Aniebonam: Ports Concessioning Has Worsened Importers, Exporters’ Woes in Nigeria
DR. BONIFACE ANIEBONAM
*Says NPA failed as landlord, technical regulator to check concessionaires
* Traces issues at ports to leadership gap
By Francis Ugwoke
The much expected gains from ports concessioning prpgramme carried out in 2006 in Nigeria are yet to be realized, the founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Boniface Aniebonam has said.
Rather than addressing the yearning of importers and freight forwarders, the concessioning regime has instead worsened the woes of consumers of shipping services in Nigeria, Aniebonam said.
He argued that while the essence of the port reform was to address the bottlenecks in the system when Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) was the overall terminal operator, reduce cost of doing business, increase efficiency and productivity to high level, these expectations were yet to be realized.
He queried, “Have we gotten to that level? It is worse scenario”.
Speaking at a Forum organised by members of League of Maritime Editors and Publishers in Lagos, the NAGAFF founder maintained that so far the exercise has become a disappointment based on the expectations and euphoria raised on the concesioning regime introduced 15 years ago.
Aniebonam who said that shippers and freight forwarders were not happy about the present situation of things at the ports 15 years after the reform programme, attributed the problem to failure of leadership drive expected from the landlord of the system as the technical regulator.
He slammed the NPA for the failure of the concessioning regime, adding that as the technical regulator under the landlord port model, the organization failed woefully in its statutory obligations.
According to him, it was sad that the NPA in the past 15 years as the technical regulator has not been able to bring to bear its weight of power on the terminal operators.
He said the failure of the NPA to sanction the terminal operators was the reason why the much expected efficiency in the system has remained a mirage.
He added however that this may not be unconnected with the powerful elements who are behind the concessionaires.
But Aniebonam argued that this was wrong since the leadership of the NPA has the power of the President under statutory provisions to exact its will where necessary for the good of the industry.
According to him, the NPA as the landlord and technical regulator has only been concerned about the revenue coming from the sector while keeping blind eye to other shortcomings of the concessionaires.
Aniebonam said, “The port has been concessioned with NPA as technical supervisor. So, how is NPA supervising the concessionaires ? What has been the level of sanction against those concessionaires that are erring? NPA is on the side track there talking money loyalty. The concessionaires are very powerful people and that is the environment where they operate.
“How can anybody be happy with their activities? If you recall, what is the essence of port concessionining . Why did we take that responsibility away from NPA. That is what you should look at. The expectation is that when the ports are concessioned, the cost of doing business will go down, efficiency shall increase, productivity will go up greatly. Have we gotten to that level? It is worse scenario. It is as good as saying why do we concession the ports. We should have left NPA to manage with what we had before. So, as far as I am concerned it is like providing food for the boys again. Yes!. Because if there is nobody to actually look at the activities of these people (concessionaires) then the concessioning exercise is inconsequential.
When asked on whether he was implying that the concessioning has not yielded any benefit, Aniebonam said he could not have said so, but maintained that he was yet to see the much expected value addition to what was on the ground before the concessionaires took over the terminal operation from the NPA.
He said, “ I could not have said so (that the concessioning has not yielded benefits). It will be wrong for anybody to say so. But commulatively, they have not added value because the cost of doing business is higher and the essense of concessioning is to make our ports competitive. Have we gotten efficiency. Do you know how long it takes us to take container out of the ports?”
He blamed the problem of the ports on leadership, adding that those incharge were yet to provide the much needed leadership drive for the ports industry.
He said, “there are lots of things you look at when you discuss a matter of this nature, to be holistic in approach, because port operation is a circle. Each one has to be functional. The customs circule, shipping company angles have to be functional, the haulage. Cordination has to be right. May be that will take us to the Transport Commission, Nobody is moderating the port as it were.
“ Who is the lader of the port? Ordinarily, the Nigerian Customs Service is the leader of the ports – the lead agency. And you can understand why the Customs has that responsibility when you look at the Customs law. If you look at Section 13, it tells you all these agencies you are naming – like the terminal operators have a responsibility to provide the enabling environment for the optimum performance of the Customs officers in the ports, but has Customs taken the responsibility to do that.
