Nigerian Maritime industry: Our Expectations, Our Fears in 2019

The year 2018, which effectively winds down today, was very eventful in the maritime industry.

It was a year when the sector, being touted as the second biggest revenue earner for the country after oil and gas, experienced one of its worst moments in history.

A year when the shipping activities were at their lowest ebb due to the criminal neglect of shipping development by government, a neglect that led to the near extinction of indigenous ship ownership in the country as more than 80 percent of indigenous ship owners went under.

The year 2018 when the operators across all the strata of the sector cried and moaned over the general economic crunch in the country that badly hobbled their operations.

It was a year when it seemed the country was under siege due to the preponderance imports of arms, ammunition and illicit drugs.

It was a year cargo delivery and evacuation from the ports was greatly hampered due to complete collapse of infrastructure such as port access roads and cargo handling equipment, leading to unprecedented traffic gridlock, port congestion of cargo and high turn around time of vessels.

It was a year the fabled high cost of goods clearance and delivery at the ports reached a crescendo due to the unmitigated impunity and high handedness of service providers.

It was a year the high incidents of piracy, kidnapping and other insecurity on our waters assumed a frightening dimension which hobbled shipping operations and drove the cost of shipping to the roof.

A year that none of the ten bills meant to reinvigorate the sector was passed into law. While some were denied presidential assent for ridiculous and flimsy reasons, others got stuck in the process of passage at the National Assembly.

The year 2018 was a year of raised but dashed hope through government policy inconsistencies, half-hearted commitment and outright neglect.

It was a year of pains and frustration by beleaguered operators, most of whom like Chief Isaac Jolapamo, had lost hope in the sector.

In as much as we at nigeriamaritime360.com acknowledge and share the pains, despairs and frustrations of the industry operators, we, unlike Chief Jolapamo, still have hope on the recovery of the sector

With over 900 nautical miles of coastline, 200 miles of Exclusive Economic Zone, over 5000 vessels entering Nigerian Ports annually, Nigerian Ports have the potentials of becoming a cargo hub in the West and Central African countries, given the fact that the country controls over 70 percent of cargo traffic in the region.

Our belief is that with these humongous human and materials resources, what is needed is government sincere commitment and will-power to harness these potentials to make the country one of the maritime powers in the world.

Shipping, just like oxygen, is the artery of maritime industry. Without shipping, there would be no maritime.

It is our hope and wish that genuine efforts are expended on shipping development in 2019 in a bid to revive the dying indigenous shipping activities.

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), whose core mandate is shipping development, should cease playing lip service to this role.

The agency should muster enough political will to implement the Cabotage law, which is meant to empower indigenous shipping.

The Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund(CVFF) should be disbursed forthwith without delay to restore the indigenous shipowners who have gone under and bolster the confidence of those whose operations are faltering due to cash crunch.

The cadets, who are largely half-baked due to absence of sea time experience, should be developed to a world-class standard through adequate sea time training.

The archaic Ship Registry, which has over the years repelled both local and foreign vessels registration, should be revamped to attract vessels for registration with the attendant accruable revenue.

It is our hope that the report of the committee set up for this purpose will not be swept under the carpet but implemented for the development of the shipping sector.

The cargo clearance and delivery system should further be unbundled and simplified through robust automation process and provision of enhanced infrastructural facilities.

To this end, we advocate for the implementation of Single window project that is capable of enhancing quick and efficient cargo clearance procedures.

The flip-side of this is that government should expedite action on the rehabilitation of the failed and dilapidated infrastructural facilities that will shore up cargo delivery method.

This includes making all port access roads motorable and scanning machines serviceable.

We also implore government to develop and deploy inter-modal transportation system to quicken the process of evacuation of cargoes out of the ports.

There should be effective use of rail, road and water transportation system at the ports to make cargo delivery service a seamless exercise.

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA)should carry out the dredging of the Warri port channels for which it has secured the government approval with dispatch while other port channels in the Eastern ports should also be deepened to breath life into the ports in that axis and decongest the already overburdened Lagos ports.

We equally wish that the Deep seaport project be pursued with genuine commitment to further increase the cargo throughput and tonnage that will be attracted into the country.

Government should create the requisite enabling environment that will encourage the completion of the moribund Inland Container Depots and provide the needed infrastructure that will aid their effective and efficient take-off.

This will also decongest the overstretched Lagos ports and enhance cargo delivery system.

Government should intensify efforts to minimize the high incidents of piracy and other forms of criminal activities on our waterways .

This will not only attract more vessels into the country but also lower the high cost of shipping which insecurity engenders.

Of equal importance is the need for the National Assembly to step up the passage of the relevant bills before it that are meant to grow the industry while we appeal to the President to assent to the ones before him.

We are optimistic that if all these steps are taken diligently, the maritime industry will rebound in 2019 and attract other local and foreign investors who will inject necessary funds to further reposition the sector for efficient service delivery.

We can’t agree more with Olisa Agbakoba, a renowned maritime lawyer, who believed that if all the potentials in the industry are well harnessed, it could generate more than N7 trillion per year.

However we have our fears.

The year 2019 is the elections year and we are conscious of the fact that governance usually takes the back seat during election periods in Nigeria.

It would be catastrophic if the wishes and expectations of operators in the industry for 2019 are mortgaged for political expediency of industry leaders and policy makers.

If that is allowed to happen, then the maritime industry will continue to perform below its full potentials while the operators will continue to hold the short end of the stick.