At MARAN Breakfast Meeting, Shippers Council Confirms 90% of Port Processes, Operations now Automated

––As Fadipe Calls for Blueprint for Blue Economy Ministry

By DAPO OLAWUNI

The Nigerian Shippers Council has confirmed that 90% of port processes and operations at Nigerian ports have now been automated, thereby reducing considerably, human interactions and all its negative attributes.

The Executive Secretary of the Council, Barr Pius Ukeyima Akutah stated this at a breakfast meeting themed; Trade Facilitation and President Tinubu’s Economic Agenda: Matters Arising” organised by the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN) in Lagos on Wednesday.

The Shippers Council boss assured that efforts are being geared towards the development of Vehicle Transit Areas (VTAs) across the country to facilitate the safety and security of cargoes in transit.

Represented by Mrs Ogbonnaya Austina, an Assistant Director of Consumer Affairs of the Council, Ukeyima said that with the completion and subsequent operations of the Dala, Funtua and Kaduna Inland Dry Ports in Kano, Katsina and Kaduna states respectively, having been commissioned and designated as port of orig’n and final destination for inward and outward cargo respectively. The shipping community in these inland locations are a ready tak’ng the benefits of these facilities in the conduct of their businesses.

“The President’s directives that immediate steps be taken to complete and comm’ssion the remaining legacy IDP projects are pursuit with vigor.

“The Ngerian Shippers’ Council is intensifying efforts to ameliorate the challenges faced by cross border traders at land border posts by the establishment of Border Information Centres (BICs).

“This is being done in collaboration with United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and Borderless Alliance (BA). Four (4) BICs have been established at:

1. Seme-Krake border between Nigeria and Benin Republic 2. Jibia — Marradi border between Nigeria and Niger

3. Mfum-Ekot border between Nigeria and Cameroon 4, Illela-Bimin Koni border between Nigeria and Niger

“Two (2) more BICs shall be established under the Council’s current strategic plan. Plans have reached advanced stages with regard to the establishment of a BIC at the Idiroko Border Post” he said

On his part, Dr. Muda Yussuf of the Center for Promotion of Public Enterprises (CPPE) the keynote speaker of the event, underscored the significant but inadequately captured contribution of the maritime sector to Nigeria’s GDP.

He noted that the trade sector accounted for 16% of Nigeria’s GDP in 2023, amounting to over N27 trillion, driven largely by domestic trade. However, he pointed out that the contribution of international trade and the broader maritime sector is not adequately reflected in the GDP data.

“The maritime sector, or the blue economy, represents far more than water transportation,” Dr. Yusuf explained.

“In 2023, water transport contributed a mere N12.6 billion to the GDP, a figure that grossly underrepresents the sector’s true value. The maritime sector handles over 95% of our international merchandise trade, with the total trade value reaching N71.9 trillion in 2023.”

“We must focus on the critical pillars of trade facilitation and implement necessary reforms to drive economic transformation. The maritime sector’s potential is vast, and with the right policies and practices, we can unlock significant benefits for our economy.”

Chairman of the occasion, Comrade Moses Fadipe founder, Skynet Trueway International Limited, called on the Federal Government to release a blueprint for the marine and blue economy sector, and encourage competitiveness.

According to him, the use of discretionary powers by government agencies at the port was endangering corruption in the Nigerian Ports system.

“How efficient and predictable are our port system, do we have a maritime blueprint with clear structured timelines? and to be followed religiously. Do we have the government polical interest

“The basic thing is how do we foster efficiency of our maritime sector through compliance, and how best can we develop indigenous shipping, to be able to foster competitiveness”

“In terms of vessel boarding, from 2021 up to 2023, Nigeria has the best vessel boarding and rummaging in the whole world.
And towards this end, the Nigerian government, in 2022 got an award in Switzerland as the best country in that space.

“Before, a vessel coming here, when you say you are going to Nigeria, the Captain will be requesting for $150,000 for him to come in and go out of Nigeria as gratification for public officials. But today, it has reduced to $20,000, not that we have eradicated it. It’s a milestone and countries like Egypt, Argentina, Bangladesh and Ghana, our neighbour, are looking for ways to adopt that our process on boarding of vessels.

“Why am I saying this? There’s a document from the Nigerian Ports Authority which is called the Nigerian Port Process Manual. It’s about trajectory of activities within the port system. Are we complying with this? It is because there is maximum compliance onboard the vessel because they are foreigners that gave us that milestone. But when it comes to the terminals, up to the hinterlands, to the corridors, it’s a different ball game.” Fadipe stated

Also speaking also at the event Mr. Alban Igwe a member of the Importers Association of Nigeria (IMAN) of the United Nations Advisory Group on Trade and Transport Locations, emphasized the strategic importance of trade facilitation for Nigeria’s economic recovery.

“Trade facilitation refers to the simplification, standardization, and harmonization of procedures and associated information flows required to move goods from seller to buyer and to make payment,” Igwe stated.

He outlined the four strategic pillars of trade facilitation: transparency, simplification, harmonization, and standardization.

He underscored the importance of reducing complexities and costs associated with border procedures while maintaining efficient compliance controls.

Igwe highlighted six parameters of logistics performance crucial for Nigeria’s trade facilitation policy: customs metric, infrastructure metric, international shipments metric, logistics competence metric, tracking and tracing metric, and timeliness metric.

“The capacity of developing countries to efficiently move goods and connect manufacturers and consumers with international markets is a strong measure of the efficiency of our trade facilitation policy,” Igwe noted.

“IMAN remains committed to collaborating with MARAN towards continuously improving Nigeria’s trade competitiveness.”

In his welcome address, Mr. Godfrey Bivbere, President of MARAN, highlighted the significance of the breakfast meeting’s theme and the need for honest appraisals of President Tinubu’s economic agenda in relation to trade facilitation.

“Port inefficiency is a factor in trade facilitation,” Bivbere remarked. “The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in 2023 reported that the Nigerian maritime sector is in crisis, with the country ranked near the bottom of the World Bank Ease of Doing Business indicators.

“MARAN found it disturbing that Togo topped the subregion in areas of modernization, efficient port trade cost, and vessels turnaround time.”

Bivbere emphasized the importance of addressing the inefficiencies in Nigeria’s ports, which often lead to cargo being diverted to neighbouring ports with more efficient services.

He called for a balanced approach to the administration’s policy direction, cautioning against disruptive short-term measures that could destabilize the fiscal and macroeconomic system.

“MARAN advises that the desire to rejig the national revenue system and jumpstart critical fiscal measures should not be compressed into a too-tight short-term template because of its disruptive reactions,” he stated.

“A realistic middle-of-the-way approach will be the best, especially considering that our export base is still very weak, making us largely import-dependent.”