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Tag: shortchanged

  • No subscriber’ll be shortchanged, NCC assures

    The Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) yesterday said it had put measures in place to ensure that consumers of telecoms products across the country are not shortchanged by operators.

    It said it would continue to empower consumers with adequate education on their rights and privileges through constant engagements at various levels across.

    Speaking at a one-day Consumer Outreach Programme (COP) in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, its Executive Vice-Chairma/CEO, Prof. Umar Dambatta said the Commission was determined to ensure that consumers got value for their money through effective service delivery.

    Dambatta said the forum was one of the initiatives of the Commission to bring together consumers in the rural areas and the network operators to proffer solutions to the concerns of telecoms consumers.

    He said: “The programme is to enable a tripartite meeting of the regulators, operators and consumers with a view to enlighten telecom consumers and resolve pressing consumers issues with respect to provision of telecom services.

     

  • Shortchanged

    •NASS workers deserve their due

    Against the backdrop of the uncontroverted revelation by Senator Shehu Sani that each senator gets N13.5m monthly to cover so-called running cost, it is a shame that National Assembly (NASS) employees are allegedly being shortchanged.  With so much money available to members of the Senate, and by extension to members of the House of Representatives, it is curious that the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN), National Assembly chapter, is protesting against non-remittance and under-remittance of pension contributions of its members.

    PASAN’s investigative efforts reportedly exposed alleged pension racketeering involving billions of Naira between 2007 and now. It was discovered that NASS staff had their pensions deducted but the deductions were not remitted appropriately. A worker was quoted as saying: “you see deduction on pay slips but it is not reflecting on the pension deduction statement that you obtain from the NASS Pension Office. It simply means that they made deductions and pushed it into an account somewhere.”

    Such fraud clearly endangers the future of retirees who are supposed to benefit from the pension scheme. Given the current circumstances, a scenario highlighted by the protesters is that a worker who retired on Level 12 could end up getting only N12, 000 pension “because that is what the Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) is bringing and nothing from his former place of work.” In other words, when there is no counterpart contribution to boost the pension, the retiree is in trouble. It is understandable that the workers are reportedly trying to ensure that at least 50 percent of pension deductions is recovered or fully accounted for. This should be pursued to a logical conclusion.

    Another subject of contention is the Consolidated Legislative Salary Structure (CONLESS). The workers are also protesting about alleged non-payment of the   approved CONLESS arrears, “supposed to be on a bi-annual graduating basis.” The Senate, in May 2010, had approved over N11b for the payment of CONLESS in concurrence with the 100 per cent increase in salaries and allowances passed by the House of Representatives for National Assembly workers, including the legislative aides and the staff of the National Assembly Service Commission.  It is noteworthy that three years later, in May 2013, the workers had cause to protest about alleged non-payment of the arrears. It is puzzling that the situation has not changed.

    These issues demand urgent attention from the management of the National Assembly.  It must be emphasised that the NASS workers keep the place working, meaning that they are an essential part of the National Assembly system.  Therefore, it is not in the interest of the system that they are allegedly being shortchanged.

    On the pension issue, how come pension deductions are not remitted appropriately? How come this has been going on for so long? Is there a racket? Who are the racketeers?  What is the management doing about these issues? The management needs to demonstrate that it is not complicit in the mess.

    As regards the CONLESS payments, alleged non-payment simply suggests that the National Assembly system does not respect its own decisions. The current management cannot detach itself from the resolution of the issues because there is such a thing as institutional continuity. It ought to be taken for granted that the National Assembly’s annual budget should accommodate these payments. So, what happened over the years?

    The institutional arrangement that creates and sustains this kind of conflict leaves much to be desired. The clash between the workers and the management over these issues is potentially explosive and must not be allowed to get worse. It is only fair that the workers should be treated fairly.

  • Imo shortchanged, says Okorocha

    Imo shortchanged, says Okorocha

    Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha has lamented that the state has not received allocation befitting its status as an oil-producing state.

    He said what the state receives as allocation from the Federation Account in nine months was what a Southsouth state gets in one month.

    Okorocha spoke when members of the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMFC), led by the Chairman, Elvis Mbam, visisted him at the Government House in Owerri.

