George Okafor (Freight forwarder)
SON and NAFDAC have been operating even before coming into the port, when you have a cargo for them to check you call on them and they will come to inspect it, but their coming inside the port to stay is just to jam-pack the port, they are not helping matters at all, what they do is to come inside the port and check every container even though it’s not within their area, what does NAFDAC have to do with imported television? I believe the government will not allow them to come back because their coming here is of no use, it will not help us, we don’t support their coming back and I don’t think government will allow them to come back because they will have to explain what they are coming to do that Customs are not doing.
Dr. Frank Ukor (President, AREFFN)
I will say that the CRFFN is now waking up to its responsibility, if they had done this initially when they took off, there wouldn’t have been so much agitations and problems from different quarters, but instead of doing this, they were putting the cart before the horse, but now we are happy that they are putting the horse before the cart. So, we are happy for them, but my advice to them is that they should keep it up and not relax on it, because if they relent, people will begin to complain again.
Barrister Nwagbara Osuala [Maritime Lawyer]
I am a bit worried about concession of maritime security because security all over the world, be it on maritime or at any order level should remain in the public domain and it’s a public affair particularly when it involves the nation at large and when you talk about maritime security, what comes to mind is that you are looking at the territorial waters, the inland waters, continental shelves, you are looking at the port facilities, ships that berth in our ports and even inland container depots. In other words, you are looking at the whole maritime sector and that is why it is called the maritime security and I believe that it is a public matter that is very serious.
Mr. Frank Aliakor (Freight forwarder)
I think I am satisfied, the NPA is wearing a new cap now as they are called port regulator, they have been mediating between the agent and the terminal operators and shipping companies, I think in this matter you cannot rule them out because they really tried, but of course you know one cannot always get everything he asks for, the issue was not anybody’s making, it was a general strike that affected everybody, but we thank God that our national president was able to intervene and we are all now at an agreement.
Barr.Chinedu Ogbonna [Customs PRO PTML Chapter]
As the saying goes, forward ever backward never, the command was able to surpass its target for last year and as I speak with you we are already working towards achieving success for 2012.In 2011, the command experienced peace with the special intervention from God. The maritime sector generally has its own share as the federal government has made provision for 24 hours cargo clearance from the port which I know will improve and develop the port operations. For 2012 all the relevant stakeholders in the maritime industry should come together for the development of the sector that is the shipping companies, terminal operators, freight
Captain Thomas Kemewerigha [President, Merchant Navy]
The year 2011 in the maritime industry is not very friendly; the industry was associated with a lot of problems from the leadership to the implementation of policies. Talking about leadership, we talk about change in the director general of NIMASA, changing of the minister of transport came up and the problem associated with it was the enforcement of NIMASA laws which to me is below average. Piracy at sea level was also a big problem this year and also a major challenge.
Mazi Festus Ukwu (Chairman, RFFF)
I believe that majority of the people in that inaugurated committee have nothing to do in the committee because they don't know how the port operates, they don't know what is obtainable inside the port, we think that if they want to set up such a committee it should be comprised of people that are verse in the operations of the port, however when you see names of people from Julius Berger, Coscharis and so on, you begin to suspect that its just a political appointment, but I can see that ANLCA's Olayiwola Shittu is on the committee as well as one other person, I believe they are operators and they will be able to know what is entails in the port. But as for the rest of them, what are they going to monitor?
Barrister Osuala Nwagbara Emmanuel [Maritime Lawyer]
Liberia has a very long maritime history; compared to Nigeria, Liberia run a very liberal ship registry whilst Nigeria is still running a close registry, what I mean is that ship that does not belong to Liberia can register and fly the Liberian flag on a very liberal term, Nigeria is not yet known to that effect, that is to allow ship to come and register in the country. In other words, the fact that we lost to Liberia does not appear to me as a surprise.
Mr. Lucky Amiwero (President, NCMDLCA)
You can not talk about the ports and harbor bill when you do not have a port regulator because as at now you already have the concessionaires who have already gone into concessions raging from ten years to twenty five years. Also, you can not talk of harmonizing the transport sector bills because it is not done like that anywhere in the world, each of the modes has their different characteristics, if you harmonize the bills then there will be crisis.
