I have not seen any nation worth its salt that develops on adhoc or trial and error policies

I have not seen any nation worth its salt that develops on adhoc or trial and error policies

Sometime last year you advocated for the unbundling of the ministry of Transportation. Today a brand new Marine and Blue Economy Ministry has been created by President Bola Tinubu. How do you feel?

Precisely on August 25th 2022 I was invited by the League of Maritime Editors to give a Lecture on the theme “Trade Facilitation and Suppression of Smuggling”. This was at the League’s AGM at the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), in Badagry. In the course of my lecture, I made what I called “The Badagry Declaration” wherein I strongly advocated for the unbundling of the Ministry of Transportation as it was then constituted. As if someone in high places was listening to my advocacy, the nascent government of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu created a new Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy out of the Ministry of Transportation. As to how I feel about this development, I will say my feelings are mixed. While I am happy that we now have a Ministry that oversees activities in the Maritime sector, I am saddened by the fact that core industry professionals have once again been side-lined in the running of affairs in this very sensitive Ministry. Till date, almost a year after coming on stream, there is no veritable Blue print to point to the direction we are heading to. When you consider the huge offering that is embedded in the blue Economy, you will say that such lukewarmness is unacceptable. We do not want this Ministry to be plagued by congenital diseases that will stymie the growth of the Maritime sector.

Do you see the new Marine and Blue Economy Ministry coming up with a blue print that will provide maritime operators with the road map on how to harness the nation’s maritime potentials?

I sincerely hope and wish that the Marine and Blue Economy Ministry will design and unveil a clear-cut road map to point us in the right direction. I recalled that you gave a lecture on this. Also in the lecture I gave at the Lagos Travel Inn on December 9, 2023 whose theme bordered on the Blue Economy, I advocated synergy between the new Ministry and the ministry of Tourism in order to properly harness Marine Tourism and aqua culture, synergy with the ministry of Power to tap into the Ocean’s renewable energy, the ministry of Agriculture for Fishery and biodiversity etc. Even under water cable laying activities would dictate a synergy with the ministry of communication and digital technologies. The potentials inherent in the Blue Economy are too huge to be contemplated. As such, one is looking out to see how all of these propositions will cristalize with the passage of time.

Policy developed Europe. Policy equally developed Singapore. Why is it that Nigeria in almost 64 years of independence has no National policy on Transport. Isn’t it why Nigeria is not highly ranked among maritime nations?

I have not seen any nation worth its salt that develops on adhoc or trial and error policies. Rather, strong Institutional, legal, political and technological frameworks are carefully developed by key players who are equally carefully selected by the governments of the day, which themselves are leaders with good intentions to lead. That way, you will not find men who are stronger than institutions. The reverse is however the case with Nigeria. For ages, there have been talks about a Nigerian Transport Policy. Numerous committees have been set up, heaps of papers have been presented, yet a Transportation Policy has failed to materialise. I recall that a Ports and Harbour bill has been in works for several years at the national assembly. Ditto, the National Transport Commission Bill. Political intrigues and the protection of territory syndrome has made it impossible for these bills to see the light of day. Some people’s interests are bigger than the national interest, as such whatever does not favour them must be killed. Yet, Nigeria will always want to aspire to bigger positions at the International Maritime Organisation whereas our house is not in order. So, why would you expect anyone to take us seriously among Maritime nations? We are at best, always a laughing stock because we are reputed to export what we don’t have but import what we have in abundance such as oil.

Don’t you think we need a National airline as well as a National shipping line?

With regards to a national airline and a shipping line, I think we definitely need them. But this time around, with clear-cut operational frameworks that will enable us compete globally. You will recall there was a Nigeria National Shipping Line (NNSL) and the Nigeria Airways, both of which flew the Nigerian flag across the world up until the early 1990s. Both institutions atrophied as a result of unmitigated corruption, operational ineptitude, government and “big men’s” intrusion and the proverbial lack of maintenance culture that is rampant in Nigeria. The country has been the very worst for it. Take for instance, the recent incidence of skyrocketed airfares from Nigeria by all the foreign carriers. London route that used to be not more than N500,000 return went as high as N3,000,000. This was because Nigeria has no airline or aircrafts to fulfill her share of her bilateral air (BASA) agreements. Fast forward to the entry of Airpeace, an indigenous private airline, into the very lucrative Lagos-London route. There was an immediate disruption in the previous order as the foreign airlines began an advertisement blitz for cheaper tickets. So, imagine Nigeria as a nation having her own functional airline with capacity to fill up her BASA slots worldwide. The same is true of a national shipping line. Do you know that since 1958 when the first cargo of Nigeria’s crude oil was exported from our shores up to the time of this interview, this nation has not earned a dime from freight charges on the shipment of her crude? This is largely as a result of the terms of trade whereby our crude is sold on FOB rather than CIF basis. With FOB, the buyer of the crude is invested with the right to nominate the carrying vessel. Without a single tanker vessel among the ships under NNSL, how would anyone nominate any vessel from the Nigerian fleet when they were all general cargo vessels? So, these, coupled with mindless corruption pointed to the fact that the demise of the NNSL was only a matter of time. This however, does not remove from the fact that we need a national fleet. Only that this time, our attention should be far away from the purchase of general cargo vessels which have mostly gone out of fashion but more focus on tanker vessels and container ships. The minister of Marine and Blue Economy would need to expedite action on the disbursement of the CVFF fund so as to empower indigenous players to acquire sound vessels that would enable them to compete globally.

