NSC: Taking Ports Efficiency to Global Level
Hon Jime
As the ports economic regulator, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) is confronted with the task of enthroning a robust ports system as obtains in global shipping arena. With the World Bank and S & P Global markets currently tracking the performances of the 350 ports all over the world and releasing information on each of these ports, Nigeria may have no choice than to do the needful.
In this special report, Francis Ugwoke x-rays the various measures of the umpire (NSC), challenges and strides in the transformation agenda of repositioning Nigerian ports system into an efficient service delivery that promotes trade facilitation in line with world shipping standard .…
For the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) as the ports economic regulator, the ports system must be taken to a new level. The agenda is on what is new in the global arena that is promoting trade facilitation. Every maritime nation is desirous of what happens in countries where trade dominates in contributing to the gross domestic product (GDP). Considering the important place of the maritime sector in terms of contribution to the global economy, ports efficiency is key. This explains why global ports have over the decades placed emphasis on high level of service delivery in ports operations. To this extent, global ports place much emphasis on sound infrastructure as key to trade facilitation. Most ports where efficiency is high pay attention to best technological developments. In other words, the ports invest in technical innovations, digitalization and best of infrastructure available to ensure efficient service delivery. All these help to achieve high productivity at the ports.
Among the global ports that are leading in high-tech that promotes trade include China, United States, Singapore, Rotterdam and Antwerp. Even in the West African sub-region, some countries have taken a queue. In these countries, ease of doing business is accorded top priority because it is understood that delay in trade facilitation leads to high costs to the shippers and the obvious implications of costs on goods and services. Besides, efficiency in ports system produces high level of patronage from trading partners, particularly conference liners who are transporting goods from one part of the world to another. In West and Central African ports, there has been the competition of which port becomes the hub or transshipment centre. The conference liners would obviously wish that there is such a hub where they simply drop their load (cargoes) and head back to other destinations. Often times, neighbouring countries have posed as big threat to Nigeria because of their ease of doing business. Among the reasons is the advantage these ports have because of natural draught that can accommodate any size of vessels. Besides, unlike what happens in Nigeria, most of these ports are highly automated so that clearing of goods where the importers have no issues on the consignments is made faster. In some of these neigbouring countries, technology is at its best and the issue of congestion is zero. The ship turnaround time is also remarkable, a development that gladdens ships as the captain and other crew are not delayed each time they are in the ports to deliver consignments. About a year ago, there was report that while cargo dwell time is between three weeks to four weeks in Nigeria, it is between 10 and 15 days in Benin Republic and between 12 and 14 days in Ghana and Togo. The issue for Nigeria has been a number of processes and bottlenecks which customs agents go through before their goods are released. In some cases, the importers and their agents are also to blame over malpractices and other manipulations in their documentations which lead to delay while undergoing customs processes. About three years ago, the shipping lines in Nigeria were reported to have recorded as much as N94bn from demurrage paid by importers. This was between 2020 and 2021 when shipping lines surcharged Nigerian importers for spending more than the time allowed for them to clear their goods. But the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) was bitter about this surcharge considering that Nigeria has the least free period allowed for importers to clear their goods. As at the time of the surcharge, it was about three days as against 10 days granted by terminal operators in neighbouring ports. The Council has since moved to address the issue as part of the transformation agenda. At a workshop late last year, the Council came out to speak against poor dwell time in Nigerian ports. The Executive Secretary, NSC, Hon Emmanuel Jime had pointed out that while it takes six hour and seven days for goods to be cleared in Singapore and Lomé, respectively, it takes an average of 21 days in Nigerian ports for importers to take their goods. He expressed dismay that this was as a result of the intervention of many groups, a development he said leads to delay in the process. Jime who was represented at the event by the South-South Zonal Director of the Council, Mr. Glory Onojedo, said such delay impacts negatively on the economy in terms of high prices of goods and services. He also added that this was among the reasons why Nigerian ports is given abysmal ranking in the Global Perception Index (GPI) as far as ease of doing business is concerned.
Transformation Agenda
Apparently determined to ensure that there is an improvement in Nigerian ports in line with what happens in other trading nations, the Nigerian Shippers Council has been spearheading a number of efforts in this regard. Apart from promoting automation, port community system, port equipment audit, the Council has come face to face with some personnel of the government agencies causing bottlenecks to trade facilitation.
