Lagos ports
One of the issues that signposts the maritime sector of the economy in the first quarter of the year is the refusal of the federal government to disburse the Cabotage Vessel Finance Fund (CVFF) despite repeated promises and assurances to do so.
As it is, no one is sure of the exact time the fund will be disbursed as the whole exercise is shrouded in secrecy. For instance, no one is ready to make public the exact amount the fund has accrued so far in the banks.
While the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar is ready to say how much is the money from inception to date, he keeps a sealed lip on the accruing interests in the commercial banks where the money is lodged over the years.
The secrecy over CVFF explained why speculations on how the actual amount and the accruing interest are unending. The situation is not helped by the silence of the National Assembly on the matter.
Early this year, members of the Senate and House Committees on Marine Transport were in Lagos on oversight functions to some of the government agencies under the watch of the Federal Ministry of Transport, including the Nigerian Maritime Administration Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). Issues on CVFF were not on the card.
If at all, they do, they were not made public. It was like a private affair. Shortly after the introduction of the legislators and the management of the agency, journalists were asked to leave the venue of the meeting.
Not a few stakeholders wondered why journalists were invited to cover the event if they were not wanted at the venue. What transpired between the legislators and the management of the parasatal was not made public. The secrecy and waiting game continues.
Maritime Exposition
The 2014 maritime exposition (NIMAREX) which took place at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island was well organised but was marred by poor attendance. For the fourth year running, President Goodluck Jonathan did not attend the event despite assurance that he would grace the occasion.
The exposition which was styled after the offshore technology conference (OTC), Houston, Texas, United States of America (USA) has not achieved the desired results. This is not unconnected with the inability of the federal government to fully embrace it despite the parasatals in the Federal Ministry of Transport doling out various sums of money and other resources annually to support it.
Many of the participants at this year’s edition which took place last month went home disappointed as they strongly believed that the epoch making event, designed to annually bring the nation’s technological advancement to the fore had again degenerated into another largely misplaced seminar of another dimension.
Subsequently, most of them who did not attend this year’s event felt justified, when those who did voice out their dismay with the decreasing attendance, affirming that in the absence of nothing new to do, they simply vented their frustration on government, blaming the authorities that nothing ever works in the country.
“This annual event was a huge failure. We went with the intention to see where the country is in terms of industrial and technological development, only to see that we were back again, at the same old story,” one of the participants said in frustration.
Continuing, the participant who one of the players in the sector said: “I did not go there to listen to a caustic criticism of government. I know where the government was failing. So, I was not looking for mourners. I went to identify with progress being made in our maritime industry.
Or so, I thought. But it turned out to be another big workshop. Only that this time around, the event also became another platform for some parastatals heads, to tell us how wonderful they have been in their style of administration!”
The participant who did not want his name in print expressed dismay over government inability to muster the political will to do right thing that will enable Nigeria, nay Nigerians maximise the enormous potentials in the maritime sector of the economy.
“As it is, I am not looking forwards to next year edition and I am not alone. We need to act fast by doing the right thing so that we can all reap the huge benefits in the maritime sector. All the countries Nigerians take delight in spending plenty money to visit started small but they sustain it over the years.
“The difference between them and us is not in their brain but in their ability to sustain anything they start doing, no matter how small it is. Look at OTC, it has been there for decades. It has been become an important date in maritime, technology, oil and gas industry industries annual calendar. I can assure you that if we continue like this, NIMAREX will die a natural death”, he said.
Speaking in the same vein, another importer queried the rationality of spending over N40 million on entertainments of guests, only to also award the contract of building the exhibition sheds to foreigners.
“Look, those guys have lost focus. They even awarded the contract of sheds erection to foreigner. Are we saying that Nigerians are so porous that we couldn’t build even the commonest of sheds? What was the sense in asking foreigners to design or build the sheds? And even if they can’t give it to a Nigerian, couldn’t they give the job to an African?” the importer asked, stressing that it was like the organizers had a big budget, and were determined to exhaust it.
Budget Defence
The first quarter of the year was characterised by budget defence by the various parasatals under the purview of the Federal Ministry of Transport. These include NIMASA, NPA, Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron, Akwa Ibom State, and the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA).
Others are the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Nigerian Railways Corporation (NRC) as well as the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), Zaria, Kadunna State.
During the period under review, the helmsmen of these parasatals virtually made Abuja a second home as they pulled every string within and outside the corridors of powers to ensure that their 2014 budgets were approved by the National Assembly.
It was a period members of the National Assembly made it clear that they have what it takes to wipe any erring government agency helmsmen on their bare buttocks. It was also a period when the heads and CEOs of these government agencies were hardly on seat to perform their primary roles and responsibilities.
This was due to the fact that they virtually relocated to the National Assembly to ensure that their budgets for the year were approved. For the politics surrounding, defending budget ought not top be a cumbersome process where top government officials have to run from pillar to post, abandoning their primary assignment in the process.
Economic Regulator
Within the period under review, NSC was appointed as an economic regulator for the maritime sector of the economy. The appointment of NSC was sequel to the prolong delay in the passage of some maritime bills, especially the Port and Harbour Bill.
Umar who announced the federal government approval of NSC as an economic regulator said the decision was taken to address challenges created by the absence of an economic regulator for the maritime sector of the economy.
The minister reiterated that the federal government is committed to working assiduously to ensure that the transport bills are passed for the council to perform effectively.
He disclosed that there were massive consultations from the Vice President, Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy, and the Comptroller General of Customs. He revealed that the consultation culminated in the approval of the council to act as interim commercial port regulator for a period of one year.
“Government is mindful of the fact that it is processing the draft bill and I do not see any order way that it has given Nigerian Shippers’ Council to become the economic regulator just because of the processing of the National Transport Commission bill and that is why we used the word interim”, he said.
According to him, the ministry has set up a committee to work out action plans for effective take-off of the new status of NSC. The new responsibilities given to the council is key to a cordial port operation.
The purpose of the role is in line with the fact that the bill is yet to be passed into law. I want to re-emphasize that the approval of the Nigeria Shippers’ Council to act as an interim regulator of the port industry, was duly approved by the President after extensive consultations at the highest level of government.
Already, the council has stepped up efforts to fulfil its mandate as there are indications that it is set to tinker with the idea of pruning down the number of freight forwarding associations in the maritime sector as a way of bringing sanity into the system.
Executive Secretary/CEO of NSC, Mr. Hassan Bello dropped the hint when he visited the Managing Director of NPA, Mallam Habib Abdullahi at NPA House, the corporate headquarters of the authority in Marina, Lagos.
He expressed concern over the large number of freight forwarders trooping into the port on daily basis under the guise of clearing cargoes. He maintained that this was uncalled for.
Describing some of them as mere touts, he said many of the freight forwarders were uneducated and inexperienced.
Last line
From the foregoing, it is clear that the authority, especially the relevant government agencies need to do more to take the maritime sector of the economy to where it ought to be. The present nonchalant attitude of the people at the helm of affairs must be jettison.
Most often, those at helms of affairs carry on with their statutory roles and responsibilities as if the entire world must wait for them no matter how slow they are. To them, time is not of essence.
That probably explains why it is taking over a decade to disburse the CVFF. To them, Nigeria is not in a hurry to develop. The rest of the world must wait no matter how long it takes. It is therefore imperative for all hands to be on deck to ensure that the slow pace of development witnessed in the maritime sector in the first quarter of the year is not carried over to the second quarter.
