Are Nigerian port terminal operators resisting regulation?

In recent weeks, happenings within a section of the Nigerian port terminals have exposed noticeable gaps that were created when the Nigerian government signed the port concession agreement of 2006 with private investors, thereby threatening to ridicule regulatory oversight of government, writes TOLA ADENUBI. Excerpts

WHEN the Federal Government signed the port concession agreement of 2006 with private investors to man the various port terminals, many aspects of port administration were absent at the port reform signing agreement which had the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) representing government while different private investors balkanised the different port terminals. While the NPA was much more concerned with the huge revenue that would accrue into government coffers from the new port arrangement, regulations like economic and labour management were mostly not given much attention to. With Nigeria raking in huge billions of Naira as revenue since the port concession of 2006, port operators have been enmeshed in accusations of flouting economic and labour laws of the land without recourse to regulatory oversight.

Resistance to regulatory oversight

It is no longer news that the nations port economic regulator, the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) has not been part of the ongoing port concession agreement review that has held between the NPA and the various port operators over the years with the Office of the Attorney-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Federal Ministry of Power and Works, Federal Ministry of Transportation, all acting as observers.

The inability of the port economic regulator to partake in the ongoing port concession agreement has led to unchecked trade practices by port terminal operators at Nigerian port terminals. Speaking recently at a media briefing with maritime journalists, the Executive Secretary/CEO of the NSC, Mr Hassan Bello lamented that a particular container terminal is currently resisting regulation by writing the agency that it will not provide information as requested by the port economic regulator.

According to the NSC boss “As the port economic regulator, we set standards for tariffs at container terminals and monitoring compliance. We had to set the standards to monitor the efficiency of the port terminals. Some of the things we used in setting standards for the container terminals are berth occupancy, turn-around time, cargo dwell time etc.

“For example, at Five Star Logistics or Tin-Can Island Container Terminal (TICT), they all average 3.7 days of turn-around time for ships. Some other terminals like Apapa Bulk Terminal Limited (ABTL), Greenview Development Nigeria Limited (GDNL) average four days for ship turn-around time. There are others who average nine and 12 days for vessel turn-around time. We have been asking questions, why is the vessel turn-around time for these terminals taking time?

“We also look at cargo dwell time. In 2019, some terminals had 15 day other  have had 21 days, 23 days respectively, depending on the kind of terminal. We are talking to the terminals to make sure this come to seven days. GDNL is 7.2 days, ABTL is 9.2 days. Every day, we go to these terminals to see the progress they have made and how efficient they are.

“However, a particular terminal operator is resisting regulation. This terminal operator is bent on bending rules of this country. The operator has no respect for the law. This is a letter from the container port terminal telling us that they won’t obey our instructions. We were just asking for information but they wrote us back that they won’t obey our instructions. This terminal operator is putting itself in a position that will not favour its operations because government is already aware of their letter to us. We are filing and sending their letter to the government and it will be recorded against them because they will come for renewal of their lease.”

Toothless NSC

While it is unethical for a terminal operator to resist regulation, the nations port economic regulator has not been helped either in the area of legislation.

Speaking on the refusal of the container terminal operator to obey regulatory oversight from the NSC, the National Vice President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Kayode Farinto lamented that due to no enabling law backing up the status of the NSC as port economic regulator, the agency will continue to bark and not bite in the Nigerian maritime industry.

In the words of Mr Farinto, “The NSC has no law backing up its status as port economic regulator, so you cannot blame the container terminal operator that refused to obey regulation. Don’t forget that without the National Transport Commission (NTC) Act, the NSC cannot regulate the terminal operators. The terminal operators did not sign any agreement with the NSC in 2006, during the port reform process; it was the NPA that they signed an agreement with. So if the terminal operators are resisting regulation, then the NSC should have demanded for the information it needs through the NPA. By virtue of the concession agreement, terminal operators will only listen to the NPA. Therefore, to avoid this kind of situation, there should be inter-regulatory cooperation between maritime agencies.

“For refusing regulation, the NSC should have sanctioned the container terminal operators; but there is no law recognising the NSC as the economic regulator. So the agency is helpless, except if it goes through the NPA. After-all, both NPA and the NSC are sister agencies under the Federal Ministry of Transportation.”

Also speaking on the development, a clearing agent, Mr Michael Nwachukwu lamented that if a whole NSC can be told by a terminal operator that its regulation will not be obeyed, then port users are in trouble at the nations ports.

In the words of Mr Nwachukwu, “I read in the news that the NSC regulation was rejected by a container terminal operator. I was trying to figure out what such terminal will do to ordinary people like us that do business in their port terminals. Imagine if the nation’s economic regulator can be ignored or simply told to stay clear, what will happen to ordinary port users like us if we write to the port terminal to complain about sharp practices noticed at the port terminals?

“No wonder these port terminals have continued to slam arbitrary storage charges on port users without NSC being able to stop them. The NSC is just called the port economic regulator on paper; they have not been able to live up to that billing over the years. The NSC was supposed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the port operators since 2018, but that MoU has not been signed because the operators have refused the conditions of that agreement. The MoU was supposed to slash port and shipping charges by 35 per cent, but since 2018, we have not heard about it again.

“The MoU seems to be dead and buried following the way and manner an ordinary container terminal operator treated the nation’s port economic regulator. How can a terminal write the nation’s economic regulator that it will not follow its instruction? It’s a slap on governance in this country and it’s high time the Federal Government act on this anomaly. As long as the NSC is not part of the port concession review process, issues with arbitrary charges at the nation’s port which is the major concern of the ordinary port user will remain unattended to.”

Dismal labour practices

Recent labour engagement of some terminal operators has also left many observers wondering if there is proper regulation in that regard. Speaking recently to reporters in Lagos after the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) suspended a strike action at one of the nation’s container port terminal, President-General of the MWUN, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, revealed that jobs opportunities that Nigerians can conveniently do have been handed out to foreigners by Nigerian port terminals operators.

Adeyanju alleged that a terminal operator collapsed its security department and brought in expatriates from Benin Republic and Ghana to take over jobs meant for Nigerians. He said the collapsed department was done without due process even when the union had an existing agreement with the terminal operator that they have to work in line with labour best practices.

In the words of the MWUN President-General, “A Lagos port container terminal operator management brought in people from Cotonou and Ghana to come and take over jobs meant for Nigerians. Our port terminal workers are the best anyone can think of but what they are doing now is to bring in Beninoise to take over the jobs all in the name of expatriates.

“We said no, if this company can collapse a department, they might equally extend it to other departments, having it in mind to replace all Nigerians with foreigners. The worst thing they did was to bring in an accountant from Ghana to become Director of Finance at the company. Are they saying we do not have qualified accountants in Nigeria?”

Adeyanku, however called on the Nigerian government to look inwards by beaming it searchlight on foreigners and their work permit expiration date, noting that the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) and other agencies on foreign affairs should work round the clock to put the expatriates in check.

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