Counting the gains of ports regulation

For many years, doing business in Nigerian ports was roundly condemned as a harrowing experience. This stemmed from the high level of inefficiency that characterized the operations at the ports such as unnecessary delays in the turnaround time for ships and high cargo dwell time. However, a tinge of reforms introduced in 2006 when the […]

For many years, doing business in Nigerian ports was roundly condemned as a harrowing experience. This stemmed from the high level of inefficiency that characterized the operations at the ports such as unnecessary delays in the turnaround time for ships and high cargo dwell time.
However, a tinge of reforms introduced in 2006 when the ports terminals were concessioned to the private sector by the federal government yielded little results. This is because concessionaires re¬portedly capitalised on the absence of a regulator to introduce scathing charges that have swelled the cost of doing business in Nigerian ports.
Then came the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC). Declared the economic regulator of the ports by the federal government in February 2014, eight years after concessionaires took over the management of the seaports. Since then, the NSC has stamped its seal of excellence through enforcement of its extant rules.
The executive secretary and chief executive officer of the NSC, Mr Hassan Bello, has been lucky to act as a mobilisation and stabilising factor to all agencies at the port. But the NSC must do more. Beyond what is in the statute book, there is a need for the council to harness other potential areas of the port sector with a view to enthroning real competition and bringing down the cost of doing business at the Nigerian seaports.
The uncompetitive nature in the nation’s seaports, cargoes and vessels  have, over time, been diverted to  ports located in Nigeria’s neighbouring countries such as Cotonou, Republic of Benin, Accra and Tema , Ghana; Lome, Republic of Togo  and  Dakar , Senegal.
Despite diverting cargoes to these foreign ports, these cargoes later find their ways into Nigerian markets through smuggling. In the end, while Nigeria loses huge income in import duties, levies and other charges payments, these neighbouring countries gain.
It is rather strange that as strategic as our ports are to commerce in the African continent, our ports operated only eight hours daily. Fair enough, a 24 -hour operations that NSC introduced, is a good development even though it ought to have come much earlier than now. Never again must our ports be allowed to operate the bureaucracy of the civil service. They must be seen and operated as businesses to make them the desired maritime destinations to service not only Nigerians, businesses and corporations in the sub-region.
Available statistics from the Federal Ministry of Finance indicate that about 60 percent of goods shipped into West African countries are meant for the Nigerian market. However, the poor management of our ports has resulted in the bulk of the goods destined for Nigeria going through the ports in Ghana and Benin Republic.
Interestingly, since the NSC took up the leadership role, we, the port users have witnessed tremendous improvement in complaint and arbitration mecha¬nisms; prompt issuance of Ship Sail¬ing Certificate and the consequent avoidance of demurrage accumulation against shipping companies and other effects. This is in tandem with international best practices.
  Tunde Ogungbesan wrote in from Apapa, Lagos