Five years after Osinbajo’s directive, shippers continue to lose N50bn annually
Stephen Angbulu, Abuja
About five years after Vice President Yemi Osinbajo signed an Executive Order mandating the Apapa port to run 24 hours, the Shippers Association of Lagos has revealed that it continues to lose over N50bn annually; even as the port fails to operate round the clock.
In an interview with The Punch on Wednesday, SAL’s spokesperson, Dr Kayode Farinto, said since the Executive Order was signed in 2017, the Federal Government have not done enough to make 24-hour operations possible.
Farinto lamented that insecurity, poor lighting infrastructure, thuggery and a host of factors continue to impede the port’s competitiveness in West Africa.
On May 18, 2017, Osinbajo, then acting President, directed the resumption of 24-hour operations at the Apapa port and outrightly banned touting by officials or unofficial persons at any port, be it air, land and seaports in Nigeria.
He signed three Executive Orders dealing with the business environment, local content in public procurement and timely budget submission. The Orders were to take effect immediately.
According to the EO, “the Apapa Port shall resume 24-hour operations within 30 days of the issuance of this Order and there shall be no touting whatsoever by official or unofficial persons at any port in Nigeria.”
On port operations, the order reads, “on-duty staff shall be properly identified by uniform and official cards while off duty staff shall stay away from the ports except with the express approval of the agency head. The FAAN Aviation Security and Nigeria Ports Authority Security shall enforce this Order.”
To address the threat of touting at the ports, the Order stipulated that “all non-official staff shall be removed from the secured areas of airports. No official of FAAN, Immigration, security agency or Ministry of Foreign Affairs or any other agency is to meet any non-designated dignitary at any secure areas of the airport.
“All relevant MDAs at the airports shall within 30 days of the issuance of this Order merge their respective departure and arrival interfaces into a single customer interface, without prejudice to necessary backend procedures.”
However, about five years later, 24-hour port operations remain far from reality as shippers blame the government’s lack of political will.
In February 2021, former Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Usman, revealed that some federal government agencies operating at the ports disregarded the acting President’s directive. Therefore, it is contingent on the Presidency to issue sanctions.
She said, “Certain government agencies have not complied and one of the things we have said is sanctioning for non-compliance of an executive order that was released cannot be done by the Nigerian Ports.
“If an agency of government violates an executive order signed by the vice president, I believe the vice president and indeed the presidency should sanction that agency for non-compliance but that has not been done.”
Usman added that she has since reported the non-compliance to the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council chaired by Osinbajo.
However, Farinto told our Correspondent that “You cannot give an executive order when there’s no political will. That’s number one. You cannot do an executive order when the government pays lip service to its Order.
“What am I saying? There’s no illumination in the ports. Security in the port is not guaranteed. So if you take your cargo at night, you will see some people pilfering containers forcing containers to open on the road, just within the port area. That’s number two.
“There are periods now that I cannot take delivery. Once my consignments cannot leave the port at seven o’clock, I will tell my boys, don’t load. Because many things happen at night within the port area and there is no security. So the government must be seen to be ready to do the 24-hour delivery service before the freight forwarder will take the risk.”
He added that although the Nigerian Port Authority has succeeded in reducing the gridlock on the port’s access roads, that is only a part of the real challenge.
“We also have the human factor. There needs to be attitudinal change on the part of our security agencies. It must translate to us having easy access to exiting cargo from our seaport. Do we have that? No, we don’t. So if the government wants to just give an executive order without putting the various machinery in place, it cannot work.
“So because of these, Shippers on a yearly basis are losing over N50bn. Yes, the Shippers are losing over N50bn yearly. What the government is losing is not my problem because if the government believes that she is losing money, she needs to tighten all the loose ends,” Farinto said.
The Shippers’ spokesman also decried poor communication between the Federal Government and the association, saying, “The communication channel between the government and the citizenry is broken. We do not have a good channel of communication. And there’s no stakeholders meeting where there will be a feedback mechanism to tell people that this is what the government is doing. This is what the importers and stakeholders are feeling.
“Are you a clearing agent? Are you a customs officer, a dock worker, a bank official? Everything lies on that cargo. And the cargo itself is not protected. We have too many taxes here and there, and that is why we’re losing our cargo to neighbouring countries such as Côte d’Ivoire.
“So if the government is serious, she needs a political will. She must be seen to be serious. There must be stakeholders meeting where there’ll be a feedback mechanism.”