    The governor lamented that many of the oil blocks belonging to the state were ceded to Rivers State.

    He called for a restructuring so that weaker states would be protected in terms of revenue allocation.

    His words: “It is proper that states pay the same salary structure considering the disparity in the revenue allocations.

    “The economy also needs diversification. The country’s economy must be diversified to de-emphasise the dependence on oil revenue. Since the commission decides who gets what, how and when, the case of Imo should be reviewed as an oil-producing state. It should be treated as other oil-producing states.

    “Imo state has also justified whatever it got as allocation. The state was the first to pay the N20,000 minimum wage and has kept faith with salary payment.”

    Mbam said the commission was charged with reviewing salaries and other revenue issues within its mandate, to reflect the economic realities.

    He thanked the government for accepting to host the commission’s retreat, adding that the development speaks volume of the government’s commitment to inter-governmental relations.

     

     

  • ‘How Southwest was shortchanged in SURE-P projects’

    ‘How Southwest was shortchanged in SURE-P projects’

    Former Chairman, Ekiti State Special Intervention and Empowerment Programme (SIEP) Committee, a portion of the state subsidiary Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, Chief Samuel Bandele Falegan, in a letter to former President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice President Namadi Sambo in January last year, highlight how the states in the Southwest were shortchanged in the SURE-P projects.
    The letter reads:

    Your Excellencies

    UTILIZATION OF SURE-P FUND

    I am reluctantly compelled to write this letter to you on the above subject, especially the controversy about the “missing N500billion”.

    The document on SURE-P released in January 2012 contained among other things the following:

    ·   The total projected subsidy reinvestible funds per annum are N1.134 trillion based on average crude oil price of US$90 per barrel. Out of this, N478.49 billion accrues to Federal Government, N411.03 billion to State Governments, N203.23 billion to Local Governments, N9.86 billion to the federal Capital Territory (FCT) and N31.37 billion as Transfers to Derivation and Ecology, Development of Natural Resources and Stabilization Funds.

    ·   In order to transform the economy, in line with the Vision 20:2020 objectives, critical infrastructure projects in the power, roads, transportation, water and downstream petroleum sectors will be executed.

    ·   Public works programmes will include projects such as:

    a.   Environmental Projects

    i.    Execution of flood and erosion-control works;

    ii.  Waste disposal and sanitation community projects;

    iii. Tree planting to combat desertification.

    b.   Education Infrastructure: Rehabilitation and Maintenance of Education Infrastructure and Facilities.

    c.   Health Infrastructure: Rehabilitation and Maintenance of Health Infrastructure and Facilities.

    After deciding to remove oil subsidy, the Federal Government set up a subsidy withdrawal organ (SURE-P) which is to use the proceeds or savings from the subsidy to finance development projects nationwide. Under it, each state, including the Federal Capital Territory, share in the proceeds of the oil subsidy in accordance with the Federal Revenue allocation formula. While each state is free to use its own share for projects of its choice, the Federal share is to cover the whole Federation in key areas warranting development.

    As a follow-up, The Federal Ministry of Finance, Abuja made the following release in the Punch Newspapers on Wednesday April 16, 2012.

     

    FEDERAL MINISTRY OF FINANCE, ABUJA 

    SAVINGS FROM SUBSIDY REINVESTMENT AND EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMME, FEBRUARY, 2012

    At the inception of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), the Jonathan administration made solemn commitment to the transparent and accountable implementation of the programme. In keeping with this pledge, here is breakdown of the subsidy saving for February 2012 allocates to the Federal, States and Local Governments.

    At the inauguration of the Ekiti State’s committee, the following are extracts from the Governor’s speech. “On 1st January 2012, the Federal Government announced the full deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector of the economy. To an average Nigerian, this only means removal of fuel subsidy and an increase in the pump price of petrol. The pump price of petrol then moved from N65 to N141 per litre and later reduced to N97 per litre.

    In February 2012, the President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR inaugurated the subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) headed by Dr. Christopher Kolade to utilize the funds accruing from pump price increase for inventions in critical sectors of the national economy to touch the lives of ordinary Nigerians. On our part, we had wanted to inaugurate this scheme as far back as February 2012, but our accrued share of the gains was not released until May, 2012. As a matter of fact, the Federal Government released the accruals from the savings from the subsidy removal policy for the first five months of the years to the three tiers of government just recently. A separate account has been opened for this purpose in the State.