Mr Ekene Obeleague [Car Dealer]
My take on the re introduction of toll gates on our highways is that Nigeria is a funny country that can always somersault policies. The toll gates were initially there, all of a sudden they all went off; courtesy the same government that wants to re introduce the same toll gate for Nigerians .With the re introduction, I want to believe it will be in the right direction for example, there are some roads contract given to some private firms to rehabilitate the roads and it has been positive, so with this development I will say the money should be used to maintain the roads.
William Ebereonwun (Stevedore Contractor)
I have worked at Warri port before, and as at this time the militants used to highjack vessels, to the extent that some Ijaw boys turned themselves to pilots, they will highjack a ship as far from Escravos and pilot the vessel down to Nigerian Ports Authority in Warri. I was a cargo surveyor under NPA by then, so I believe the NPA is supposed to have marine police and the Navy is supposed to be at alert at all time, it is not when something happens that we now start pushing,
Dr Frank Ukor [President AREFFN]
FIATA is supposed to come to Nigeria in 2015 to train freight forwarders free of charge, but the management of the Council wants FIATA to come immediately to train and if they come immediately for the training, it means we have to foot the bill and that will run into millions of Naira. The Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria should do the right thing at the right time; they told stakeholders that they have registered some persons which to me is only on newspapers, because they have nothing to show for that. The council told freight forwarders to cough out N100, 000 to be trained.
Comrade Umar Jimoh (President, NPA SSACTAC)
The issue is kind of multidimensional, this is because the parastatals we have in the maritime sector are government business, so it is government that gave the board the obligation to oversee the affairs of the agencies, in order words they are the eyes of the government and they are also like an advisory body to these parastatals. But what we hear recently is that these board members meddle into the day to day affairs and running of their various agencies and this has began to affect the welfare of the workers, as you know that the welfare of the workers is very important to government, so perhaps this is why they were sacked.
Dr. Zebulon Ikokide (President, IFFN)
It is a welcome idea and we are all happy about it, this shows a good mark of leadership and it proves that the time for talking is over, the president has matched his words with action and stakeholders will not forget this. They have already mentioned people that are going to be monitoring the implementation of this directive, so I strongly believe it is going to be implemented, once the stakeholders are in line with what he has said, they have already given us an e-mail address where reports can be mailed to the minister of finance, individuals can also mail reports directly to her and she will take action, she is an action person, this is her second term and everybody know her, so we believe that it will be implemented.
Engineer Reginald Onyenobi [Maritime Consultant]
The Nigerian maritime sector over the past 51 years, is like a wave moving up and down in the river based on the emergence of regulations and the non- implementations of the various regulation. I will say in the era of national shipping line, the sector trained a lot of Nigerians in the area of human capacity compared to now where there is no national carrier. Back then, the country cannot boast of a certified chief engineer near coastal voyage.
Barrister Fred Akhokia [NAGAFF Member]
The truth of the matter is that the so called single Window System Technologies Company SWSTL is a total fraud; therefore the Inspector General of Police should intervene in these ugly irregularities that we all saw at the public hearing in Abuja. The company and the people behind it should be brought to book. The company is not transparent to Nigerians and there is no way it could, because the port belong to Nigerians not an individual or group.
Engr. Alex Peters (Marine Engineer)
The business of waiver has to be looked into very seriously so that we don’t have waivers flying all over the place. Incidentally, NIMASA is doing something about it in preparation for the review in the sense that they have conducted an audit of what is available in the maritime industry for the indigenous operators in order to know the capability of individual indigenous expertise.