The Executive Secretary of NSC, Hon Emmanuel Jime has expressed determination to ensure that the nation’s ports achieve efficiency as in other global ports. He wants this as a legacy. Jime believes that the Nigerian ports will attract more ship and cargo traffic as well as revenue with efficiency in ports operation.
Police Interference in Customs Job
The NSC has not been happy with some officers of the Nigeria Police Force posted to the ports. It has therefore confronted the system in a bold move to ensure efficiency in the system. The Council had accused some police officers as part of the problem in the ports as officers keep interfering in the duties of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) by stopping goods earlier cleared by the Service at the ports.
At a multi-agency stakeholders enlightenment forum, the Council told the Police and other agencies to stop intercepting goods already cleared by the Customs at the ports.
The Executive Secretary, Jime, had during the forum expressed concerns on why the Police detains a container in the ports which has been cleared by the Customs.
According to Jime, “The problem we have now is that we have Customs on one side checking cargoes, and police on the other hand also checking cargoes. These are things that shouldn’t exist. If Customs clears a cargo, the Police do not have the authority to detain such cargo.
“If the police has intelligence on a cargo, they should escort the container to the final spot of discharge and then check the container right there. Congesting our ports or ports access roads with detained containers is not helping the ease of doing business at our ports.
“We see these problems every day. Every agency of government has their roles cut out for them. NPA, NSC, NAFDAC, and others, we all have our different roles cut out for us, let us look at how we can interface with each other and harmonise our operations to help facilitate trade.
“If NAFDAC flags a container that has already been cleared by SON, it shouldn’t lead to clogging of the ports access roads or port congestion. We need to harmonise our operations for the benefit of the country.”
Automation
One of the things the NSC has done in the past few years has been to ensure that every service offered at the ports is automated in line with global standard. The NPA keyed into this and has perfected it. The shipping companies have achieved about 90 percent automation courtesy of the pressure from the NSC. With this, customs agents can afford to stay in the comfort of their offices to clear their goods. However, areas requiring their physical presence in the ports is during cargo examination. The Council has also ensured that during such examination, all the personnel of different agencies perform joint examination to make the process faster. This is also the same for boarding of vessels calling at the ports for inspection. The Council has championed joint examination involving all government agencies instead of individual inspection. This has checked extortion of captains and crew onboard vessels. What has remained an issue, however, is physical examination of goods instead of use of scanners. Though some of the ports have scanners, in some cases, the Customs management argues that some containers require physical examination. For security reasons, this has remained the practice, a development that adds to the delay in the clearance of goods at the ports. But since the matter has to do with security, there appears to be limit about the push on this considering the spate of insecurity in the country.
Equipment Audit
The common thing driving trade facilitation is technology. In view of this, nations are investing in new technology to improve trade. The result is that ports regulators all over the world insist that terminal handling at every port must be carried out with efficient equipment. To key into this, the NSC is insisting that terminal operators and shipping lines which provide services do so with state of the art equipment. This helps in efficient reception of vessels calling at the ports to save the time wasted during discharge of goods. Such modern equipment help in ensuring that containers and other cargoes are positioned for examination in good time. The NSC as ports economic regulator carries out equipment audit by visiting the terminals to check the type of equipment in use. The Council also interacts with shippers and their agents to get first hand information on their experience while clearing goods at the ports.
Protecting Shippers’ Interest
Over the decades, the primary role of the NSC has been in protecting the interest of the Nigerian importers and exporters, otherwise known as shippers. Upon appointment as the ports economic regulator, the Council became an umpire that protects all interests, including the providers and consumers of shipping services. The Council maintains its statutory obligation of protecting both the weak and the strong. It ensures that there is fair-play in business practices so that no one loses his/her investments. Because of the vulnerable nature of Nigerian importers who sometimes fall prey to foreign interests, the Council comes to the aid of those with legitimate cases through some level of assistance. This way their investments are protected. Many shippers have often been oppressed during which they lost huge sums of investments. Some of them have had to rely on the Council which will move beyond boundaries to draw diplomatic attention to such cases and the matter is resolved. In some case, the Council had stopped illegal charges from shipping companies. As part of port economic regulation, the idea of multinational shipping lines flagrantly introducing illegal charges is being checked. The NSC insists that all new charges must be negotiated on a round table involving all stakeholders. This has often placed the shipping lines on their toes when trying to introduce new charges. The Council had some years ago stopped some charges introduced by shipping lines. This decision later became subject of a legal action. The shipping companies had dragged the NSC to court thus challenging their powers but lost. The shipping service providers later headed to the Appeal Court where they also lost. The matter is currently in the Supreme Court where the shipping lines have sought out of court settlement. But the two have failed to arrive at amicable terms of settlement. On demurrage, the Council is currently working towards ensuring terminal operators give a grace of more than three days as obtains in neighbouring countries.
