Nigerian seaports have largely been identified with inefficiency. Getting a consignment cleared from the port is as bad today as it was some years ago. This is apart from the many government interventions aimed at remedying the situation. The procedure of clearing goods from Nigerian ports is still characterised by extensive documentation and numerous human interface. This has given rise to cargo delays and corruption on the part of government agents, working in the port system. Emeka Okoroanyanwu reports.
A report published in 2017 by the Organised Private Sector (OPS) in Nigeria and supported by the Centre for International Private Enterprise, revealed that Trading Across Border, a World Bank indicator that measures the efficiency of world ports, ranks Nigeria 183 out of 185 countries on the index of efficiency. This means that out of the 185 countries in the world captured in the survey, Nigeria could only beat two countries in the ease of doing business in the port.
The report by the OPS, which comprises the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Nigerian Employers’ Consultative Assembly, Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists and The Nigerian Economic Summit Group, pointed out that Nigerian ports were classified among the worst ports in the world, owing to delay in import and export processes, unofficial charges, human interface, technical breakdown and security concerns that remain predominant in the ports.
One of the major subjects of concern over the chaos at the Lagos ports is that of traffic congestion. This has indeed rendered Nigerian ports located in Lagos inaccessible, and unprofitable.
However, apart from the issue of clustered port access roads, the problem of multiplicity of government agencies, performing, sometimes, similar functions has been a pain in the neck of stakeholders and the government.
Not comfortable with incessant complaints about the situation of things at the port, the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, while acting for President Muhammadu Buhari on May 18, 2017, issued an Executive Order, which was supposed to promote transparency and eliminate some of the practices that are inimical to trade facilitation in Nigerian ports.
The Executive Order 22 ordered all agencies physically present in Nigerian Ports to within 60 days harmonise their operations into one single interface station domiciled in one location in the port and implemented by a single joint task force at all times, without prejudice to necessary back end procedures.
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The vice president’s order was actually meant to improve the ease of doing business and the competitiveness of Nigerian
ports; promote transparency and efficiency in the port environment and commence in real terms 24-hour operations in Nigerian ports with Apapa Port as a pilot scheme.
To effectively implement the vice president’s directive, Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Bala Usman, in a June 9, 2017, letter quickly constituted a committee of government agencies and critical stakeholders to enforce compliance of the order.
During the committee’s sittings, it was revealed that over 15 agencies were actually performing one function or another at the ports.
The agencies include Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service, Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), Department of State Services (DSS).
Others are Port Health, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, Association Of Nigeria Licensed Custom Agents, STOAN, Shipping Association of Nigeria and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
After deliberations, the agencies while agreeing and signing that the recommendations and the time allotted would be followed strictly for the Executive Order to be implemented also, agreed that the number of government agencies at the port should be reduced to only six, including Nigeria Customs Service, Department of State Services, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, the Nigeria Police Force (Bomb Unit) and any other agency notified by the Customs based on the need for their professional input, such as the Standards Organisation of Nigeria.
Part of the recommendations in the report was also that cargo examination shall be undertaken jointly and simultaneously by all agencies at a designated point to be provided by the terminal operator and that all release processes shall be streamlined and concluded at the terminal so that no cargo released at the terminal shall be subject to stoppage or re-examination within the port.
Regrettably, however, and in gross violation of the recommendation, cargoes that have been cleared are still being inspected in and around the ports during which the truck drivers are extorted by the different security agencies.
As at today, some of the agencies have in one way or the order found their ways back into the port in the guise of performing one function or the other. The effect being that cargo clearance still take between five to ten days to complete with the agencies hindering the process at one point or the other. Some have even found ingenious ways of delaying goods clearance, even outside the port gate.
For instance, just opposite the Apapa Police Station a few metres outside the port, trucks belonging to Customs Federal Operations Unit are stationed and truck laden goods already cleared from the port are stopped at random and checked for whatever purpose. Most times, the truck drivers are made to part with money.
The NPA managing Director led committee also agreed that the Nigeria Customs Service and other agencies operating at the ports main gates should relocate their personnel to the terminals where examination and cargo release begins and ends. But even when the agreement was generally signed by all parties, including the Customs, officials of the NPA who tried to persuade Customs personnel to leave the gate were allegedly beaten up by some Customs officials.
The Executive Order also asked the agencies at the port to commence 24-hour operations, to reduce cargo dwell time and excessive demurrage, starting with Apapa Port. This was to ensure trade facilitation and reduce delay in cargo clearance. But according to the OPS report, while the NCS said its personnel were on the ground for 24-hour operation, 72 per cent of the respondents said there was no 24-hour operation at the ports and that most offices were shut as early as 6pm.
The delay has unfortunately increased the cost of getting goods out of the ports, and consequently increased the overall cost of imported commodities in the market. Instead of the 48 hours stipulated for cargo clearance, which is what obtains in other African countries, only about 20 per cent of cargoes are presently cleared within that timeline in Nigeria, while majority of the cargoes take between five to 14 days to clear.
The NCS has, however, blamed the delays on shipping companies and clearing agents not obtaining proper documentation for the vessels to berth on time.
As if to give teeth to a 2011 Presidential directive, the NPA last week ordered all agencies not domiciled at the sea ports to vacate immediately.
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General manager Corporate and Strategic communications, Abdullahi Goje said only eight agencies are allowed into the sea port while others may come in as at when required. The agencies he mentioned include NPA, NIMASA, Nigeria Customs, Nigeria Police, Port Health, DSS, Immigration and the NDLEA. He ordered others to quit immediately.
He said the directive was in line with a 2011 Presidential Enabling Business Council (PEBEC) order which reduced the number of agencies at the port to only eight and solicited the cooperation of all involved.
Goje said that PEBEC had directed the NPA to ensure strict compliance to the October 26, 2011 presidential directive on agencies permitted to operate in the ports.
“Agencies allowed representation at the ports are: Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigeria Police, Department of State Security (DSS).
“Other agencies are: Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Port Health and the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA),’’ Goje said.
He stressed that the other agencies not mentioned on the list must remain outside the port premises.
The NPA spokesman said that the authority remained committed to the Ease of Doing Business policy of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. He said the presidential initiative was to improve the conditions under which business was carried out at all ports across the country.
Secretary General of National Association of Approved Government Freight Forwarders (NAGAF), Arthur Igwilo said the maritime industry desperately needs sanity especially now that revenue from crude oil has dropped drastically. He applauded the Standard Operating Procedure and Port Services Support Portal introduced by the Federal Government recently aimed at entrenching standardisation in port operations in Nigeria.
He said: “Over the years, people just find their ways into the ports under different guises and start extorting money from port users. For example, when a vessel arrives, one finds out that five or more agencies will be forcing their ways into the vessel, even to the chagrin of the crew members whose vessel may have berthed at other organised ports before Nigeria.
NAGAF stated that: “Other agencies and parastatals of government in the ports like Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) among others, operate outside their mandates as stipulated in the various acts establishing them. In fact, it has been a whole lot of confusion in the ports and their environment.
“This ensuing confusion over the years have been capitalised on to rip off port users, consequently, this makes Nigerian ports most expensive and unfriendly in sub Saharan Africa,” it stated.
The group, however, added that huge sums of money have been lost both by governments and individuals due to the insidious actions of the officials, adding that standardisation is the panacea to the ongoing confusion in the ports.