“I take you to Section 8 of the Customs law, the powers of a Police officer bestowed on the Customs that is why the Customs has Enforcement Unit and as a para-military organisation , to what extent do they do that? The Custom has the power of arrest and prosecution. I take you to section 11 of th Customs law – obstructon of the lawful officer in the Customs port. In other words, all these people that seem to be creating bottlements in Customs operation – Customs has the power to arrest and hand them over to the appropriate authority like the Nigerian Police to prosecute them on such criminality – other than revenue matters. So somebody must provide leadership. I want to remind you that there was a time customs invited all of us (customs agents/freight forwarders), shipping companies to provide ship manifests or the soft copy. But you know how long it took them (shipping companies) until we started shouting that they (customs) should invoke customs law and see the action of those people (shipping companies) as obstruction . So it is about leadership”.
On what is expected of the NPA as technical regulator, Aniebonam said there was the need to look at the powers bestowed on the landlord under the concessioning regime.
He said, “You have to look at their powers under the concessioning regime. What powers do they have. And I have told you the concessionaires are very powerful people. So it depends.
“This country has a problem. What we need is leadership, In Britain, they have unwritten law. Laws are made for man and not man for law. It has to do with our consensus. What do we want? Do you think we don’t have enabling laws that will address these our worries? But to what extent do we carry that responsibility?
“ So, there is a problem in the entire system. And that has to do with leadership. But what I keep telling any person who is found in the position of authority, either as MD of NPA , NIMASA, Customs, Police as the case may be. All these people appointed by the President. Under the Customs, his powers have been delegated. So go and do your job. Even if doing your job rightly will lead to you losing the job, go ahead and lose the job. Another person will come and do the right thing and lose the job, we continue doing that – a day will come and someone will ask, what is wrong? The President was saying anybody found with AK 47 should be shot at sight. It is known that anybody with AK-47 is doing so illegally. So why should he be reminding people about that. It means somebody is not doing his job”.
* Traces issues at ports to leadership gap
By Francis Ugwoke
The much expected gains from ports concessioning prpgramme carried out in 2006 in Nigeria are yet to be realized, the founder of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Boniface Aniebonam has said.
Rather than addressing the yearning of importers and freight forwarders, the concessioning regime has instead worsened the woes of consumers of shipping services in Nigeria, Aniebonam said.
He argued that while the essence of the port reform was to address the bottlenecks in the system when Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) was the overall terminal operator, reduce cost of doing business, increase efficiency and productivity to high level, these expectations were yet to be realized.
He queried, “Have we gotten to that level? It is worse scenario”.
Speaking at a Forum organised by members of League of Maritime Editors and Publishers in Lagos, the NAGAFF founder maintained that so far the exercise has become a disappointment based on the expectations and euphoria raised on the concesioning regime introduced 15 years ago.
Aniebonam who said that shippers and freight forwarders were not happy about the present situation of things at the ports 15 years after the reform programme, attributed the problem to failure of leadership drive expected from the landlord of the system as the technical regulator.
He slammed the NPA for the failure of the concessioning regime, adding that as the technical regulator under the landlord port model, the organization failed woefully in its statutory obligations.
According to him, it was sad that the NPA in the past 15 years as the technical regulator has not been able to bring to bear its weight of power on the terminal operators.
He said the failure of the NPA to sanction the terminal operators was the reason why the much expected efficiency in the system has remained a mirage.
He added however that this may not be unconnected with the powerful elements who are behind the concessionaires.
But Aniebonam argued that this was wrong since the leadership of the NPA has the power of the President under statutory provisions to exact its will where necessary for the good of the industry.
According to him, the NPA as the landlord and technical regulator has only been concerned about the revenue coming from the sector while keeping blind eye to other shortcomings of the concessionaires.