    This committee that is being inaugurated is a creation of the State Executive Council and it is empowered to provide the implementation plans for the management of the fund with clear concentration on projects that will have a direct impact on the people. In this regard, attention will be given to Youth Empowerment through commercial agriculture which was launched recently, health Care Delivery with particular reference to save Motherhood and Public Transportation which will promote tricycle rather than Okada for hinterland access in our urban and rural areas among other critical schemes aimed at complementing the Government’s various social empowerment interventions.

    Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, members of this committee have been carefully selected to reflect the importance attached to the assignment on hand. By every standard, these distinguished citizens have proven track record of capability, integrity and courage to call a spade its name. They are people of character who have over the years created a niche for themselves in their various professions and callings as excellent performers. I can say with certainty that they would apply themselves to the work with dignity so that the common man would further have a feel of purposeful governance that our administration has been identified with. This Committee has been structured not to be held hostage by bureaucratic red-tape given the sense of urgency that the various initiatives require.”

    At the Ekiti State level, I was privileged to have been chosen by the State Governor to manage with a committee of 9 members the Ekiti state portion of the SURE-P re-christened Ekiti State Special Intervention and Empowerment Programme (SIEP). With all sense of responsibility our books are available for public scrutiny; we have scrupulously and honestly kept to our mandate.

    For the utilization of the State’s own SIEP, a Bureau of Special Projects was created which as appeared in THE NATION Tuesday March 12 2013 was to embark on the following projects:

    i.    Renovation of 18 General Hospitals;

    ii.  Construction of 3 Mother and Child Hospitals;

    iii. Construction of 16 Local Government Markets across the State;

    iv. Construction of Bus Terminus in Ado-Ekiti;

    v.   Drilling of Boreholes;

    vi. Construction of 36 Bus Stops in Ado-Ekiti;

    vii.      Completion of Staff Clinic at the State Secretariat Complex.

     

    Incidentally the SIEP support funding of the Dualization of ADO-IWOROKO-IFAKI road which is a Federal road project arises from the failure of the Federal Government to reimburse or refund the money owed to the State Government on the road.

    With the approval of the state Governor, the following on-going projects are being       jointly developed with the State Government with financial support from SIEP:

    (A) State Legacy projects

    (i)  Freedom pavilion to which SIEP has contributed over N500million is nearing completion.

    (ii) N350million for Life Academy Centre at Iluomoba.

    (B)  N300million for the state Ministry of Education for the rehabilitation and renovation of three major secondary schools one in each senatorial district.

    (C) N300million for SUBEB for textbooks and core subjects.

     

    The crux of the matter

    However, what you will observe Your Excellency is that while each state has or is receiving its share of the subsidy based on existing revenue allocation, the Federal Government is to use its own portion to intervene in specific areas throughout the Federation.

    Some of such areas as listed in the SURE-P release and contained in the Federal Ministry of Finance shown above is the very crux of the matter. It is the inequity, political disfranchisement and bias in the utilization of the Federal portion which has marginalized the core / South-West of Nigeria that I will illustrate with three specific instances.

     

    The Role of SURE-P As An Instrument of Nation-wide Intervention Development Strategy.

    (i)         Infrastructural Discrimination

    A major marginalization of the core South-West, is the Federal Government announcement that it plans to construct 10 new rail lines as reported in The Punch of 24th December 2012. The information as contained on Page 26 of that paper is partly reproduced below:

    “The Federal Government has announced plans to construct 10 new rail lines to cover other parts of the country currently not linked by rail. The Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, said on Friday that already feasibility studies have commenced on seven of the proposed railway lines. Umar who spoke in Lagos at the inauguration of the Lagos-Kano train service and resumption of fuel haulage by train from Lagos to Offa, said that the feasibility studies on three other planned rail line would be done in 2013. He gave the total distance of the areas to be covered by the seven rail lines as 3,421 kilometres. The Minister said that at the completion of the feasibility studies, the railway development project would be undertaken through public private partnership arrangement. Upon final construction of these lines, it will improve mass movement of Nigerians and open windows for rapid economic development minister and regional interaction,” he said. Umar stressed that all the new rail lines would be constructed as standard gauge track for the movement of fast trains. According to him, the new lines would cover Lagos-Sagamu-Ijebu Ode-Ore-Benin (300km); Benin-Agbor-Onitsha-Nnewi-Owerri-Aba, with additional line from Onitsha-Enugu-Abakaliki (500km).