Infrastructure Upgrade
In view of its position in the industry, the Council advises the government on its obligations for the good of the economy and to achieve for Nigeria global best practices. To this end, the Council has been stressing on the need to have infrastructure that will facilitate trade. This includes linking of all the ports with rails to check ports congestion. The Council was gladdened when recently the Lekki Deep Seaport came into operation. It has been championing the need to also rehabilitate the network of roads leading to the ports. The federal government is currently carrying out rehabilitation work on all the roads leading to the ports. It has been on this project for some years now, and it is expected that it will be completed this year. However, the leadership and management team believe that the strides so far are enormous as trade facilitation continues to improve in Nigeria.
In continuation of protecting the interest of shippers, the Council is collaborating with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to have in place Consumer Protection Regime (CPR) at the port. This has been on since 2020. It is part of deepening the consumer rights of shippers according to the Executive Secretary. Jime had during a sensitization programme in August through the Director of Human Affairs, NSC, Adaku Okam, said the consumer protection regime was interested in ascertaining the challenges of various regulated service providers and users to be able to address their issues.
Jime said, “The consumer protection regime aims to achieve seamless operations with little or no infringements of rights. We will use the platform to disseminate sector-based information on the subject, and provide an avenue for stakeholders to give feedback on infringements of rights and possible areas that need improvement if necessary.” According to him, collaboration between the two government agencies will lead to competition as well as protection of consumers.
CTN Revolution
The NSC sees the CTN as holding a lot of optimism to right the wrongs in the ports system. With decades of fraudulent practices, the CTN is expected to address issues of under-declaration, under-invoicing, concealment, fraud in gross registered tonnage of vessels. Jime says CTN is a very useful tool in a number of ways.
Jime explains: “We all know that part of the problem of this nation is the proliferation of small arms, and how do they find their ways into our shores? Most of it through our ports, also we have to remember that our borders in most cases are porous, but you can drastically reduce the capacity and ability of people with bad intentions from accessing our country with this. Let’s be clear, CTN will enable this country to be able to identify what is contained in a cargo from a port or origin to any port of destination in Nigeria and throughout the course of journey. What that does is that it prepares our security apparatus from the very beginning where that ship is to set sail, from that port of origin, so as to know exactly what are the content. In other words, if you for some reasons take off from that particular port and decide to divert to some places so that you can now go and change what actually is the content of the vessel, the tracking device is able to give us the very ‘get go’ so we are able to get tract, that is the first thing. That will then allow us to be able to alert our security agencies and let them know that this particular ship, this is exactly what it is carrying and also soon as it comes into our waters it can be apprehended. That helps.
“We are also looking at the possibility from the tools that are available from this particular CTN to be able to identify the movement of crude oil from our ports to different destinations worldwide. Part of the problem again as you know is that crude theft has constituted big obstacle in our ability to sufficiently get the revenue that are due to our coffers. Again, we have now a tool that will be available which will enable our security agencies to know from the beginning there is particular activity that is being undertaken in our waters. If we can stop or at least reduce substantially the incidence of such occurrences, whether it is the area of small arms finding their way into our nation or the theft of our crude, that I think is substantial.