Aniebonam said, “The port has been concessioned with NPA as technical supervisor. So, how is NPA supervising the concessionaires ? What has been the level of sanction against those concessionaires that are erring? NPA is on the side track there talking money loyalty. The concessionaires are very powerful people and that is the environment where they operate.
“How can anybody be happy with their activities? If you recall, what is the essence of port concessionining . Why did we take that responsibility away from NPA. That is what you should look at. The expectation is that when the ports are concessioned, the cost of doing business will go down, efficiency shall increase, productivity will go up greatly. Have we gotten to that level? It is worse scenario. It is as good as saying why do we concession the ports. We should have left NPA to manage with what we had before. So, as far as I am concerned it is like providing food for the boys again. Yes!. Because if there is nobody to actually look at the activities of these people (concessionaires) then the concessioning exercise is inconsequential.
When asked on whether he was implying that the concessioning has not yielded any benefit, Aniebonam said he could not have said so, but maintained that he was yet to see the much expected value addition to what was on the ground before the concessionaires took over the terminal operation from the NPA.
He said, “ I could not have said so (that the concessioning has not yielded benefits). It will be wrong for anybody to say so. But commulatively, they have not added value because the cost of doing business is higher and the essense of concessioning is to make our ports competitive. Have we gotten efficiency. Do you know how long it takes us to take container out of the ports?”
He blamed the problem of the ports on leadership, adding that those incharge were yet to provide the much needed leadership drive for the ports industry.
He said, “there are lots of things you look at when you discuss a matter of this nature, to be holistic in approach, because port operation is a circle. Each one has to be functional. The customs circule, shipping company angles have to be functional, the haulage. Cordination has to be right. May be that will take us to the Transport Commission, Nobody is moderating the port as it were.
“ Who is the lader of the port? Ordinarily, the Nigerian Customs Service is the leader of the ports – the lead agency. And you can understand why the Customs has that responsibility when you look at the Customs law. If you look at Section 13, it tells you all these agencies you are naming – like the terminal operators have a responsibility to provide the enabling environment for the optimum performance of the Customs officers in the ports, but has Customs taken the responsibility to do that.
“I take you to Section 8 of the Customs law, the powers of a Police officer bestowed on the Customs that is why the Customs has Enforcement Unit and as a para-military organisation , to what extent do they do that? The Custom has the power of arrest and prosecution. I take you to section 11 of th Customs law – obstructon of the lawful officer in the Customs port. In other words, all these people that seem to be creating bottlements in Customs operation – Customs has the power to arrest and hand them over to the appropriate authority like the Nigerian Police to prosecute them on such criminality – other than revenue matters. So somebody must provide leadership. I want to remind you that there was a time customs invited all of us (customs agents/freight forwarders), shipping companies to provide ship manifests or the soft copy. But you know how long it took them (shipping companies) until we started shouting that they (customs) should invoke customs law and see the action of those people (shipping companies) as obstruction . So it is about leadership”.
On what is expected of the NPA as technical regulator, Aniebonam said there was the need to look at the powers bestowed on the landlord under the concessioning regime.
He said, “You have to look at their powers under the concessioning regime. What powers do they have. And I have told you the concessionaires are very powerful people. So it depends.
“This country has a problem. What we need is leadership, In Britain, they have unwritten law. Laws are made for man and not man for law. It has to do with our consensus. What do we want? Do you think we don’t have enabling laws that will address these our worries? But to what extent do we carry that responsibility?
“ So, there is a problem in the entire system. And that has to do with leadership. But what I keep telling any person who is found in the position of authority, either as MD of NPA , NIMASA, Customs, Police as the case may be. All these people appointed by the President. Under the Customs, his powers have been delegated. So go and do your job. Even if doing your job rightly will lead to you losing the job, go ahead and lose the job. Another person will come and do the right thing and lose the job, we continue doing that – a day will come and someone will ask, what is wrong? The President was saying anybody found with AK 47 should be shot at sight. It is known that anybody with AK-47 is doing so illegally. So why should he be reminding people about that. It means somebody is not doing his job”.
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