    It also includes a 615km-high-speed rail track from Lagos, Oshogbo and Baro. The minister listed Ajaokuta-Obajana-Jakutu-Baro-Abuja, with additional line from Ajaokuta to Otukpo (533km), Zaria-Kaura Namoda-Sokoto-Ilela-Birnin Koni (520km) as other areas to be covered. Others are costal rail line linking Benin-Sapele-warri-Yenagoa-Port Harcourt-Aba-Uyo-Akampa-Ikom-Obudu Cattle ranch (673km); and Ajaokuta-Eganyi-Lokoja-Abaji-Abuja line (280km). The other three lines whose feasibility contracts would be awarded next year are Port Harcourt-Umuahia-Enugu-Makurdi-Lafia-Kaduna-Bauchi-Gombe-Biu-Maiduguri; Ikom-Ogoja-Kastina-Ala-Wukari-Jalingo-Yola-Maiduguri and Kani-Nguru-Gashua-Damaturu-Maiduguri-Gamborun-Ngala.

    With 10 new railway lines that excludes the core southwest, pray does the phrase “other parts of the country currently not linked by rail” include Oyo-Ekiti-Ondo? Pray why such planned railway not extended between Oyo State (Ibadan) to Ekiti-State (Ado-Ekiti) to Ondo State (Akure)? After all, each state capital was planned to be connected by rail under the Obasanjo administration.

    How will envisaged economic benefits extend to those neglected states? How do they benefit in terms of employment, enhancement of trade and commerce within and outside the communities? How do the neglected states take pressure off the overburdened roads and reduce frequency of road accidents, strengthen social and intercultural relations? How do these excluded states benefit from economic integration so orchestrated? This deliberate marginalization has further shifted the operations of the companies mentioned (Lafarge, Dangote cement etc) which own the heavy duty trucks and trailers to the neglected states to further damage and  destroy both state and federal roads being reconstructed by these neglected states out of the meager funds they get from the federation account.

    You need to travel through Ilesha-Akure-Owo-Benin road and see daily carnage. Ekiti State is completely caught off between Akure and Ado-Ekiti unless you go via Akure-igbaraodo-odo in a circular way. Although contract for Ilesha-Akure road was recently awarded for reconstruction (not dualization), why not the whole hug from Ibadan? Why  should Okitipupa-Ondo-Akure-Benin road not be dualised? Why should Akure-Ado-Ekiti-Omuaran road not be dualised from the same SURE-P funds? More questions are definitely begging for answers.

    Item 2.9: List of Road Projects:

    Of the 1,326km roads, the 295km allocated to SW/S covers Benin-Ore-Sagamu dual carriage way.

    It should be observed that this Benin-Ore-Sagamu dual carriage way has always been factored into the annual Federal budget for roads in the past 20 or more years. The Nation of Saturday 16 February 2013, page 6, carried another news item that the Federal government has obtained fund from SURE-P to dualise Abuja-Benin road. Yet, the federal authorities are aware of the appalling state of federal roads in middle and core Southwest states.

    (Ondo-Ekiti-Osun) where federal roads vertically and diagonally pass through: Akure (Ondo State) to Ilesha in Osun State. The same is true of Iyamoye (Kogi) to Omuo, Ikole, Ogotun in (Ekiti state) to Osun state. Ekiti state has the shortest federal roads in the federation, yet not one kilometre road is considered by SURE-P for rehabilitation out of the poor roads listed above.