“There is also the incidence of under-declaration which over time has been part of the challenge that we have. Imagine bringing in quantity or certain kind of goods or may be contraband and then pretending that what is in the vessel is different from what actually were seen. I know of course, people can argue that with scanners in our ports that obviously will substantially be checked, but we are talking of our ability even when the ship has left the particular port in any part of the world and heading into our waters, we are able to identify it and stop it from that point. So, those and many others, actually, we are talking about the efficiency of our services, we are talking about cargo clearance, we are talking about delays into substantial demurrages. Before the ship has left, the manifest and every identification that is needed is supplied to us ahead of time, in some cases even two weeks or three weeks before that ship comes into our water, already the clearance can proceed while the vessel is still at sail. By the time the ship finally arrives, all you need to do is simply walk in and clear the goods that have come. That will enable the efficiency that we have been looking for in an even much better way that we operate at the moment. So these are some of the advantages of CTN I can remember now”.
Our Success Story, by Jime
Speaking on the outcome of the Council’s efforts to bring about changes in the ports system, Jime disclosed that despite all the challenges, the ports economic regulator has been able to achieve tremendous amount of efficiency in ports operations.
He said quite frankly, that as an arbiter in the ports system, the agency has enjoyed every level of cooperation from both providers and consumers of shipping services.
He explained that the establishment of the Nigerian Ports Process Manual (NPPM) and subsequently the Ports Standing Task Team (PSTT) led by the NSC has yielded a lot of dividends in terms of achieving efficiency in ports operations.
Noting that there was initial resistance, he said, there is now “an almost total buy-in of the regulatory role of the NSC as the ports economic regulator”.
Jime said he is happy that the efficiency in operations has added to the average turnaround time in the ports.
He attributed this to the activities of the PSTT which according to him, has insisted on strict observation of the provisions of the NPPM guidelines.
Jime said , “I am very happy to pronounce and to say that there is an almost total buy-in of the regulatory role of the NSC as the ports economic regulator. It has not always been so. At the beginning when we started performing these functions, naturally there was resistance, and again, I say that this came as a result of lack of understanding for the most part, of course, there was mischief certainly. You know, we keep mounting all these beautiful concept of having international best practices regulatory environment that meets the need of the particular industry that we are regulating. But the reality is that most people actually prefer atmosphere that is not properly regulated because they benefit the strongest. Regulation actually in my understanding benefits everyone but most importantly protects the weak against the strong. That is the setting in which we have to understand what has happened. “So, initially we had resistance. We have moved away gradually from resistance to ….oh let’s take a second look and see what is going on here’ and today, we are now effectively at the place where stakeholders in the industry not only recognize but have appreciated that regulation is very very necessary for there to be an effective conduct of business in any sector, and more so, particularly in the shipping, maritime industry. As I said earlier, we have participation from foreign internationals who come from climes and societies where the rule of law and due process is very properly entrenched. “So, it is for us to equally put a framework that is in conformity with those kind of international practices that those who are working with us are participating in this our economy and already imbibed as a way of conduct of business in our ports as well. So, today, we are happy at the level of compliance and it is because of that, that we have been able to also record tremendous amount of successes in the way that our maritime space is being run.
“ Today, we are happy to report that for instance, the average turnaround time in our ports due to the activities of the PSTT which has ensured following the strict provisions of the NPPM guidelines that there is joint boarding of vessels for instance. There is also joint examination of cargo. In the ports we had different agencies of government who took their time and decided at their own space whenever they will perform a function. This is no longer the case. We believe that if you save time in the manner in which conduct of cargo examination is done, if you save time in the manner in which you board the vessels that have berthed in our waters, there is tremendous amount of efficiency that is then brought to bear on the manner of the conduct of business in the ports. So, I am happy that we have been given the tools by the establishment of this particular document and of the work of the ports having Task Team that has collaborated and assisted all the other divisions that are present here in the NSC, i.e the regulatory services division working hand-in-hand with the PSTT is now better in role to guarantee automation in the industry which we have been driving, and of course, a number of the tools that are available for us to be able to ensure there is quality service delivery in our ports. Don’t forget the PSTT under our leadership has also extended its activities to cover access into the ports. We all remember many years ago, the gridlock that visited access into the ports, whether it is in the area of the trucks coming in , whether it is in the area of containers that were littered in the ports. Now, there is sanity, some level of order are beginning to develop, and we can only continue in that pathway, because it guarantees that we can be more sustainable in the way we are ensuring quality service delivery in our ports”.
