Atiku woos maritime operators, dismisses port industry as inefficient

By ZION Olalekan

In his quest to secure the support of critical stakeholders in the maritime industry for his presidential ambition, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, has assured maritime stakeholders that he would decongest Apapa ports by making the Eastern Ports viable, cheaper and provide incentives for importers who decide to ship through the port.

Atiku stated this on Wednesday at a stakeholders meeting organized by Coalition of Air, Land Border and Seaports stakeholders.

He assured that if voted into power, eastern ports of Warri, Calabar, Port Harcourt and Onne would be made cheaper for importation than Apapa port.

The former Nigerian Vice President who was represented at the meeting by his running mate, Mr. Peter Obi, lamented that Nigerian port yearly is losing a whopping $25billion due to inefficiency of the federal government.

He took a swipe at the Ease of Doing Business policy of the government, saying that no responsible government can facilitate ease of doing business while major approaches to the port are blocked.

According to Atiku, the Nigerian port system is not working because importers making use of Nigerian ports to ship their cargoes are made to pay extra $1,000 dollars abroad.

He assured the stakeholders to fix the Apapa Oshodi expressway in less than one year.

He said “How can you say Nigeria is working and you have an ease of doing business if the roads leading to your port is in bad shape? It simply shows a government that is not working”

“For every goods you ship from anywhere in the world into Nigeria you pay additional $1,000, the reason why you are paying that is because of the inefficiency of Nigerian Ports. If you ship your goods through Nigeria, the country losses additional $20billion which is about their annual budget because of the inefficiency of their port”

“The ports today have not been expanded from what it was from when they were built, nobody has given them any attention and we are not even building new ones, Singapore was the busiest port in the world, and as it is, they are building the busiest and biggest port under the sea, this would start in 2050, but here we are not doing anything, we are busy making sure that the ones built is not working”

Also speaking at the meeting, Vice President of Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Mr. Farinto Collins said even though the port as a critical sector generates N5billion daily into Federal Government’s purse, the government has abandoned it.

He said that maritime operators regretted galvanising over 30,000 votes for President Muhammadu Buhari in year 2015, saying that most of the promises made were never fulfilled.

One of the promises according to him was made by the current Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo on revision of the Auto Policy; he said the policy has succeeded in sending many clearing agents out of jobs.

Other challenges itemised by Farinto includes bad access roads leading to the nation’s port, foreigners practicing custom brokerage in Nigeria. He called for indigenization of the profession.

The ANLCA vice President also stressed the need to review the Customs and Excise Management Act and a creation of a Ministry of Maritime.

He called for the development of a port development plan, saying that all the ports in Nigeria currently have been overstretched.

Also speaking, foremost licensed customs agent and founder of ANLCA, Mr Rafiu Ladipo said that maritime operators have been abandoned for a very long time. He however assured if voted into power, the operators are ready to hold Atiku by his words.