    Item E1:33 Irrigation Projects:

    nineteen irrigation projects are listed with four going to North East; three each for North West, South East and South South. The two listed for South West go to Ogun and Oyo States as if those are the only states in the South West. The Ero Water Dam and Lake, covering 11Kilometres in Ekiti State, is one of the largest water/irrigation projects in Nigeria, established at the same time as those listed above in other parts of the country which are to benefit SURE-P. Why should it not qualify for SURE-P’s attention like others listed above?

    Item E2:34 Rural and Urban Water Supply Projects:

    The little Osse mentioned in Ekiti State is put there to demonstrate precedence and involvement. The Ero Water Dam mentioned above can serve the purpose of both irrigation for agriculture and water supply, while Arinta Waterfalls should qualify for Tourism intervention under the Federal scheme.

    Item 36 & 37: Selected Power Projects:

    What is needed here from the Federal Government is a second 132/33KV power substation project in the northern part of Ekiti and the urgent completion of the on-going one which is no more adequate for the state capital, not to talk of the whole state.

    If the Federal Government can embark on all these projects with or in addition to SURE-P funds, why is it that none of the federal roads as shown earlier in these core southwest states is receiving Federal attention?

    While our legislators must continue to be vigilant and alive to their responsibilities to the electorate, they must not underestimate the negative influence of policy formulators who deliberately and mischievously plan and execute such discriminatory policies to their (sectional) advantage.

    That is why I appreciate the action and vigilance of Senator Femi Ojudu (Ekiti Central) in detecting the fraud, if not dishonesty, in the 2013 budget proposal for roads in other states were shown as Ekiti State roads!

    I will like to draw the attention of Senator Ojudu to the dredging and canalization work at Ureje River (that is Ureje Water Works) under the Federal Ministry of Environment in Abuja. The contract was awarded for N1.2billion and reported to have been completed and paid for in 2010 when, in fact, up till now, no work has been done on the site, which is now overgrown with weeds. The contractor who quoted N890million for the job lost out.

    (ii)       Utilization of Ecological Funds/Environmental Projects Discrimination

    It is common knowledge now and as revealed and confirmed in some daily papers that all PDP States received N2Billion Ecological Funds for the utilization of Ecological and environmental problems to the exclusion of non-PDP states which largely affect the whole of South-West States.

    I have with me as shown in the table below 25 Ecological Projects that the State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) in Ekiti has submitted to the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) all with negative replies as if we are not entitled to attention from this commonwealth purse.

    Each of the affected area deteriorates during every rainy season with the attention of the FEPA drawn to the yearly deterioration and expansion of damage to the areas affected with no positive response from FEPA.

    I have refused to allow my area, Falegan Estate most severely devastated by torrential rain – to be done in isolation from others. The last rainfall not only weakened my walls but had part of the wall broken down under the weight of the heavy downpour. It is available for inspection. A major danger which can lead to a landslide that will affect about 20 houses lies ahead if the next rainy season should meet us here.

    I have it on good authority that my Governor in Ekiti State Dr. Kayode Fayemi and his officials have paid not less than 5 visits both to the Federal Ministry of Environment and FEPA on the issues listed in the table above without any polite or positive result. How do you treat a head of a state government with such derision, contempt and lack of respect? Is this how to live together as one country?

    It is no exaggeration that natural disasters like flood and rain storm incidents have been occurring indiscriminately across the length and breadth of the country with all states facing virtually the same climatic challenges. For instance, the Global Warming Syndrome has made a mess of climatic restrictions to certain geographical locations such that incidents of flood etc now cut across virtually all states.

     (iii)     The screaming headline of the Nigeria TRIBUNE No 15,880 of Friday 27 December, 2013 “N30BN 2014 IRRIGATION PROJECTS SOUTHWEST SHORT-CHANGED” North 80%, SS/SE 18%, S/West 2% cannot but worry people like me at my age at 80 whether Nigeria as at present being governed is worth dying for or whether a patriot is not a fool.

     

    The above is just one item of capital expenditure where the discriminating Minister and her Permanent Secretary are from Plateau State and Bauchi State up North respectively.

    While the 2013 budget proposal for roads in other states were shown as Ekiti State roads (as discovered by Senator Ojudu), the 2014 budget does not show any appropriation for roads in Ekiti. In which case, there is no budget for Ekiti State for two years running.