To observers, the measures by the ports economic regulator are coming at the right time considering the fact that the World Bank and & P Global markets are reported to be tracking performances of the 350 ports all over the world and releasing information on each of these ports.
In this special report, Francis Ugwoke x-rays the various measures of the umpire (NSC), challenges and strides in the transformation agenda of repositioning Nigerian ports system into an efficient service delivery that promotes trade facilitation in line with world shipping standard .…
For the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) as the ports economic regulator, the ports system must be taken to a new level. The agenda is on what is new in the global arena that is promoting trade facilitation. Every maritime nation is desirous of what happens in countries where trade dominates in contributing to the gross domestic product (GDP). Considering the important place of the maritime sector in terms of contribution to the global economy, ports efficiency is key. This explains why global ports have over the decades placed emphasis on high level of service delivery in ports operations. To this extent, global ports place much emphasis on sound infrastructure as key to trade facilitation. Most ports where efficiency is high pay attention to best technological developments. In other words, the ports invest in technical innovations, digitalization and best of infrastructure available to ensure efficient service delivery. All these help to achieve high productivity at the ports.
Among the global ports that are leading in high-tech that promotes trade include China, United States, Singapore, Rotterdam and Antwerp. Even in the West African sub-region, some countries have taken a queue. In these countries, ease of doing business is accorded top priority because it is understood that delay in trade facilitation leads to high costs to the shippers and the obvious implications of costs on goods and services. Besides, efficiency in ports system produces high level of patronage from trading partners, particularly conference liners who are transporting goods from one part of the world to another. In West and Central African ports, there has been the competition of which port becomes the hub or transshipment centre. The conference liners would obviously wish that there is such a hub where they simply drop their load (cargoes) and head back to other destinations. Often times, neighbouring countries have posed as big threat to Nigeria because of their ease of doing business. Among the reasons is the advantage these ports have because of natural draught that can accommodate any size of vessels. Besides, unlike what happens in Nigeria, most of these ports are highly automated so that clearing of goods where the importers have no issues on the consignments is made faster. In some of these neigbouring countries, technology is at its best and the issue of congestion is zero. The ship turnaround time is also remarkable, a development that gladdens ships as the captain and other crew are not delayed each time they are in the ports to deliver consignments. About a year ago, there was report that while cargo dwell time is between three weeks to four weeks in Nigeria, it is between 10 and 15 days in Benin Republic and between 12 and 14 days in Ghana and Togo. The issue for Nigeria has been a number of processes and bottlenecks which customs agents go through before their goods are released. In some cases, the importers and their agents are also to blame over malpractices and other manipulations in their documentations which lead to delay while undergoing customs processes. About three years ago, the shipping lines in Nigeria were reported to have recorded as much as N94bn from demurrage paid by importers. This was between 2020 and 2021 when shipping lines surcharged Nigerian importers for spending more than the time allowed for them to clear their goods. But the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) was bitter about this surcharge considering that Nigeria has the least free period allowed for importers to clear their goods. As at the time of the surcharge, it was about three days as against 10 days granted by terminal operators in neighbouring ports. The Council has since moved to address the issue as part of the transformation agenda. At a workshop late last year, the Council came out to speak against poor dwell time in Nigerian ports. The Executive Secretary, NSC, Hon Emmanuel Jime had pointed out that while it takes six hour and seven days for goods to be cleared in Singapore and Lomé, respectively, it takes an average of 21 days in Nigerian ports for importers to take their goods. He expressed dismay that this was as a result of the intervention of many groups, a development he said leads to delay in the process. Jime who was represented at the event by the South-South Zonal Director of the Council, Mr. Glory Onojedo, said such delay impacts negatively on the economy in terms of high prices of goods and services. He also added that this was among the reasons why Nigerian ports is given abysmal ranking in the Global Perception Index (GPI) as far as ease of doing business is concerned.
Transformation Agenda
Apparently determined to ensure that there is an improvement in Nigerian ports in line with what happens in other trading nations, the Nigerian Shippers Council has been spearheading a number of efforts in this regard. Apart from promoting automation, port community system, port equipment audit, the Council has come face to face with some personnel of the government agencies causing bottlenecks to trade facilitation.
