How port Concessioning killed Bonded terminals - ICD operators

By Funso Olojo

Bonded terminal operators have alleged that the concession of the Nigeria’s seaports to private owners in 2006 has led to the collapse of the subsector.

They also lamented that since the development, life has been difficult for operators of the Inland Container Depots (ICDs) adding that some members have died as a result of inability to pay debts.

They however appealed to the federal government to intervene in the situation to salvage the malaise which according to them has led to the death of some of the operators due medical complications due to inability to pay back loans obtained from banks. The operators made this known at a town hall meeting on reviving of private bonded terminal operations in Nigeria organized in Lagos

Haruna Omolajomo, Executive Secretary of Association of Bonded Terminal Operators of Nigeria said that the problem of bonded terminal operators started in 2005 when the issue of port concessioning was conceptualized by the government. He said that bonded terminals now run under 3% as against pre-2005 when each bonded terminal used to pay at least a billion naira into the government coffers.

“When port was to be conceded, bonded terminal operators and other stakeholders were not consulted. We pleaded with the federal government, we met with concessionaires, they promised to work with us but they never did as they began to tell us that they were in business to make profit.

“They closed their doors against us and refused to work with us and some of our members who were indebted and could not pay, died in the process due to heart attack,” he narrated.

However, Dr. Martins Enebeli, the lead paper Presenter accused the government of hastily carrying out the port concessioning without due consultation with necessary stakeholders. He also alleged that the bonded terminal operators were made to pay upfront before they established their terminals meanwhile, concessionaires were made to pay nothing.

“How much did APM Terminal pay to get that place? They paid no dime, it is what they are generating from the system they are using to service the system, is it not an insult on our people?

“But for you to get a bonded terminal, you need other criteria, they pay upfront they take loans yet when they were conceptualizing this their inordinate intention, they didn’t include the issue of bonded terminal,” he said.

Earlier, in his welcome address, the organiser of the meeting, Pastor Ambrose Okehi suggested some ways of reviving the bonded terminals. He suggested that the Bonded terminals be used as holding bays for trucks littering the roads. Adding that, it could also be used as holding bays for export purposes.

Okehi maintained that, the bonded terminals could be revived if concessionaires consider the plights of the bonded terminal operators and stem containers to them.