    The Federal Agency on Roads (so called FERMA) that pretends to operate in this part of the country merely ends up creating more problems that solved. It engages in merely parching the roads and adding more layers of bumps that peel off at the slightest rainfall. The Federal road between Ado-Ekiti in Ekiti State and Akure in Ondo State as a good illustration.

    In civilized environment, where politics of subtle and creeping compromise and discrimination does not hold, the ecological problem facing us in Ekiti State is sufficient to declare the whole state a disaster area. It is the prayer of people like me that Nigeria survives and its components love, and as a Nation live together in peace. But Your Excellency, peace won by compromise of principles and discrimination is a short-lived achievement. A fabler with two wives says “Yield to both and you will soon have nothing to yield”, while Wilson Churchill said “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last”. No axe can sit down and withhold his hands from warfare against wrong and get peace from his acquiescence.

    Your Excellency, It is not that any N500billion is missing or that Dr. Christopher Kolade resigned because of any missing N500billion. If anything, Dr. Kolade, (who I know very well; we grew up here together in Ekiti; his mother is from Igede-Ekiti, while his father who was a godly Priest in Ekiti here where Christopher was born is from Erin-Ijesha in Osun State). A transparently honest and shrewd diplomat must have resigned because of evidence of compromised cheating, inequities and partiality, made up of ungodly and heartless discrimination against his own part of the country by an organization over which he is supposed to preside. Why should Dr. Kolade continue as of conscience to be Chairman of an organization that discriminates against his own part of the country? Discretion, they say, is a better part of valour. Why are we building some people up and bringing others down, yet pledging we live together in peace as one. It is a spiteful political decision which does not reflect any credit on the balance and maturity of the people who take such decision either on your behalf or at the directive of MR. President. It is an avoidable arbitrariness in the utilization of funds while in turn breeds corruption.

    I can not lay hold on the concluding part of the information above. With this kind of lop-sided and sectional ownership of the main source of income, the country is heading for a serious crisis ahead of itself.

    At a glance, the above can lead to a violent revolution that can make nonsense of a National Dialogue or National Conference, whose end is already being foreshadowed of disintegration if the threat of the demagogue Asari Dokubo were to be taken seriously of a South-South serial nation-wide pipeline vandalisation in the absence of a negotiated “Ijaw State or “Ijaw Nation” that own the oil unless you are re-elected President of Nigeria.

    Here is a cabal, holding the whole country by the jugular. Whether in Government or in Opposition this crop of rapacious, selfish and greedy people including their sponsors and backers can not but be a collective threat to the stability and security of the country and any government now or in future that fails to dismantle them and cancel all their monopolistic grip on the Nigerian economy is doomed to failure.

    While the Dangotes, the Adenugas and Conoil are visibly employing their “lots” for productive use, stimulating the economy through employment generation and business expansion that are impacting positively nation-wide on the economy, all the others merely stand aloof displaying their loots in provocative vanity through “fronts” that create “rentier class” for the rest of the country who is made to eat from the crump that falls from the table, starking their “loots” abroad with their foreign collaborators who readily acquiesce because they use the funds to provide employment for their own people. Their transient political and financial support, however beneficial must be weighed against the lethal danger they constitute in the long run to the stability and security of this country. Their collective threat and stranglehold which must be seen as providing resentment, irritation, agitation, resistance and uprising which are all evident in the rising tempo of national distrust, ethnic and religious conflicts, increase in hitherto unknown crime of kidnapping, wave of pirates’ attack on Nigeria’s territorial waters, must be laid before the National Conference for deliberation because they are all induced by the Nation’s main source of wealth and means of livelihood.

    This class of special people induce jealousy and hatred and create the so-called “Boko Haram” which protest ostensibly against injustice whose cancerous spread has contaminated innocent people individually, corporately, sectorally, sectly and religiously, even the security outfit defending the country.

  • ‘Nigerian shippers are being shortchanged’

    ‘Nigerian shippers are being shortchanged’

    Isaac M. Jolapamo is Chairman/Chief Executive, MORLAP Shipping Company. He doubles as Chairman, Indigenous Ship Owners Association (ISOA), which is on the verge of being renamed Nigerian Ship Owners Association (NISOAN) by stakeholders. In this interview with Joke Kujenya, he speaks on the obstacles and prospects of shipping business in Nigeria and other salient issues. Excerpts: 

     Are the fears real or unfounded in some quarters that local vessels and ship operators are losing businesses to foreign counterparts due to adverse working environment, a development many argue may soon force them into extinction?