Commander A.L.S. Ajao [Provost, Merchant Navy Maritime Academy]
Setting up a maritime university from MAN, Oron is a welcome idea, but that means it is not going to be for the people of Calabar or Oron and Nigerians alone, but for the international maritime community as a whole and it will be able to measure up with similar institutions in other countries too. When we are trying to bring up standard in maritime academy, we should not look at schools like Ghana or Africa, but internationally. Rome was not built a day, but another thing is the determination of the personnel in the school. With this development, I expect them to be on their toes for it to be a reality because when you travel out of the country alone is another form of education. The name ‘’University’’ is just theoretical as it look, but what makes it a university is another thing to put into consideration, however it is not just the normal universities but a specialized one.
Dr. Frank Ukor (President, ARFFN)
The maritime sector is a very large one that has so many potentials which are not even tapped yet, we need to harness all the opportunities in our maritime sector but as far as I am concerned, the law makers are not conversant with the sector because they are not in the system. My advice to them; both the House committee on marine transport and the senate committee on marine transport is that they should be guided by the opinions of the stakeholders in the sector, they must include and seek stakeholders opinions at all time in respect to policies that affects the sector, if they do not do this, they will make mistakes and the sector today no longer needs a trial and error system of administration.
Mr.Nathiel Uluocha [Freight Forwarder]
The CRFFN is a government body set up to regulate freight forwarding business in the country and there are some standards to be adhered to because the Council wants to set a standard for agents that are in the sector. There is need to set a standard in every professional and the freight forwarding business is not exempted. Really the solution to both parties is for them to come together on a round table dialogue for the possible way forward. The dispute between the association and the Council can affect freight forwarding business if not properly checked.
Alhaji Ademola Ajisafe [Maritime consultant]
It is totally wrong for the Nigeria Customs Service to apprehend people operating in the port. How can the customs officials along with the police do such to the common man who is trying to make a living for himself, it is wrong and if it is because of fraud and illegal activities that are going on in that area, then such issue would have been addressed for long; not now. That place has been in existence for long and why should they embark on raiding the place when they know they can handle the situation amicably .
Mr. Robert Onuigbo [Auto Dealer]
It is a welcome development, but I know the major problem the company will encounter is power supply because I know that the problem we have in this country is power. It is going to help the economy in terms manpower development, employment. As a dealer, I can tell you that it is not easy, I don’t know what the cost of the vehicle will be, but it will be better for the company to make the price cheaper to encourage Nigerians. The price will determine the success or failure of the assembly plant in Nigeria. We dealers are not happy that we sell fairly used vehicles for Nigerians just because of the high cost of new vehicles; therefore it is better for automobile manufacturers to assemble vehicles in the country and sell to Nigerians at a cheaper rate rather to import.
Capt.Babatunde Taiwo [Master mariner]
From my own perspective, Lagos water is very safe compared to other waters in the country because even as I speak, if you go out there, you find out that naval personnel are on ground. Looking at the Escravos area where I went to recently, I had two attacks from bandits in that region which was later brought to normalcy by some forces .In all Lagos is the safest when compared to other parts of the country and take it from me that the Nigerian Navy are doing their job.
Comrade Peter Ojelatan (Maritime Worker)
If there is an agreement between the federal government and the state government, the road will be repaired, I heard sometimes ago that they are planning something in this regard with FERMA, when there is an agreement of this type, then the Lagos State government can go ahead and start sourcing for money either with the wharf landing fee or through other means. As it is presently, the road is like a death trap and this is very dangerous to human lives. I don’t see any reason why the federal government should not repair this road, after all, it is a federal road, and, and in attracting investors to come into the country, you must have good roads, safety, electricity and so on especially around the gateway to the nations’ economy. But it is a shame today that the roads to the port are not accessible, we cannot understand what the minister of works is doing anymore.
Dan Williams [P.R.O FFAN]
At this point there is nothing or little that stakeholders can do about the appointment of the new minister of transport, the only way for him to succeed with his set goals and objectives is for the stakeholders to give him their support. It won’t be right for us to say that he is inexperienced or a ‘non- professional’ enough to be the minister of transport, but what he should know firstly is the problem surrounding the industry and for him to tackle the problems he needs the support of the stakeholders and in his quest to address the issues on ground, he should consult with the presidents and chairmen of various associations. Setting up committees will not yield result at this point in time.
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