Rather than professionalize training in our maritime academy at Oron and increase standard of teaching, many people want more universities to develop short programmes for seaferers and possibly open more maritime universities. What is the best thing to do if we must produce Seafarers that we can export to the international market?

Thus far, the Maritime Academy, Oron remains the standard bearer in the realm of training and certification of seafarers in Nigeria. The emergence of Cmdr. Duja Effedua (Rtd) as the Rector of MAN Oron has given birth to a great transformation in that Academy. Besides, we have the Nigeria Maritime University at Okerenkoko that is set up to groom high level manpower in all spheres of endeavour in the Maritime sector. But I dare say that key departments such as Nautical Science, Marine Engineering, Meteorology and Climate Change, etc, are ill equipped to train the Cadets to acceptable standards. I believe the federal government would need to deploy requisite equipment such as simulators, both bidge and engine room, then, more trained personnel to rev up the level of professional training in that University. One is not also unmindful of the Maritime Institutes set up by Nimasa in some Nigerian Universities such as the University of Lagos, Niger Delta University, IBB University, Lapai, Gombe State University and UNN, Nsukka, among others. The purpose is to increase the tempo of training in Maritime studies across the nation. We also have some private Maritime training institutes such as Charkin in River State, Joe Marine at Warri among others. Imspite of all this, one must admit that the actual training and certification of Seafarers in Nigeria, remains a far cry. Nimasa’s NSDP Program whereby some selected Cadets are sent abroad for training has of late, been facing alot of criticism as it is perceived to be inadequate and a waste of scarce resources. So, the answer is not to open more Maritime Universities or run open ended short programmes, but for the government to commit more resources into MAN Oron, the Nigeria Maritime University, Okerenkoko and a few other such institutions so that our Seafarers can be adequately trained. A situation where they are rejected by shipowners as a result of perceived inadequate training is not to be tolerated as it does not give a positive image to the nations training institutions.

Universities offering Transport or Logistics in Nigeria are few. Is this why policy makers do not see the need to professionalize the Transport sector/ industry?

I think Nigeria’s policy makers in the transport sector are far removed from the academia. Ordinarily, there is what is known as the “Town and Gown” collaboration whereby there is unity of purpose between our academic institutions and relevant government agencies. Universities are centres of training and research. Most of the ground breaking developments we see across the world today are borne out of deep-rooted research works. So, how well do policy makers in Nigeria regard innovations and research works from the nations academic institutions especially Universities. There is a clear lacuna in between. So, policy makers in Nigeria would need to engage more with the Universities where innovative ideas and research works rot away as a result of scant interest by policy makers.

Despite the fact that Nigeria is strategically placed in the world map, our country is yet to become a continental logistics hub? What is responsible for this?

The answer to this question has a direct bearing to the last question. Given the strategic location of Nigeria as midway between Europe and the tip of Southern Africa, it would have been most beneficial for us to serve as a commercial bunkering and shipping hub. How come that Singapore, a non oil producing small Island nation has 53 functional modular refineries that bunker vessels traversing South East Asian ports whereas Nigeria, world sixth oil producer does not have a single bunkering port? It is a tragedy of the highest proportion. The coming on stream of the marine and blue economy is expected to change that narrative if truly we know what we are doing.

Cost of clearing cargo continue to be on the increase, why should it be so?

This is what you get when you choose to dollarize your economy, which itself is dependent on import rather than export. We run a very import dependent system whereby almost everything we consume locally is imported. How smart for instance, is it that Nigeria, a nation with four refineries, can not process oil to satisfy her local consumption? Rather, we import what we are supposed to be exporting thereby putting excessive and unnecessary pressure on the local currency. As the dollar continues to rise, so will be the cost of clearing cargo in our ports. There is nothing esoteric about it. The only way this can change is when we decide to up our game in exporting more than we are importing. And it must be goods exported with added value, not the raw materials that we have been stuck with for generations.

The Nigeria Customs Service has become a revenue generation agency. Between trade facilitation and revenue generation, which is key to our nation’s economic development?

While revenue generation is not entirely bad, I think the cardinal mandate of the Nigerian Customs is trade facilitation. This goes along the grain of the provisions of the World Customs Organisation (WCO). The Customs must create an enabling environment in facilitating trade to the extent of discouraging those that would be toying with the idea of smuggling through neighbouring ports which they consider more user friendly and cheaper to do business. As a key player who has paid his dues in Customs Service, I’ll like to believe that the current CG of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi has what it takes to change the narrative to trade facilitation rather than the Controllers at the various ports scrambling to beat revenue targets. It only remains to be seen.

How can we optimize Business at the nation’s ports for efficiency?