    The fears are right, let me put it succinctly. It is so in the sense that we had a law which came into force about thirteen years ago or so called Inland Shipping Cabotage Law. It says you have the exclusive preserve to your cargo within your country. That was the intention. It followed after the Jones Act in America and all other areas that are practicing it. But our major problem in this country is that our contemporaries are usually ahead of us.

    Let me first pause on shipping and paint the more practical scenario for you. We are currently importing refined petroleum products into this country. And we have sufficient oil in the country that we are exporting on the average of about two or more million barrels a day because we cannot refine by ourselves. So, we are compelled to import. Some smart foreign people have made sure that that is the way things must be done whether by hook or crook. And all these are for their own interest. They run down our refineries and leave them in a comatose because they want to continue holding on to the ace.

    It also follows too with the cabotage law that we say we have that they want to control our local shipping. So, the whole game is about controlling local shipping. Some of us have been in this business for the last three decades before the law. And we were doing well because we were cooperating with the foreigners to do it. But when the law came, we thought that at last, we would stop taking crumbs from the tables. Unfortunately however, the people are quite ahead of us. Because they are ahead of us and have control of the cargo and shipping activities in our own water space, how then will the law that we have work?

    That is how we have been blaming ourselves, throwing brickbats, shouting that the flag administration is supposed to do this and that; whereas the people we are dealing with are always a step ahead of us.

    What is the Flag Administration supposed to do in all these?

    The Flag Administration is the NIMASSA. The agency is supposed to make sure that this law works by enforcing it. But how can they enforce it? But I have a different view from that of others. In the sense that is it only NIMASSA that is involved? What about the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), that owns the oil, that imports the refined products, which does not believe in Nigerians doing the job? How then can NIMASSA be able to enforce?

    The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), that brings the vessel in, does not bother to find out whether this vessel that has brought a particular cargo is complying with the rules.

    The Navy that says it has given the vessel clearance does not find out the traders that are Nigerians or wants to get near a Nigerian vessel because of the peculiar Nigerian factor. The problems that we have in the country of course, goes to every Nigerian whether you are in the air, water or land. And this is a very big challenge. But of course, if there is synergy, which hopefully, we expect to be, because it is in the process, things might begin to work.

    Do you share the perception that the non implementation of the Cabotage Act has been blamed for the parlous state of the nation’s marine sub sector?

    Did you say implementation? I ask you, who is going to implement what? If we say it is NIMASSA that should do that, I put it on record today that, the agency is constrained. But it is not the only agency that controls the movement of the ship or knows about how things operate. If you say you are practicing a law and want every ship to comply with such, but the authorities tasked with the duty to ensure that such is done, don’t believe that our own people can do that job. So, how will the law work? That’s the point we are making. I am now saying that there is a synergy that NIMASSA is putting in place that every other people involved can key into. It is after everyone has locked into this that we can begin to have some positive result. Already, a lot of people have burnt their fingers before that.

    Business associations are often seen as pressure groups to demand proper working of things in their sectors. What is NISOAN doing?

    We have done a lot. I say this because we have drawn the attention of government to what the country stands to gain in terms of employment generation and empowering Nigerians. We didn’t paint only the challenges. This also called for a retreat that the President had to set up a committee to look at the entire issues that were raised.

    On top of the agenda is, if you can create so much jobs, then, let us try and make it work. These recommendations are already with the government. However, it is also the willpower of the government to implement some of these recommendations because so many factors that I am not able to tell you for the pages of the newspapers, must be reversed.

    But there are forces contending against the willpower that, if care is not taken, could truncate the vital points in the recommendations. All of these stem out of nothing else, but selfish-interests, which is more of a Nigerian factor.

    But we know all this is tough. And if we look at the history of shipping in the country, we are just resolute that we will make a success of what we are doing. There hasn’t been any success story in shipping in Nigeria thus far. And that is why the formation of our association is based on the doggedness that Nigerian shipping business will scale the hurdles and record commendable success in our businesses.

