He warned managers of the filling stations to desist from conniving with owners of  vehicles and tricycles with improvised tanks and siphoning the products at night.

  • Operators mull building Nigeria’s LPG market to $10b

    • Step up training to enhance safe operations

    Players in the Nigeria’s Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) subsector are putting measures in place to grow the LPG market to $10 billion in the next five years.

    The players, under the aegis of the Nigeria Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association (NLPGA), said they had projected the value for LPG market in the next five years to hit over $10 billion, but noted that the market must be built safely.

    The Chairman, Safety & Technical Committee of the NLPGA and Deputy President of the association, Nuhu Yakubu, told The Nation that prioritising safety through continuous training of all stakeholders has become imperative, considering the volatility of the commodity and the quantum increase in consumption in the past few years.

    To buttress the quantum increase in consumption, Yakubu said: “It is not cheap to build a gas terminal, but in the last five years a couple of private LPG terminals had sprung up in different parts of the country. The terminals include NAFGAS and NIPCO. Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), an arm of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), is expanding its terminal while inland terminals (the butanisation plants) are being reactivated by the NNPC. More bottling plants have sprung up, the ones that have been idle are being activated, LPG road tankers, which is a critical component of the value chain, have increased.

    “By 2007, LPG road tankers were less than 100, but at the end of third quarter of 2017, it was in excess of 1000. So, there is a phenomenal growth across the entire LPG value chain as with the demand also. LPG demand by 2007 was 70,000 metric tons per annum and has risen to over 600,000 metric tons as at end of 2017.

    “There is no industry that has enjoyed such quantum leap as LPG, but we have to manage the fallout of this growth so that we don’t experience the kind of incidents we had in recent times. We have to thank God that there has not been worse incidents, that is to say that self-regulation to an extent has been playing out well for the industry.

    “For the number of LPG plants that have been rolled out in the last four years and the incidences that have occurred don’t come close to incidences in other sectors but there is lot of rooms for improvement.”

    On tackling incidents such as explosion, Yakubu said: “We are addressing the issue of the moment to the best we can. What the industry plans for the year and going forward, which involve addressing and mitigating the kinds of occurrences we have observed in the past few months, have been lined up. What we are interested in as the technical committee is on how to minimise occurrences. We have done a lot in the past and we want to step it up and improve on them so that we can minimise such occurrences in the sector.

    “LPG has been on the upward demand and there will be more demand for LPG this year and if something is not done about it proactively as we want to envisage, maybe more occurrences will happen. We want to carry along all the stakeholders in our activities including the press for proper reportage so the public will be aware of what to do or look out for.

    “In the recent past the Association has been very proactive about training. The training will be across board, from the producers end to plant operations and to domestic end (the consumers) even up to the cylinder and gas cooker fitters. The Association will continue to deepen that training and collaboration will cut across board.”

     

     

    Some of the government agencies are now seeing the importance of those trainings the Association has been projecting and are now lending support to it. So there will be a lot of collaboration between the Association and the agencies of government to ensure that some reasonable impact and propagation are given to those training programmes so that there will be more buy in.”

  • Court orders operators to pay Shippers Council N1tr

    Court orders operators to pay Shippers Council N1tr

    The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos has dismissed an appeal by the Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN) against the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC).

    It affirmed the Council’s powers to fix shipping charges.

    The appellate court, in the lead judgment by Justice C.N Uwa, upheld the judgment of Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court in Lagos and all the reliefs granted in the defendants’ favour.

    The defendants (respondents) are the NSC represented by Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) and the Registered Trustees of Shippers Association, Lagos State.

    The plaintiffs (terminal operators) had prayed the court to hold that their activities are governed by the lease agreements they entered into with the Federal Government.

    Dismissing the plaintiffs’ case, Justice Buba, in November 2015, affirmed NSC’s appointment as the economic regulator for the Seaports in Nigeria and its powers to impose charges.

    The judge held that the Shipping Line Agency Charges (SLAC) levied and collected from Nigerian shippers by the shipping companies since 2006 was illegal.

    He said the shipping companies should pay to NSC all fees collected since 2006, which is estimated to be above N1trillion.

     

  • Operators seek viable road network for growth

    Operators seek viable road network for growth

    To boost economic development, Nigeria needs a viable road network, Managing Director, Lafarge Africa Plc, Mr. Michel Puchercos, has said.