The Executive Secretary of NSC, Hon Emmanuel Jime has expressed determination to ensure that the nation’s ports achieve efficiency as in other global ports. He wants this as a legacy. Jime believes that the Nigerian ports will attract more ship and cargo traffic as well as revenue with efficiency in ports operation.
Police Interference in Customs Job
The NSC has not been happy with some officers of the Nigeria Police Force posted to the ports. It has therefore confronted the system in a bold move to ensure efficiency in the system. The Council had accused some police officers as part of the problem in the ports as officers keep interfering in the duties of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) by stopping goods earlier cleared by the Service at the ports.
At a multi-agency stakeholders enlightenment forum, the Council told the Police and other agencies to stop intercepting goods already cleared by the Customs at the ports.
The Executive Secretary, Jime, had during the forum expressed concerns on why the Police detains a container in the ports which has been cleared by the Customs.
According to Jime, “The problem we have now is that we have Customs on one side checking cargoes, and police on the other hand also checking cargoes. These are things that shouldn’t exist. If Customs clears a cargo, the Police do not have the authority to detain such cargo.
“If the police has intelligence on a cargo, they should escort the container to the final spot of discharge and then check the container right there. Congesting our ports or ports access roads with detained containers is not helping the ease of doing business at our ports.
“We see these problems every day. Every agency of government has their roles cut out for them. NPA, NSC, NAFDAC, and others, we all have our different roles cut out for us, let us look at how we can interface with each other and harmonise our operations to help facilitate trade.
“If NAFDAC flags a container that has already been cleared by SON, it shouldn’t lead to clogging of the ports access roads or port congestion. We need to harmonise our operations for the benefit of the country.”
Automation
One of the things the NSC has done in the past few years has been to ensure that every service offered at the ports is automated in line with global standard. The NPA keyed into this and has perfected it. The shipping companies have achieved about 90 percent automation courtesy of the pressure from the NSC. With this, customs agents can afford to stay in the comfort of their offices to clear their goods. However, areas requiring their physical presence in the ports is during cargo examination. The Council has also ensured that during such examination, all the personnel of different agencies perform joint examination to make the process faster. This is also the same for boarding of vessels calling at the ports for inspection. The Council has championed joint examination involving all government agencies instead of individual inspection. This has checked extortion of captains and crew onboard vessels. What has remained an issue, however, is physical examination of goods instead of use of scanners. Though some of the ports have scanners, in some cases, the Customs management argues that some containers require physical examination. For security reasons, this has remained the practice, a development that adds to the delay in the clearance of goods at the ports. But since the matter has to do with security, there appears to be limit about the push on this considering the spate of insecurity in the country.
Equipment Audit
The common thing driving trade facilitation is technology. In view of this, nations are investing in new technology to improve trade. The result is that ports regulators all over the world insist that terminal handling at every port must be carried out with efficient equipment. To key into this, the NSC is insisting that terminal operators and shipping lines which provide services do so with state of the art equipment. This helps in efficient reception of vessels calling at the ports to save the time wasted during discharge of goods. Such modern equipment help in ensuring that containers and other cargoes are positioned for examination in good time. The NSC as ports economic regulator carries out equipment audit by visiting the terminals to check the type of equipment in use. The Council also interacts with shippers and their agents to get first hand information on their experience while clearing goods at the ports.
Protecting Shippers’ Interest
Over the decades, the primary role of the NSC has been in protecting the interest of the Nigerian importers and exporters, otherwise known as shippers. Upon appointment as the ports economic regulator, the Council became an umpire that protects all interests, including the providers and consumers of shipping services. The Council maintains its statutory obligation of protecting both the weak and the strong. It ensures that there is fair-play in business practices so that no one loses his/her investments. Because of the vulnerable nature of Nigerian importers who sometimes fall prey to foreign interests, the Council comes to the aid of those with legitimate cases through some level of assistance. This way their investments are protected. Many shippers have often been oppressed during which they lost huge sums of investments. Some of them have had to rely on the Council which will move beyond boundaries to draw diplomatic attention to such cases and the matter is resolved. In some case, the Council had stopped illegal charges from shipping companies. As part of port economic regulation, the idea of multinational shipping lines flagrantly introducing illegal charges is being checked. The NSC insists that all new charges must be negotiated on a round table involving all stakeholders. This has often placed the shipping lines on their toes when trying to introduce new charges. The Council had some years ago stopped some charges introduced by shipping lines. This decision later became subject of a legal action. The shipping companies had dragged the NSC to court thus challenging their powers but lost. The shipping service providers later headed to the Appeal Court where they also lost. The matter is currently in the Supreme Court where the shipping lines have sought out of court settlement. But the two have failed to arrive at amicable terms of settlement. On demurrage, the Council is currently working towards ensuring terminal operators give a grace of more than three days as obtains in neighbouring countries.