There are so many cogs and bottle-knecks bedeviling the smooth flow of business in our ports, especially in the Lagos area. We have for instance, a multiplicity of federal government agencies most of which have no business being at the ports but they always create reasons as to why they should be there. But the general school of thought is that most of them are there simply for pecuniary gains. You know the ports are centres for heavy commercial transactions where billions of Naira is exchanged on a daily basis. So your guess is as good as mine as to why everyone wants to be there. Even the Customs whose principal duty it is to supritend cargo handling at the ports is not helping matters. Several units of the Customs work at cross purposes, placing unnecessary alerts on cargo in clearing. This hampers rather than facilitate trade. During the regime of President Muhammadu Buhari, the bandied mantra of Ease of Doing Business at the ports with focus on 48 hours cargo clearance. I can tell you for free that it remains a mirage as most cargo continue to dwell in the ports for weeks, sometimes months thereby inflicting heavy demurrage and rent payments on the already weary importers. This explains why smuggling is still striving across our porous borders. Going forward therefore, I think the government would need to give character and verve to the policy of ease of doing business while at the same time streamlining the number of her relevant agencies that should be at the ports.

There was a rejection of Shippers Council’s haulage rate increase for the Eastern ports by the Africa Association of Professional Freight Forwarders and Logistics of Nigeria. What is your reaction to this?

I do not think it is the place of Shipper’s Council to fix haulage rates. Operators in the haulage business just as anyone else would usually react to market forces. The unrelenting increase in the price of petroleum products affects every sector directly. I believe the authorities at Shipper’s Council should have consulted widely before coming up with their position. There would always be a reaction to any policy of government anyways but where the matter is very sensitive as in transportation and logistics, I believe a lot of precautions also needs to be taken before making official pronouncements.

How do you see the Lagos- Calabar high way project?

While on a very selfish note I welcome the Lagos-Calabar highway project since I come from one the beneficiary states (Delta State), one continues to be perplexed at the speed with which the project has taken off the ground. The questions that readily come to mind are, did this project undergo the requisite due process and got approval from the National Assembly? Was a proper Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) done on this project? What are the far reaching implications of this highway vis-avis Coastal tourism in Nigeria, given the fact that several beach resorts would need to be cleared? Is it true that this project is being developed just to favour a particular estate? Will this project not be abandoned halfway just like the East-West Road? The questions are legion and it is only time that will tell which way the pendulum will swing. If you ask me, I would have thought this government should have concentrated in completing the East-West road project before delving into this Coastal highway.

Managing traffic in the major cities in Nigeria is a problem? What is the way out?

Nowadays, major cities across the world are becoming smart, especially with the aid of artificial intelligence (AI) and the deployment of the Internet of Things (IOT). In Nigeria, we still rely heavily on the analogue way of doing things manually. So, in situations where electrically controlled traffic lights should be deployed, you still find wearied traffic men controlling traffic under sun or rain. Besides, in the very few places where traffic lights exist in Nigerian cities, commercial bus drivers and tricycle riders hardly ever obey them. This negative attitude sometimes results in unwarranted accidents that cause injuries and deaths. Kudos must however be given to a state like Lagos that pioneered the establishment of an agency that deals with traffic management. I am talking about the LASTMA. Other states such as Delta, Ogun, Oyo, Rivers etc, have also come up with their own variants of traffic management authorities. This, to some extent, has helped to mitigate the problem that characterise traffic situations across Nigeria ‘s major cities. Be that as it may, the solutions to adequate traffic management in Nigerian urban cities resides in proper training and orientation for road users, particularly, commercial vehicle and tricycle drivers and regular checks on vehicles plying the roads to confirm their worthiness to be on the roads. Moreover, it is advised that wherever possible across the cities, well regulated traffic lights and marked out roads such as Zebra crossings should be provided by the government. Drivers and road managers should also be made to undergo regular training and refreshers courses in order to make them understand the rudiments of traffic management.

At the recent federal executive Council, it was agreed that all Nigerians including the President and his vice are now to pay airport toll. Do you see this policy working?

This policy will remain a mirage as government officials, especially in convoys are not known to obey the simplest of traffic laws. The policy that compels the President and his Vice to pay toll at the airport gates is not expected to be an exception to the rule.

The federal government has banned sand dredging 10km from bridges. In Delta, Ogun and Lagos States sand dredging is big business. How do you see this working in a country where government officials look the other way when wrongful acts are going on?

You have answered this question yourself, Sir. In situations where government officials in charge of an assignment look the other way when infractions are being committed, I do not expect the nascent policy on sand Dredging to stand. There is no doubt that sand dredging activities across the states you mentioned and even beyond, contribute in no small ways, in the weakning of the foundations of bridges and other superstructure along their part. The relevant government agencies that superintendent over sand dredging, especially NIWA, must up their game by making scapegoat of any compromising officials within their fold. So, the federal government’s directive of not dredging within 10kms of bridges and other critical infrastructure is a very welcome development. It will ensure the longevity of the bridges while at the same time safe guading lives of the users of such bridges. Besides just making this policy pronouncement therefore, the federal government must walk its talk by ensuring that her supervisory agencies engage in adequate monitoring of the critical infrastructure that stand threatened by the activities unlicensed sand dredgers in Nigeri