    The roads, he said, will be the second largest in the South of the Sahara and largest in West Africa, making them central to economic development.

    This, he said, also raises concerns on the need for a maintenance culture.

    He spoke at a road construction summit by Lafarge Africa Plc, in partnership with Business Day Media, in Lagos.

    The summit had as theme: “The economics of innovative solutions to road construction in Nigeria.”

    Puchercos said though Lafarge has solutions to the challenges of road construction in the country, the firm could not do it all alone. Hence, the need for all hands to be on deck to bring about an innovative solution to road construction. This, he further said, would mean involving financial institutions, construction industries and road users.

    Lafarge Africa Chairman, Mr. Mobolaji Balogun, said lack of good road network hinders effective transportation, thereby preventing the country from attaining its potential in agriculture mining, and hindering foreign direct investment, which may in turn, lead to loss of jobs, and hamper the growth of small and medium scale enterprises.

    Minister of  Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, disclosed that the country’s infrastructure challenge was very enormous. He blamed the infrastructural deficiencies, especially roads, on past administrations, who he accused of not investing much in infrastructure.

    For instance, Fashola disclosed that though at the beginning of this administration in 2015, the total budget for roads was N18 billion; N5 billion for power and N1.8billion for housing, totalling N24.8 billion, less than half of the amount was released to it. However, the following year, which represented the full budget year of this government, his ministry was allocated N422 billion.

    According to the minister, one of the innovative ways the government is developing its road infrastructure is tax deduction benefits, whereby companies that build infrastructure for public use are granted tax incentive. This incentive, he said, is being enjoyed by Dangote Industries, which constructed the 42.8-km Obajana Road in Kogi State. The tax relief initiative is being improved upon with a proposal for it to accommodate people, or group forming a cluster to build infrastructure for public use, the minister added.

    The projects that have been signed on for this process include an agreement with Dangote Industries to reconstruct a two-kilometre road in Apapa, using cement. This project, Fashola said, has been extended to 35km to cover Apapa, Liverpool, Marine bridge, Oshodi, Oworonshoki and old Lagos Toll gate.

    Also, he said the government  has been signed an agreement with the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Group, to build Bonny Bridge. The cost of the project, which would be completed in five years, would be borne by the firm and Federal Government.

  • Operators: Rising cost, forex, others killing us silently

    Tier Two operators have urged the Federal Government to provide them with palliatives to cushion the effects of the increase in network operating cost in the country.

    Specifically they are demanding tax holiday, intervention in sourcing forex and harmonisation of the right of way (RoW) in states and local government councils in the country.

    The government has assured that the problems associated with the Tier Two (Broadband) telecom providers would be addressed in the interest of the industry,.

    The Minister of Communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu, who gave the assurance at a meeting with some operators in Abuja led by the Managing Director of Smile Communcations, Mr Godfrey Efeurhobo, said the government was poised to support and create enabling environment for telecommunications industry to thrive.

    Shittu who identified with the challenges the operators are facing said relevant steps would be taken to look into the problems as enumerated by the operators, stressing that Information and Communications Technology remains critical to the government efforts to diversify the nation’s economy.

    A statement by one of the Minister’s Media aide, Mrs Pauline Sule, quoted Shittu as saying that the present administration has evolved some mechanism to protect the businesses of tier two telecoms operators as data is a way of life to all citizens irrespective of their public or private activities.

    Shittu urged the tier two operators to partner with the Ministry in the establishment of ICT Development Bank, and to adopt a campus of the ICT University as well as ensuring the establishment of ICT Exhibition Park.

    Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Godfrey Efeurhobo, Managing Director, Smile Communications, commended the minister for granting them audience to discuss critical issues affecting the growth and development of the sector with him.

    He said the passion of the minister is well known in the ICT industry, stressing that the roles the minister has so far played to ensure that ICT is leveraged upon to revive the economy of Nigeria would not be forgotten by the people.

    Mr Efeurhobo requested the minister to use his good office to take the lead in solving various challenges that the Telecom Companies face, especially network operating cost which has gone up to eighty percent.

    He urged the Minister to put in place palliatives that would reduce the shock in their businesses as a result of the increase in network operating cost, adding that the operators would appreciate a regime of tax holiday, government intervention in sourcing of forex minister and harmonisation of RoW regarding states and local government councils.