Infrastructure Upgrade
In view of its position in the industry, the Council advises the government on its obligations for the good of the economy and to achieve for Nigeria global best practices. To this end, the Council has been stressing on the need to have infrastructure that will facilitate trade. This includes linking of all the ports with rails to check ports congestion. The Council was gladdened when recently the Lekki Deep Seaport came into operation. It has been championing the need to also rehabilitate the network of roads leading to the ports. The federal government is currently carrying out rehabilitation work on all the roads leading to the ports. It has been on this project for some years now, and it is expected that it will be completed this year. However, the leadership and management team believe that the strides so far are enormous as trade facilitation continues to improve in Nigeria.
In continuation of protecting the interest of shippers, the Council is collaborating with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to have in place Consumer Protection Regime (CPR) at the port. This has been on since 2020. It is part of deepening the consumer rights of shippers according to the Executive Secretary. Jime had during a sensitization programme in August through the Director of Human Affairs, NSC, Adaku Okam, said the consumer protection regime was interested in ascertaining the challenges of various regulated service providers and users to be able to address their issues.
Jime said, “The consumer protection regime aims to achieve seamless operations with little or no infringements of rights. We will use the platform to disseminate sector-based information on the subject, and provide an avenue for stakeholders to give feedback on infringements of rights and possible areas that need improvement if necessary.” According to him, collaboration between the two government agencies will lead to competition as well as protection of consumers.
CTN Revolution
The NSC sees the CTN as holding a lot of optimism to right the wrongs in the ports system. With decades of fraudulent practices, the CTN is expected to address issues of under-declaration, under-invoicing, concealment, fraud in gross registered tonnage of vessels. Jime says CTN is a very useful tool in a number of ways.
Jime explains: “We all know that part of the problem of this nation is the proliferation of small arms, and how do they find their ways into our shores? Most of it through our ports, also we have to remember that our borders in most cases are porous, but you can drastically reduce the capacity and ability of people with bad intentions from accessing our country with this. Let’s be clear, CTN will enable this country to be able to identify what is contained in a cargo from a port or origin to any port of destination in Nigeria and throughout the course of journey. What that does is that it prepares our security apparatus from the very beginning where that ship is to set sail, from that port of origin, so as to know exactly what are the content. In other words, if you for some reasons take off from that particular port and decide to divert to some places so that you can now go and change what actually is the content of the vessel, the tracking device is able to give us the very ‘get go’ so we are able to get tract, that is the first thing. That will then allow us to be able to alert our security agencies and let them know that this particular ship, this is exactly what it is carrying and also soon as it comes into our waters it can be apprehended. That helps.
“We are also looking at the possibility from the tools that are available from this particular CTN to be able to identify the movement of crude oil from our ports to different destinations worldwide. Part of the problem again as you know is that crude theft has constituted big obstacle in our ability to sufficiently get the revenue that are due to our coffers. Again, we have now a tool that will be available which will enable our security agencies to know from the beginning there is particular activity that is being undertaken in our waters. If we can stop or at least reduce substantially the incidence of such occurrences, whether it is the area of small arms finding their way into our nation or the theft of our crude, that I think is substantial.
“There is also the incidence of under-declaration which over time has been part of the challenge that we have. Imagine bringing in quantity or certain kind of goods or may be contraband and then pretending that what is in the vessel is different from what actually were seen. I know of course, people can argue that with scanners in our ports that obviously will substantially be checked, but we are talking of our ability even when the ship has left the particular port in any part of the world and heading into our waters, we are able to identify it and stop it from that point. So, those and many others, actually, we are talking about the efficiency of our services, we are talking about cargo clearance, we are talking about delays into substantial demurrages. Before the ship has left, the manifest and every identification that is needed is supplied to us ahead of time, in some cases even two weeks or three weeks before that ship comes into our water, already the clearance can proceed while the vessel is still at sail. By the time the ship finally arrives, all you need to do is simply walk in and clear the goods that have come. That will enable the efficiency that we have been looking for in an even much better way that we operate at the moment. So these are some of the advantages of CTN I can remember now”.