    It’s an open secret that shipping business is very capital intensive. So, what are the steps to take for a prospective investor?

    Clearly, you can’t buy a ship with your own money. But of course, they do it in Nigeria because there are some with so much easy funds around. But in other climes, you go to the bank or financiers to get a ship. However, you don’t get a ship first without business to do with the ship.

    It is actually the business you have to do with the ship that the bank will look at to know that your initiative will be profitable or not. But our own situation has been that we put the horse before the cart. They ask you to go and bring the ship before they give you the job, which is not appropriate. The way shipping business runs is that you have a job first. Now, a job, in shipping is, the cargo you will be carrying with the vessel.

    You must know what you want to use the liner for, how much you are going to make monthly and the amount you will expend on it. When the bank looks at all these, they will know how much money is involved, how long do you have the contract, will you be able to pay for the ship? These are all the very important aspects to consider. Sadly, in our own clime, what we see is the reverse. The current trend is so hard to explain, I must confess.

    Do you think the FG’s recent idea of insurance for local vessels can work?

    Insurance for local vessels has always been an issue. And there are two types of insurance for every vessel, both local and international. There is haul and machinery. This is for the haul of the ship as it is, its engines and everything. And then, there is the Protection & Indemnity (P & I), which is a third party liability insurance that in case, a vessel hits another vessel. But just as we are clamouring to have the chunk of the businesses here, so also is the insurance group hollering to have their own.

    But of course, there are forces at play that has not allowed them to get what they want. However, the chunk of most insurances of Nigerian flag vessels today i.e. haul and machinery, is being done by domestic insurance companies. It may not be a hundred percent, but it is up to a level. They share it with a foreign group. But today, the P & I is not being done anywhere in Africa.

    Our association has been on the drawing board to set up one called ‘African P & I’.

    Till date, it is yet to see sunshine because of our insurance law which does not allow such. But it is being looked into by the Presidential Committee set up by the FG.

    But we are trying to do a few things that will make the business better because of those coming in the nearest future. That is why we are not going to leave it as it is but make sure there is a turn-around for the better for the younger ones to build on.

    What could make a ship not have jobs?

    Here in Nigeria, what happens is that you can be given a job to come and do for one year, but that cannot sustain you or your loan in the bank. You are supposed to be given that job for about five years. Those are some of the reasons that brings about a ship not having a job. You can even lose a contract because they don’t want you.

    There is so much espionage and Mafia sort of pranks in shipping. I believe that some of our people are just being frustrated. If they think your crew is not good, and you have Indian crew that are smart and know their onions on a Greek vessel; and a trader needs to charter a vessel, he would go for the Greek vessel. He would rather patronise the Indian crew than a vessel with Nigerian crew.

    The operator of such a vessel has it at the back of his head that these Nigerians want to be like him. And that is so because we ourselves have thrown our profession to the dust. But in those other places, they still maintain high ethical standards. These are the hard facts that we must admit but which in some quarters, they don’t want said. We must seriously look for a way out of this.

    I recently had a discussion with some NIMASSA topnotch. Our talks bothered on their importance of training people that are under them. If they don’t do that, those under them would just think that all about shipping is ‘waivers’ because that is something in the cabotage law that says if you can’t find a Nigerian vessel, then, take a foreign vessel and issue it a waiver. We have kicked against the idea from day one, sadly, it is still there.

    Now, it was something meant to be in place for just about five years. But from what we are seeing, it could survive the next 100years if it is not taken out. The people that run the place would just be concerned about collecting their own two percent just for the foreign vessels to work. If it however gets to the point we say, this is our own, then, somebody should ask, why can’t you take a Nigerian vessel. If they say there is none, you direct them to where they can find one or two.

    That is how it is done in other places. If the Navy want to give approval for any ship, they would ask why it is a foreign one being sent; don’t we have our own? So, there is need to educate everybody. If a ship wants to come in, it involves so many organs such as Customs, Navy and others. So, if all of them demand that they want things to work around the shipping business; it would work. Again, that’s where the synergy comes into play.