Our Success Story, by Jime
Speaking on the outcome of the Council’s efforts to bring about changes in the ports system, Jime disclosed that despite all the challenges, the ports economic regulator has been able to achieve tremendous amount of efficiency in ports operations.
He said quite frankly, that as an arbiter in the ports system, the agency has enjoyed every level of cooperation from both providers and consumers of shipping services.
He explained that the establishment of the Nigerian Ports Process Manual (NPPM) and subsequently the Ports Standing Task Team (PSTT) led by the NSC has yielded a lot of dividends in terms of achieving efficiency in ports operations.
Noting that there was initial resistance, he said, there is now “an almost total buy-in of the regulatory role of the NSC as the ports economic regulator”.
Jime said he is happy that the efficiency in operations has added to the average turnaround time in the ports.
He attributed this to the activities of the PSTT which according to him, has insisted on strict observation of the provisions of the NPPM guidelines.
Jime said , “I am very happy to pronounce and to say that there is an almost total buy-in of the regulatory role of the NSC as the ports economic regulator. It has not always been so. At the beginning when we started performing these functions, naturally there was resistance, and again, I say that this came as a result of lack of understanding for the most part, of course, there was mischief certainly. You know, we keep mounting all these beautiful concept of having international best practices regulatory environment that meets the need of the particular industry that we are regulating. But the reality is that most people actually prefer atmosphere that is not properly regulated because they benefit the strongest. Regulation actually in my understanding benefits everyone but most importantly protects the weak against the strong. That is the setting in which we have to understand what has happened. “So, initially we had resistance. We have moved away gradually from resistance to ….oh let’s take a second look and see what is going on here’ and today, we are now effectively at the place where stakeholders in the industry not only recognize but have appreciated that regulation is very very necessary for there to be an effective conduct of business in any sector, and more so, particularly in the shipping, maritime industry. As I said earlier, we have participation from foreign internationals who come from climes and societies where the rule of law and due process is very properly entrenched. “So, it is for us to equally put a framework that is in conformity with those kind of international practices that those who are working with us are participating in this our economy and already imbibed as a way of conduct of business in our ports as well. So, today, we are happy at the level of compliance and it is because of that, that we have been able to also record tremendous amount of successes in the way that our maritime space is being run.
“ Today, we are happy to report that for instance, the average turnaround time in our ports due to the activities of the PSTT which has ensured following the strict provisions of the NPPM guidelines that there is joint boarding of vessels for instance. There is also joint examination of cargo. In the ports we had different agencies of government who took their time and decided at their own space whenever they will perform a function. This is no longer the case. We believe that if you save time in the manner in which conduct of cargo examination is done, if you save time in the manner in which you board the vessels that have berthed in our waters, there is tremendous amount of efficiency that is then brought to bear on the manner of the conduct of business in the ports. So, I am happy that we have been given the tools by the establishment of this particular document and of the work of the ports having Task Team that has collaborated and assisted all the other divisions that are present here in the NSC, i.e the regulatory services division working hand-in-hand with the PSTT is now better in role to guarantee automation in the industry which we have been driving, and of course, a number of the tools that are available for us to be able to ensure there is quality service delivery in our ports. Don’t forget the PSTT under our leadership has also extended its activities to cover access into the ports. We all remember many years ago, the gridlock that visited access into the ports, whether it is in the area of the trucks coming in , whether it is in the area of containers that were littered in the ports. Now, there is sanity, some level of order are beginning to develop, and we can only continue in that pathway, because it guarantees that we can be more sustainable in the way we are ensuring quality service delivery in our ports”.
To observers, the measures by the ports economic regulator are coming at the right time considering the fact that the World Bank and & P Global markets are reported to be tracking performances of the 350 ports all over the world and releasing information on each of these ports.
FOLLOW US
About Post Author
